Thought I'd pass along another LHS story. Sorry to say that even when I try to support them it's not worth my efforts. Needed a few scenery items so I called the LHS to see if they had them in stock. They didn't, but offered that if I called the manufacturer, got the actual product numbers, and called them back they could order them and save me the shipping charge. Seemed like a fair deal, so I called, got the info and rang the LHS back. They said thanks for the info, but if I wanted them to order the items I'd have to come in and leave a deposit. Now the LHS is miles out of my normal commute, so at $4 a gallon for fuel I'm not sure I'm saving any shipping $ at this point. But then it dawns on me that I'll need to make a 2nd trip to the LHS to pay the balance and pick the items up.

I told them I'd let them know, and then bought the stuff on Ebay and spent $2 more (but saved the trips).

Sorry to say it's hard to support LHS's when this is the service they provide. They ususally have nothing in stock and just process catalogue orders for list price. Hence almost all of my purchases are at York from dealers etc or via 800#'s. Wish it wasn't so, but seem that's the way it is....

Yes, most all of us have a lofty, theoretical goal of trying to support the LHS. But for various reasons it isn't always possible or feasible.

I guess I'm one of the lucky LHS supporters. My LHS knows me because I SHOP THERE and give them business. When I need something they ALWAYS work with me and ALWAYS help me out.

Not knowing how often LHS's get stuck with stuff ordered on someone's request, maybe that's why some don't instantly honor requests to order stuff. My guy KNOWS that I'm reliable. Does yours?

- walt

A lot of people order stuff from the LHS and then never show up to pay for the stuff they ordered. Went thru this crap with my youngest Son's Godfather who owns a train shop in North Hollywood. Also a great LHS in Palmdale Ca. called Palmdale Hobbies. They would order stuff for customers who never showed up and then they were stuck with stuff no one wanted.

Walt, GT,

You're both correct, the reason given was people who skipped out on ordered items. These were minor cost common scenery items. In this case the deposit would have been

$3......

That's three, as in dollars. Wasn't going to drive across town twice for that.

quote:

Originally posted by GT Mike:
A lot of people order stuff from the LHS and then never show up to pay for the stuff they ordered. Went thru this crap with my youngest Son's Godfather who owns a train shop in North Hollywood. Also a great LHS in Palmdale Ca. called Palmdale Hobbies. They would order stuff for customers who never showed up and then they were stuck with stuff no one wanted.

OK, but how about hobby shops that either lose track of your deposit or go out of business before the ordered item arrives (happened to me twice in my younger days). However the main reason I don't order through them is that I've found I can get items more reliably by ordering them myself. On two separate occassions I ordered items and had the LHS got the item over a year after I had managed to find the item elsewhere.

quote:

In this case the deposit would have been

$3......

I called a lawnmower repair shop one time to order an impellar blade for my blower. They wanted me to come in and leave a deposit on a $6 part! Adios!

I don't buy trains at the LHS. I find the prices way high. I do buy some paint and glue. I never order in advance because I never want anything that badly. Besides if you wait a bit you can get the hot item for $200 less when someone decides to dump. I buy everything I need at York, on line, and on the phone.

That's unfortunate. I live in the Chicagoland area and pass within a couple of miles of several train/hobby shops as part of my daily 40 mile, one-way commute. I guess I take this for granted at times. Other hobbyists around the country are not as fortunate.

If I need something, I just stop in. The folks there know me by sight/name and have willingly offered me deals without me asking.

So wait....


The LHS wants you to make all the phone calls, do all the driving and put down a deposit? Exactly, what value is this LHS adding to this sale?

IMO if I'm making the calls to get the part number and such I'll just place the order while I'm at it and save myself the time and effort of doing the LHS's job for them. If an LHS asked me to do that I'd ask them when I suddenly became their employee and ask them for a paycheck.

Be it by phone or e-mail aren't we supporting somebody's LHS when we place an order with places like Jimstrainshop,justrains,Hobbystation,Charles Ro,etc.,etc.,etc.

I ask my LHS all the time if they are interested in selling me this or that. They usually consider whether they can provide as good a selection and service experience for a price that's competitive with the online source(s), then say no, but thank me for asking and comment whether others are asking for that as well. A few things have shown up on the shelves sometime later, usually at the same or better prices than I saw online.

My LHS is willing but not eager to lose money providing service that's not as good as I'd get from a guy that's making money on the same thing. And I'm not eager to make them lose money on anything, I just want to offer the chance to sell to me in case they can do it profitably. If they can't, it's not going to affect my decision to buy the next thing from them.

OTOH, I never factor the cost of gas into any purchase. I find the per-day cost of ownership (purchase price, financing - or the opportunity cost of the money if it's paid-off, insurance, calendar-based maintenance, non-wear-related repairs) is more than the per-mile cost of driving (gas, mileage-based maintenance, wear-related repairs) whether I drive to the LHS or not. While a trip to the LHS is an avoidable expense, so it the hobby itself, and for that matter so is the recreational use of the car.

I guess the bigger factor is just that my LHS is a place I like to be sometimes. If it was no fun to be there, I wouldn't feel like going, whatever their prices; when think it'll be fun to be there, I do feel like going, and I care more about enjoying myself than whether it cost me an extra few bucks.

Must be nice to have an LHS. Nearest place to me with any significant O gauge is two hours' drive in Mesa.

I'm not sure if a store that is far enough away that the cost of gas and not having other reasons why you would want to go there is enough to keep you from going is a LHS (Local)anymore, seems like you were already doing the 800# thing to me (maybe you forgot to ask them if they could take your credit card deposit over the phone instead of driving there)?

Of course I'm an idiot that drives around 63 miles one-way to work, so maybe my perceptions of distance are what is out of whack.

Anyway, I've had good luck with my LHS. My true LHS (the one near where I live) has a standing offer that if they don't have an item in the store and you pre-pay when you order, he knocks 15% off the price. It seems to be a good win-win situation; the store isn't stuck with things that it can't sell when the buyer never shows back up, and he gives you a break in the price for not having it in stock.

The other LHS (that I drive by on my way home from work) gave me what I thought was a pretty good deal Wednesday. He had an Erie 2-8-8-8-2 MTH RailKing Triplex with Proto-sound 2, pretty sure it is this one: http://www.railking1gauge.com/detail.asp?item=30-1337-1
It had a line through the price which was already about $50 cheaper than MSRP and I asked the clerk what that meant. He told me he wasn't sure, but to go ask the boss and the boss said he didn't know either. Looked up his inventory data on the computer and tapped on his calculator for a couple of seconds and said, "I'll sell it to you for $559." Although it would have been easier to buy it without my wife with me... it went home with me that evening. To top it all off as part of Hobbytown USA promotions for every $100 you spend they give you $5 credit on your next purchase; which I was very pleased to find out they didn't have a problem if I wanted to use the whole $30 on something that cost that much or more (I bought a few other things that rolled my total out-of-pocket cost to little over $600).

I'm sure people could give horror stories about their experience with 800# shops too; its all in the store and how the owner has decided to do business and treat his customers. Some are good, some are bad, some are pretty great.
Andrew

If you ever wonder why people walk out of LHS without buying anything, consider this vignette.

I was in a LHS in another stated two weeks ago on the way back from a business trip. The owner did not know me from Adam, but whined, no, that's not the word, griped in a *iss and vinegar tone about another LHS near him, E-bay, 800 #s, the cost of carrying stock, etc. After about 20 seconds of this nonsense, I started walking to the door thinking, "no wonder he's having trouble competing...."

Who wants to hear such nonsense from a store owner anywhere, let alone in a hobby store?

(I stopped in the town's other hobby store a short time later and spent about 25 bucks. They acted there like they had known me for years....)