Re: Possible capacitor

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Chris,

I dont think anyone ment to put you down or anything :-)  Of course you
don't sell the "anybody" but Tesla coilers or else you would get orders
from all kinds of strange places wanting caps.  It's one thing to buy caps
to help people build coils, but to buy caps to someplace can build TVs just
is not why we do it ;-))

With the electronics industry slowing down, prices are generally falling
now as opposed to 2000 when they were skyrocketing.  So more places are
willing to sell stock at almost original cost.

I think you sell them for the same "profit" margin I did.  Break even or
slightly less ;-))  I did have a price increase once to cover gas, boxes,
and packing tape too but I think I still lost a couple of bucks in the long
run.  No big deal since we don't sell them to make money.

Just like you put me out of business by selling cheaper caps, maybe some
can take you out too ;-))  Of course, with zero profit, all that means is
that you have more time on your hands :-)  I can assure you that I don't
miss the "business" at all :-))

Originaly, we had the advantage in that we could buy the caps in large
quantity for far less money than any other way of getting them.  I took out
the caps "I" wanted and just sold the rest to people at my cost.  One
simply could not find caps in small quantities at wholesale prices.  In
fact, there were times when you could not get caps at any price back then.
Apparently, now some "big time" venders are trying to steal the business
:o)))  Of course, our "breakeven" profits look good to them right now in
that they may have stock just sitting on shelves which costs them a lot of
money.  It's actually cheaper for them to sell dead stock at no profit than
to let it sit in warehouses.  In fact, they would probably sell it to us in
bulk even cheaper ;-))

Of course, once that stock is gone, there is no reason for them to ever
order more.  Thus, I think any "great deals" are going to be pretty short
lived out there.  You may loose a little short term business, but in the
long run they can't compete with you ;-))  When the bottom line numbers
come in, you will drive them all right out of buisiness. :-)))

I guess you could call MMC sales a "recesion proof" and "competiton proof"
business :o))

Cheers,

	Terry

>
>And I don't, I sell a very few things to a very select group of people. I'm 
>not interested in getting rich selling electronics to hobbiests. I'm 
>interested in doing my part to educate and help build a specific niche 
>hobby. I have neither the desire nor the time to sell 10,000 caps a week. I 
>have no problem helping the community a bit, and if I can work out deals for 
>caps, magnet wire, carbide, etc to help people, cool.
>
>It's just a part of my job, not a career unto itself. I sell caps for the 
>same reason that I volunteer to mentor newbie climbers, because I believe in 
>the sport. I've worked exceedingly hard for many years to teach and better 
>the coiling community. I do this because I believe in it. I'm not a 
>pro-coiler, I'm not making a living at it. I don't like getting flack 
>everytime someone has a sale and they caps are $0.20 cheaper than mine, 
>fine, if they have a better deal, do it, but don't email me telling me how 
>much I suck because my prices on the one thing I'm selling aren't as good as 
>the price on one product of a supplier that carries 50,000 other things, 
>lol. I didn't expect to sell MMCs this long, if the market changes and I 
>can't work out a better deal with CD then I'll simply drop them. If someone 
>comes along with a better deal, then I, like Terry before me, will simply 
>stop selling them. The only person out here who has a right to give me any 
>kind of grief is Terry. He's the only one that's been through the joys of 
>having to box, ship and handle thousands of caps. And I have sold more caps 
>in a MONTH that he did all together. It's a 3 person job here, I have half a 
>basement full of various Priority-Mail boxes. I have a 4-drawer file cabinet 
>half full of postal reciepts and orders, and I have a couple hundred emails 
>of people that are thrilled because my caps helped them to make a little 
>magic happen. THAT'S why I do it. I get a rush from watching people learn 
>things, it's my thing to see (and help) them succeed.
>
>That's why I own The Geek Group.
>
>That's why I help people get caps.
>
>That's why I've given away, over $400,000 in electronics, computers, and 
>scientific equipment in the past 6 years (much to members of this list).
>
>That's why the odds are that any coil you look at made in the past year has 
>a set of Geek Group caps in it, if it's of MMC construction the odds are 
>overwhelming that they came through these doors.
>
>That's why I've sent several hundred kids home with computers that they've 
>built from parts that would have otherwise been filling landfills.
>
>That's why 16 community centers, churches, and assorted other similar places 
>in SW Michigan all have Geek Group Computers.
>
>That's why Jerry and Vern Szudera have a brand new set of computers less 
>than a week after their business burned to the Ground (they've been a 
>sponsor and close friend for 7 years).
>
>That's why when you sit in one of a dozen planetariums in the US you're 
>listening to my voice for an hour (I volunteer to do the voice-over work 
>with my own studio for several small planetariums).
>
>Maybe I'm not a "Real" vendor, but as far as me, and 281 of my closest 
>friends, I think we're doing just fine.
>
>Direct the flame to //dev/null-at-thegeekgroup-dot-org, I have better things to do.
>
>Christopher "Duck" Boden Geek#1
>President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
>The Geek Group
>www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
>Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!
>