i also feel the pain of not buying local though very much wanting to. in the town we used to live in i wanted to buy a frame that was available online for about $600. That frame was a standard QBP purchase, *and* i was willing to wait for an LBS to order it for me (because i really did want to support local). The online retailer was a bigger operation, but still small compared to places like REI, Jenson, etc.

The first LBS i went to simply never replied for my inquiry for a price. I actually asked them twice over a one week period. They lost the sale for, apparently, not wanting the sale at all.

The second LBS' sales guy looked up the price on their computer (the QPB site), called QBP up to verify it (i was standing there), and then offered me the frame for $650. I would have bought it, just because it was local. However, the owner came by and looked over the transaction in progress and then changed their offer to $900. I explained to him exactly what was happening, and asked if he could help me help him buy local. He wouldn't budge. Never mind that the QBP price was already probably $450 or less, so he was giving me his standard 100% markup. I politely declined and somewhat baffled, took my business online.

I think in this case it wasn't that i don't understand business inasmuch as that particular owner didn't understand business. I didn't want a freebie. I just didn't want to be ripped off. So if being patriotic means having a sore ass, i think i'll pass. Of course, i don't think that protecting our jobs and lives should mean this at all. We were a better country, i think, when we weren't so fat and lazy and self-righteously entitled.