Buy from NZ? I tried but come on...

**Smifffy** · 2nd January 2011, 20:16

Originally Posted by steve_t

Economy of scale.

Hardly, it all comes from the same place most of our shit does (China).

In the end, it doesn't really matter how it gets justified, the fact remains stuff is extremely expensive to purchase in NZ, and in order for the consumer to get value as defined in a global economy they need to source their shit offshore.

**Big Dave** · 2nd January 2011, 20:56

Just on that side topic - I spend a fair bit of time communicating with Americans through my Buell interests.
Things are not universally good there. Not very good at all in the north.

'We've run dangerously close to the death of hope itself.' Posted one friend.
They have fallen far and on some hard times.

**steve_t** · 2nd January 2011, 21:06

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Just on that side topic - I spend a fair bit of time communicating with Americans through my Buell interests.
Things are not universally good there. Not very good at all in the north.

'We've run dangerously close to the death of hope itself.' Posted one friend.
They have fallen far and on some hard times.

Yeah, I see "Clear Alternatives" went under recently. Times are still defo tough everywhere

**Smifffy** · 2nd January 2011, 21:11

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Just on that side topic - I spend a fair bit of time communicating with Americans through my Buell interests.
Things are not universally good there. Not very good at all in the north.

'We've run dangerously close to the death of hope itself.' Posted one friend.
They have fallen far and on some hard times.

Yeah, I was in the South - the deep South, they've been hit by hurricanes & oil spills as well as everything else. Their economy has never been great, everyone I spoke to was in employment and paid well, the firms they worked for were working hard to chase business and profits were down. These people were mostly fairly well educated. They used the price of petrol as an example of how bad their economy is - it was up to us 86c a litre!!!

Their economy has dipped from when I was last there in the boom times of 04 & 07, but didn't appear worse than in 02, and I would still say it is in much better shape than ours - not that that's saying much.

Still nz is home and i like it here, I just get frustrated at the prices we are charged for shit.

**Horse** · 2nd January 2011, 21:17

I own a Triumph. Nothing but good things to say about the local Triumph dealer. But the actual prices for accessories in NZ are ridiculous. I don't know if it's Triumph NZ or the UK mothership but someone is smoking crack when they set NZ Triumph accessory prices.

For a couple of things I've wanted urgently that were in stock in Auckland, I've paid the NZ price. But for anything else I'd go to ordering online from the US. Including exchange rate AND shipping AND getting hit for GST at the border you'll still save at least 30%.

**rok-the-boat** · 2nd January 2011, 21:19

I got various engine parts for my DR from Ebay - hassle, but far cheaper. For my Harley (now gone) I also got everything from the US.

**puddytat** · 2nd January 2011, 21:20

Aah the benefit of Free Trade,the Government is busy selling us out all the time so whats wrong with shopping "out there"?
Free Trade is nit about raising our standard of living, its to bring it down to the level of the third world economies....& the whole world is shopping there.

**tri boy** · 3rd January 2011, 08:20

I got no loose cash to shop with

I'm stoked me n kanny bought second hand bikes about two years ago, as I could see this scenario unfolding.

Heres my prediction for 2011-2012.
It's gunna get tighter/harder for most, then BANG,summits gunna give.
MHO

**scumdog** · 3rd January 2011, 08:41

Originally Posted by Smifffy

I just got back from spending chrstms in the US with the Mollz family. It was really grating to compare the price of virtually anything against what we have to pay here.

$32 for levis 501s? Even when the FX was at 47 cents that still made nz prices ridiculous.

Wages there are on a par with here, maybe even higher in many industries.

Blazing fast internets with no download cap, 100 odd tv channels and unlimited domestic tolls for $180 a month.

The same as I found out when there a couple of months back - we actually still had money left over at the end of the trip because we had 'over-budgetted' when planning and figuring out how much for food, gas etc...

**scumdog** · 3rd January 2011, 08:42

Originally Posted by puddytat

Free Trade is nit about raising our standard of living, its to bring it down to the level of the third world economies....& the whole world is shopping there.

Hence why the US (and others) are in such a pickle

**scumdog** · 3rd January 2011, 08:48

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Just on that side topic - I spend a fair bit of time communicating with Americans through my Buell interests.
Things are not universally good there. Not very good at all in the north.

'We've run dangerously close to the death of hope itself.' Posted one friend.
They have fallen far and on some hard times.

Yep BD, I noticed while over there that there's a lot of guys doing a fair bit of 'belt-tightening' to try and be mortgage-free and less overall debt as they are all running scard of being out of work.

Just as we talk about our crap weather in NZ the guys in the US most common discussion topic was about how poor the economy was doing, how cheap imports were killing them, how factories were shutting down/going off-shore etc.

Saw lots os 'For Rent' signs on shops and other signs that indicated times were tough.

**ynot slow** · 3rd January 2011, 09:10

The dreaded margins rears it's head.

If an owner is lucky in business they make dollars,from a purely furnishing perspective with over 25years involvement,the controlled costs,i.e wages,rates(until council revalue),insurance(unless tossers smash windows)are but part of the equation.I was party to a buying episode with fabrics to sell and stock(yep we had rolls in stock)at the time we bought for say $3.00mtr(ex gst) sell at $12.95(if lucky),sounded great margin,but we bought 2000mts,but had to take 150mts of absolute shit stock which we sold at below cost and at market days to quit.Add the same to our flooring with having to buy 200mts of carpet,and 500mts of 2,3,4mtr vinyl to get a decent margin.

Add the few lounge suites(20 odd)dining suites(50 odd)rugs(50 odd)and when you do a stocktake even a small town will have $500,000 on the floor,and watching the boss's face shine when you sell a $2000 item from stock,and not a $5000 item on order,priceless lol.Sure my old bosses made money,but they were well established family firms.

As an idea our budgets were approx $120,000 per month and we had 6 staff.

**Owl** · 3rd January 2011, 09:16

Originally Posted by Quasievil

RRP is a very good price smart arse

Certainly not the Northern Accessories RRP!

**zeocen** · 3rd January 2011, 09:31

I've tried my hardest to stay loyal to my dealership because they treat me so well, and it's no fault to them when other people have the markup. But, sometimes it's just ridiculous and you're pretty much forced to shop overseas.

A centre stand for my old Hornet was close to $600 over here! It's nuts. I enquired about some Leo Vince pipes for my viffer, $2400 for aluminium. I tried to hide my mouth from

'ing.

Long story short, I have some Leo Vince pipes on the way from overseas for a grand total of $780 NZD including shipping.

As I say, I'm the first to support who I feel deserves it but when you save $1620 it's fairly hard to continue that support.