Quote:
Originally Posted by csw
As a locally owned, small business owner, I would say shop the local guys as much as you can. I would advise everyone to look up the 3/50 project and see how the support of local businesses help your economy. Not to mention, most of us know customers by name and have advice and experience that's worth more than saving a few dollars. Remember it's not just price that should determine where you buy, but some of these places will not warranty things out or it will cost more to return it then what you saved. Saw it this week where a guy ordered tires online to save $50 instead of buying the locally only to have them out of round. Now he has to ship them back and pay a shop to install the new ones. You figure out how much that $50 savings is now going to cost him! These online retailers that have no overhead, are drop shipping from the manufacturer, and operate on low margins can't out-service a local shop in the long run.
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While I have purchased some things online, I do support local business - especially those that actually: a) are knowledgeable (they know their s**t); b) they care about their customers - not just their customers' wallets; and c) they provide decent or better service (high probability of finding this with b).
There are situations, though, where I have no choice. For example, VDO no longer has a distributor in Canada, so I had to order my
oil temperature gauge from the U.S. to match with the rest of my gauges. And that was after I asked each of the 4 shops where I spend most of my auto parts $$.