Originally Posted by
Burton
Don`t want to be offensive - but feel its pretty unfair to post something like that. It might be interesting to hear the other side of the story as well. If you walked in and didn`t have a consise list of exactly what you wanted and needed everything explained to you and the parts guy had to look everything up and chase down the info - he lost money on you anyway. And a 1000% markup was more than a bit of an exaggeration so don`t know how seriously to take the rest of your post.
Some parts that seem expensive are thrown in with a tune-up at no cost if the customer brings in the bike, is on a buget and there are second hand parts available. But time IS money and personally I did 60 hours this week trying to keep customers happy with a turnaround time of three days or less. Same day or while you wait for simple things like flats.
Then there was the guy who came in and wanted to know why his chain was skipping. Maybe because it was so long it was contacting the rear derailleur hanger cause he`d installed it himself without cutting it. And it was the first time I`d ever seen rollers so badly damaged and gouged that some were actually missing.
But he wasn`t ready to cough up $20 for a new chain or $7 for installation and just left. He`s well known to the shop and although everyone is polite - the guy is a waste of time and his own worst enemy. Hope thats not the LBS`s opinion of you in this scenerio.
Let's see, the first shop, I went in with my bike and said that I needed a replacement front derailleur cable clamp. I pointed to where the old one had fallen out. The tech tried a nut that was too big for the recess, and then went back and found a nut that fit, and then put a bolt and a washer on it.
The second shop, I brought in two bearings, and I said I need 18 of this size bearing and 20 of this bearing. The kid (didn't know much about bikes) put the bearings through a bearing size gauge and went and got them. I then gave him a broken brake tensioner and said I need a replacement brake tensioner. It should look like this and it should thread onto this. I also gave him the collar that it threads into. He went back into the brake parts bin and came back with a brake cable tensioner.
A small nut bolt and washer purchased at a hardware store is typically about 25 cents. So at $10, that is a mark up of well over 3000%. 38 bearings cost $10. That's 38 cents a bearing. From what I have read in this thread, a bag of 100 bearings can be bought at retail for around $5. So that's 5 cents a bearing marked up to 38 cents, a mark up of 600%. A brake tensioner, I have no idea how much it costs, but I know that it's less than $4.