Re: [Harp-L] Harp Depot

["Bob Laughlin" <rlaughlin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"The shame is that Doc and Richard are REALLY nice guys."

I'm certain, that on a limited, personal, and selected basis, these two,
"Doc and Richard", are "REALLY" nice guys. Trouble is, "niceness" isn't what
they're selling (maybe they SHOULD be, from what some have stated here), and
secondarily, how "nice" can you be to leave your customers stranded with
questions unanswered? Neither of these men being omnipotent, omnipresent,
nor omniscient, "niceness" can only go so far, in the real world.

I would also say that further "niceness", further attributes such as
"answerability" and "timeliness" are necessary business characteristics, to
be called upon when the apparent "niceness" isn't readily available.

Since some here are responding that these two are indeed "nice", and others
are echoing the sentiments of those who feel, or have felt cheated in some
way, it becomes apparent that there comes a time when some, due to
constraints of time and resources, and human capacity, become victim to
these limits, in that they perceive a lack of care, or even of concern or
interest, inasfar as fulfilling their requests for product or even service
oriented timely response.

I've heard of this before, in some context,,"businesses that don't plan
adequately for the growth factor."

Maybe these guys are TOO nice, letting their personalities write checks
their available resources can't back up.

But then again, the website DOES seem to warn of disappointing possibilities
on the supply side.

BL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe and Cass Leone" <leone@xxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harp Depot


> A look at the web-site raises a lot of interesting questions. But
> before I go into it, note the following:
> I have NO rooster in this fight.
>
> Harp Depot is giving a 40% discount. That means that an item that
> they sell for $100.oo 'could' cost $166.67 (PLUS tax = $178.33) in a
> music store. On a recent trip to Europe, I noticed that the same
> chromatic was going for Eu 167.oo. When you add the VAT, the total
> is  EU 183.70. When you factor in the exchange rate, that's equiv to
> $259.oo U.S.
> Conclusion: Harp Depot is taking a lot of abuse for very little
> profit. They need to work on this image problem. :)
>
> So, first thing I noticed were the office hours (10-4). Ok, that's 6
> hours..But WAIT, there's more. An hour off for lunch equals a 25 hour
> week.
> 1.... I see this as 'Banking' hours
> 2.... I see this as a 'retirement' job
> 3.... It appears that 2 people handle everything
> 4.... On the one hand they say they are very busy and don't have time
> for shenanigans
> 5.... On the other hand, they can't seem to handle the business they
> DO have.
> 6.... Apparently they need another helper
> 7.... Problem 1 is that if they hire a helper, they have to cut the
> profit ANOTHER slice
> 8.... Problem 2 is that I don't know too many people who would even
> TAKE a job for 25 hours a week
> 9.... When I was a mail boy for Pittsburgh Plate Glass I did packing
> (all day)
> 10.. I think I could average a package (out the door) per 5 min (tot
> = 60 per day)
> 11.. I don't SEE a whole lot of profit on 60 orders
> 12.. I don't think BOTH people running the place are packing all day
> 13.. The site connects to MYRIAD other products and the impression IS
> that they do ALL this stuff.
>
> I can come up with another dozen factors but I don't want to drudge
> everyone.
> Conclusion: The operation isn't working enough hours. As a student of
> automated business systems,
> the glaring fact is that they have allocated NO time for customer
> relations. The shame is that Doc and Richard are REALLY nice guys.
>
> Reminds me of an old ethnic joke (my mother used to hate). These 2
> guys have a truckoad of several hundred watermelons. They bought them
> for a 98 cents apiece and are selling them for $1.oo. At the end of a
> long day, they have an empty truck, and after buying a couple gallons
> of gas, they have actually broken EVEN. One asks the other "How come
> we didn't make any money"? The other one says "We need a bigger truck".
>
> smokey-joe
>
>
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