News Grimco changes pricing!

[2B]

This was an interesting announcement.
In an extremely price-driven market, Grimco decides to remove an advantage........

They already had QTY breaks and the pricing currently seen (for us) is the same before this announcement.

 

[Andy D]

They must have hit a critical mass number of customers who have been trained to order through
their website and they know will continue to do so & don't see an advantage of offering a discount for something
people will be doing anyways.

 

[ColoPrinthead]

I have moved almost all of my media purchases to Denco after having Grimco sell me a Sihl product they never have in stock and not mentioning that they had a Briteline alternative that is stocked locally. I got very tired of having to wait for everything to be shipped in and UPS loves beating up banner material. I am very please that Denco has most of what I used in stock and is willing to stock other items if I ask; this on top of them beating Grimco's pricing on average $25 per roll of printable vinyl before they CHOOSE to further revise my pricing once they saw the volume I go through.

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

IMO The 3% online discount was offered to make up for the fact that they had lower staffing levels and didn't have to pay outside sales reps commissions. In my opinion, their acquisition costs have probably caught up with them, and with shipping price increases, they are passing the costs increases along. I would also imagine that their courier charges have increased. This will probably put them on-par with local competition.

Honestly- it was crazy for them to offer an online discount and free shipping over $100. The margins are extremely thin already, and they aren't making money on the small orders. And when you throw in that the courier company employee mishandles a sheet of substrate that is damaged and has to be replaced and sent back to the customer, they lose even more money. I think some point they are going to have to start operating their businesses like the rest of the dealers.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Grimco's pricing is a bit high as it is on a majority of products but unfortunately we use them for a lot of things because they are the only company in our area that delivers substrates.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I only use them on Maxmetal.. everything else is just too high. Nglantz and USCutter have better pricing.

 

[Andy D]

I only use them on Maxmetal.. everything else is just too high. Nglantz and USCutter have better pricing.

I use them because they have a great website, great customer service & have pull my butt out of the fire several times.
FYI if you let them know they're too high on a product, most times they will match or beat that price.

 

[Bigdawg]

It looks like they are just discontinuing the 3% discount, but not the free shipping? I use NGlantz mostly, but Grimco gets all my traffic sign and specialty item business because of the free shipping. When I add that into the equation, the overall price is usually lower for special order vinyls. If the free shipping goes away, my incentive to use them will be gone.
And that's funny Andy... we left them as our main supplier several years ago because the customer service in our area really sucked. It really does show you how things can vary from location to location.

 

[Jeff grossman]

All I know is my last order :
Next day took 2 and 2 day took 3
And yes they matched price on my earlier order when I called and talked to a sales rep.

 

[eahicks]

I use them because they have a great website, great customer service & have pull my butt out of the fire several times.
FYI if you let them know they're too high on a product, most times they will match or beat that price.

Exactly. Get in good with a Rep, and when you notice a price is too high, call them! Same with any other vendor. I've had multiple items reduced, and items that generally are low stock, they've beefed up inventory for us.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

All I know is my last order :
Next day took 2 and 2 day took 3
And yes they matched price on my earlier order when I called and talked to a sales rep.

Daily Drop off in our area. Grimco uses their own in house courier service. If I order before 9am most stuff will show up the same day. Depends on the area your business is in but Grimco can be awesome or a pain.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I hate calling and arguing prices...why dont they just offer stuff at a good price.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

I hate calling and arguing prices...why dont they just offer stuff at a good price.

So don't haggle. Base your prices off of their pricing and bid accordingly. Would be awesome if car companies did this as well but nobody puts the bottom price they want to sell something. You put what you want to sell it for and if someone wants to haggle maybe there is some room to move around.

You want everyone to have the same pricing. So there is no advantage to becoming a good customer or doing more business than another shop?

 

[Andy D]

And that's funny Andy... we left them as our main supplier several years ago because the customer service in our area really sucked. It really does show you how things can vary from location to location.

I believe building a relationship with your vendor is at least as important as building one with your customer... or maybe more.
Something I have done a couple times in the past, when I have taken over graphic departments, I tell them that I want to buy as much stuff as I can from one vendor as possible, BUT I don't want to talk to whoever answers the phone (like Fellers) &
I don't want to wait for a sales person out in the field to get around to calling me, I want one go-to person who will be watching my orders and will go to bat when they drop the ball & as stated, they have pull my butt out of the fire several times.
In return, my rep would call me every once in a while and let me know he was a little shy of his quota on a product, & ask if I could go ahead and get a few for inventory & I would be happy to do it.

I hate calling and arguing prices...why dont they just offer stuff at a good price.

Every company is higher on somethings and lower on others, even us... I tell customers, that I know are bidding jobs, that "they need to let me know if I end up being too high, they are not going to hurt my feelings if they
comeback and ask if I can match or beat someone's price"

 

[Bigdawg]

That's exactly why we changed up Andy. We had a great relationship with most of the Grimco team, and then they got rid of all the people at our local branch that had been there since the Proveer days, and hired people with no experience that didn't seem to want to help. Wayyyyy too many mistakes and problems without them offering a solution. OTOH, the NGlantz saleperson had been calling on us regularly and we finally gave them a chance. They have given us the service and pricing we need, so we now have that tight relationship with them instead. If Grimco had not changed like it did, we would never have looked elsewhere.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

So don't haggle. Base your prices off of their pricing and bid accordingly. Would be awesome if car companies did this as well but nobody puts the bottom price they want to sell something. You put what you want to sell it for and if someone wants to haggle maybe there is some room to move around.

You want everyone to have the same pricing. So there is no advantage to becoming a good customer or doing more business than another shop?

Car companies suck too... I'm all for quantity discounts, which are completely justified... I just don't like that say, Fast Signs pays less for material then independent shops.. I don't want to subsidize their business. Everyone of my customers gets equal and fair pricing.. most of the common stuff is listed on my website for all the world to see so no one feels that they are getting a bad deal...even if the prices are higher than my competitors.

Grimco can be higher, I don't really care... it's the playing favorites I don't like. Fellers played that game way too much and look where they are going.

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

It really confuses me how any supplier has blanket program pricing for the franchises. If there is a small franchisee that only orders at the order minimum, then gets preferred pricing and free shipping.. how is that helping the supplier as a preferred vendor. There's no way they are making money with those orders when you factor in shipping costs and they only make 12-18 points on those orders. There's no such thing as "Free Shipping" - you're paying for it somewhere. (I'm not privy to the contracted pricing rates - but I did sell for a supplier at one time and know what we pricing we used for franchisees). Then multiply that by the number of franchise shops out there.. It just doesn't make sense. Plus, any business owner is going to shop around regardless of who the preferred vendor is, so that can drive the price down even further. Making up the difference on the volume of sales just doesn't make sense to me when that's the dynamic. We wouldn't sell single sheets of substrates... only carton quantities, or if the customer wanted to pay a broken carton fee, we'd consider it on certain substrates, and even then we had to deal with returns consistently because of mishandling by the drivers. SO glad not to be in that game any more.

 

[Gino]

Sounds like many here are the pot calling the kettle black. How many threads are about saving pennies on inks, on substrates, on vinyls, on equipment, on just about everything, but then wanna get top buck and always price checking using the excuse.... they don't wanna leave anything on the table ??

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I want to spend the least on commodities... Service is another animal, I'll pay for service.

 

[bannertime]

I'm more than willing to pay Grimco's slightly higher price on some items for two reasons. 1) I call and a sales persons picks up that can assist without hesitation. 2) They deliver twice a day for me and I can hot shot for a reasonable price if needed.

Any time I've called some of my other suppliers I have to talk to an operator or I get a voicemail and have to call back, the person has no product knowledge or they sound like they've lost their will to live. I don't like or even agree with everything that Grimco has done, but they make it very easy to order, and that's what I need. The reps there don't say stupid stuff like "I've been in the business over 30 years and never heard of Bubble-X." Yeah, you idiot, like I said it's a new product. You're a dealer for that brand, can you get it or not?

Some of these other suppliers make me want to rip my hair out.