Reply With Quoteusually some good looking women wander thru the fitness section, so its not totally a waste.
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Super Moderator
I guess we just have a difference of opinion on what is high quality service. By the way, I have traveled the country too...been in many of the stores you mentioned and some you did not...even done seminars at some of them.
Last time I was in a Bass Pro shop (within the past year)....I waited for 5 minutes at a counter in front of two clerks while they discussed their personal lives and finally had to ask them if one of them wanted to wait on me today or should I come back tomorrow? My visit before that I asked a clerk in the fishing department where their spoons was located (not any specific spoon...just where are the spoons...and his reply was "is that a lure or something else?". I can get that kind of service at Wal Mart.
Senior Member
usually some good looking women wander thru the fitness section, so its not totally a waste.
Senior Member
No proof needed, and no apologies needed. As displayed in your post here, particularly "I will quit dealing with any store that charges more for a watermelon/purple timber pup than a junebug one just because it is in my fishing report" it is clear that you think you run the bait shops. The clerk I talked to was not fond of your attitude, especially with your "I can help you or hurt you" attitude that apparently you made very clear to him at some point and he was not happy about it. He didn't like you telling him how to run his business, which I can understand.Originally Posted by DaveStewart
Senior Member
Well not my fight but is my thread....
I have read this quote over and over and one minute I am appalled as the shear brashness of these comments, the next I'm confused and it seems like "quoted words" are being used as a weapon and at times taken out of context:
"I will quit dealing with any store that charges more for a watermelon/purple timber pup than a junebug one just because it is in my fishing report"
Seems to me that the man is saying that store owners shouldn't gouge people (allot of which happen to be HIS clients past and present or people recommended to his fishing reports) because a particular bait is found to be popular and especially if HE recommends a bait(s), in fact I know for sure there is a lot of business generated because they read his report and make sure they stock up on the most popular baits mentioned. In all fairness the person buying the baits shouldn't pay more because it's recommended - that's not telling someone how to run their business that is patronage, that is advertising and that is business relationships.
The clerk "you talked too" gave you his feelings/impression ("not fond") on Dave's "attitude", and no where did you say that he out and out "said" what you are implying only that, that was what they took it as, I can personally assure you that the man doesn't have to go and try and bully people - and FOR WHAT? "I can help or hurt you" the man pays for the majority of his tackle the same as you and I, he may get discounts - but so do I, and you may too.... If he calls a tackle store and tells them Wednesday what is going in his report so they can stock up for the weekend - good business plain and simple.
And finally the apology that was requested was because you did not point out anyone in particular you bulked all the tackle stores together in your general comment and there are some really good local shop owners who are fighting in these tough times to stay afloat, thus they don't need bad press he or otherwise - especially if they aren't doing anything wrong. Speculation and here-say, no-one is liked by everyone an no-one likes everyone but some things should be left unsaid... Again not my fight I was trying to get info on D*ck's sporting goods??????? JMHO
Junior Member
Two years ago I took my $50000 Boat & motor into the dealer I purchased it from for warrenty repairs. My rig was about 2 years old at the time. The service department told me there was @ a 7 day waiting period due to heavy workload before they could get to it. I wasn't happy but knew I had to wait my turn in line in the service dept. Would you believe that while reading a fishing report later that week the report's author thanked the dealer for fixing his motor ( replaced starter I believe ) all on the same day. My rig was still at the dealers when I read it. Maybe the fishing report author / guide owes those of us who were waiting for our rigs to be repaired an apology.
Senior Member
I will not specifically point anyone out - no sense in it.
The point in all this is that the good ol' boy network is alive and well at local shops, guides, and marine repair. I've always been strongly opposed to the good ol' boy network and will not do business with anyone who caters to it. A free ride or preferential treatment to the good ol' boys means higher prices and poor service for those of us not connected.
I do not believe that some local stores are struggling as has been said a couple times here. I mean after all, one shop just expanded into a new building and another just re-opened under a new owner....if they were that hard off, they would be cutting back and not spending more, right?
Senior Member
I have had to learn the hard way - you have to spend money to make money, and there is allot of time "working capital" is hard to come by, but is a necessary evil. I know of 2 tackle stores that have closed their doors around the lake(s), The one that was just re-opened had dozens of interested buyers and finally 6 to 8 months later is re-opening. And there has been a few try to increase the sizes of their stores to accommodate more items (and a few that are trying to figure out how to keep up and draw more customers). You know the one reopened recently has been a staple in our area, it is well known and was being turned into a great store yet it took the man thousands and thousands of dollars and 80-90 hours a week to get it there - he was a wreck.
Yet you apparently don't think about the winter time. These stores are virtually closed for 4 months, their sales are next to nothing - I know I live here, I don't start getting going myself until late February and November and December and January are dead times for them and unless you've had a business that is seasonal you wouldn't understand. Good ole boy network or not I see it from the business side of it, and if a guy is sponsored by a company and they pay out in either service, merchandise or monetarily has their "angler" go down it doesn't offer a return for their investment. I look at it like this, if I am helping someone who's run out of gas - and while going to get them some I run out myself, I'll put gas in mine then go help them - but they needed help first so should I walk to them and get a ride back to my car? When a business sponsors someone they claim a piece of them and they don't owe it to the person they owe it to themselves to help - protect your investment and it will bring you returns in the future. I don't like waiting longer because of it but I know it's how the majority of business is done - not all mind you
Senior Member
That's their own fault then. If they can't diversify to overcome that, then I have no sympathy. Dunn's has hit a home run with their hunting gear and keeping people coming in the door year round. As a matter of fact, I think Dunn's is about the only solid bait store in the area for the last 25 years. Same model as a BPS or even Wal-Mart - sell enough different stuff that people come in almost daily.
The businesses in the area that have been successful have done enough things right to get established. It's the newer ones that try to take the fast track to success by catering to the good ol' boys for a few good mentions that I have a problem with and avoid.
Senior Member
I know George Dunn personally and he is a great guy, I knew George before the fire and after when they had a store in Herculaneum MO. then after the fire moved onto Hwy 61-67 in Pevely Missouri. yes they have done good by diversifying..... but they have been doing it since 1958 - 42 years, they started as a wholesale company changing into a retail company. They had 4 locations Pevely Mo., Marion Il., and in 1990 they opened Paducah and they had used to have one in Florrisant, MO they closed it, they reopened one in St. Charles MO and close it a few years later after BPS Came to town. So I know them very well and I think they have a strong company.
But each of those locations didn't get opened until they were established in the one prior, they generated operating capitol to diversify. These guys around here are trying and since the internet online shopping has increase with good pricing found all over the place - they are trying to compete, even Dunn's came out with their "Dunns Baits" line of plastics that copied companies like Zoom and others, to help combat pricing.
And you may not have read what I said before, I know that some of the "good ol boys" pay for their stuff just as you and I, and they may give discounts here and there and get a nod or a kind word written or spoke on their behalf, but I would refrain from boycotting them for what could even be considered advertising expenses, wouldn't you agree? I feel the aggrevation the same as you, I have dropped my boat off only to find it going to be 7 to 10 days and yet on that same note I went in once and expresses the utter urgency and asked if there was any way they could get it sooner it wouldn't have wasted the $200 entry fee I had paid for a tourney by not being able to fish it (I had already missed one that cost me $$$), they did it for me - and come to find out it was something simple that took less than an hour to do all together and I was back in business. They did it once and I wouldn't ask again but it was being critical (superficially) that I got it back any other time I wait just like everyone else and I agree - I hate it, but I don't feel bad because I caught a break one time, it didn't hurt anyone.
Super Moderator
You made the statement that there were stores here charging more for a bait in my or other folks fishing reports than they do for another bait...I simply stated what I did because I know for a fact that is not true. Your reply has nothing to do with your original statement or my reply.
As for the "clerk" you talked to...I have no idea what you are talking about...probably about as true as your original statement. By the way, as far as the tackle shops I have a business relationship with here, I deal with the owners, not the clerks that work there. I don't think I "own" any tackle shop here, I do have a mutual business relationship here with some tackle shops..it is called sponsorship...which is an integral part of the fishing and guiding business. We support one another via clients, lures, etc...that is called networking....if you ever get into a business of your own rather than working for someone else you will come to understand that. You can bet the company you work with does networking also with businesses that they have relationships with....and just because they do, it is not necessarily a "good ol boy" thing.
Still waiting your proof that someone here is charging more for a lure here because it was in my report or another report, which is the statement you made in the first place.
Super Moderator
Sorry, I don't see any need for an apology. If the dealership you mentioned had told me I would have had to wait 7 days to do a 10 minute repair by replacing my starter, I would have either waited the 7 days or taken it somewhere else. My report covers the week prior to the date written...my repair could have been done on Thurs or Friday the week before which would have been before you took your boat in since you said you read in my report later the same week you took your boat in. If you had a problem with what you read vs your boat, you should have addressed it with the dealership...not me.
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