"Retail is for Suckers"

I have found that every thing that you buy at a music store can be discounted.

Even guitar picks.

The thing for me is that I don't like feeling like a mooch for asking so I will try to go back to the same sales people if they treat me right with no hassle.

There is one store close to my house where most of the guys working there will look at me funny when I ask for a discount. There is one dude there who always works with me but I have to individually ask on each item. Last time I went there I bought several items. A drumhead, a set of strings for my acoustic, A package of guitar picks, A key for adusting drums, & something else but I don't remember what.

When I checked out, I asked the dude: "Are you going to take care of me on this stuff?" & he pointed out that he always did (which was true). I started asking about the different items and he said just check the receipt when he was done. Since he had always been good about it before, I didn't want to ask about it anymore.

When he rang me up it seemed kinda high but I just paid him & then he gave me the receipt. It turned out that he had charged me full retail on everything exept the set of strings. I was so irritated that I just decided not to say anything.

Last week I visited two other music stores. I went to one place to get some tubes. I found a guy there who had helped me several times before and always was good about the pricing. This time I felt like he tried to get to me by actually overcharging me on the tubes. I bought a couple of EL84s and also a 12ax7. I was just buying some back up tubes & on the one 12ax7 it was the Silver Series which is cheaper than the ones I usually get & he tried to charge me $14. I told him it sounded a little high and asked him what it listed for & he punched on his computer and said $10 and said he had made a mistake and then he ended up selling it for $8.

I really felt like both of these guys trying to take advantage of fact that I trusted them.

I am not someone who is going to argue about price or feels like anybody owes me a discount. I just happen to know that a person can get a discount at a music store if they ask & at the end of the year it can really add up.

Fast foward to last Friday when I was up on the north side of town to play in Conroe. I took the day off work and went drove up early to miss the rush hour traffic. I took the opportunity to visit a couple of music stores by 1960 & 45. First I went to a big guitar store that is part of a chain where I had bought my tubes that I talked about a few paragraphs up. I asked the sales dude there if they had the Groove Tube EL84s that I was looking for and he found a set. I told him I was a working musician and asked him what kind of deal he could give me. He sold me the "Duet" which is a matched pair for $25. Just a few days earlier at the same store but the other location, The other dude had told me that Groove Tube had raised the prices and the best he could do was $30 but it turned out he was out of them anyway.

I still had some time to kill and was looking for a particular Harmonica that they were out of everywhere so I went west on 1960 about half a mile to check at one other large music store. They had the Harmonica & I told the guy I was a musician and asked what kind deal, etc. and he sold it to me for $18 which was a good deal.

I think part of the problem for me is that once I get to know a particular sales associate, I don't feel as comfortable making a big deal about the price but at the same time it is disapointing that I can get a better deal from strangers.

I guess I could avoid all this and just buy stuff on-line but I have been going to music stores since I was about 13 years old it is something that I enjoy doing. I love it when it is busy and there are several different dudes "testing" out the new guitars playing thier best guitar store riffs.

I did try to give something back to the one guy who did give me the better deal on the tubes. I have been working in Sales a good part of my life. I asked him how long he had worked at the store & he said "3 years". I asked him if he had ever marketed himself? & he just gave me a puzzled look.

I told him that he should consider developing an email list of working musicians (people who buy music stuff) and send them an email letting them know he was the dude to see if they wanted to be treated right. Promise low prices with no hassle.

I told him that my site had been listed on Houston Bands dot NEt and several other sites and no one had ever sent me an email like that & I was assume that no one is tapping into that opportunity.

He did tell me "Thats a good Idea"

I told him "Hell Yeah it's a good Idea"

I don't know if he will do it but he is in the wrong business if he doesn't.

I don't begrudge anybody for wanting to make a living and nobody owes me a discount. If anyone ever really did give me consistant deals at a Music Store, that would be the first place I shopped & I would tell other people about them also.