HuntingBry

Jeff, for a guy who is business savvy you sure see the small picture. Big picture in the whole argument is the big dogs in any industry are raping distributors and consumers to the tune of huge profits. If the middle men and consumers are getting raped, that is not good for capitalism. You need the middle and lower tiers to have money to spend to keep big business going. Gouging those tiers will lead to nothing being left but big business and nobody to spend money on them. I'm no economic expert, but this seems pretty simple to me.

GMMAT

When gas gets too expensive for the masses to consume it......the price will come down.

Same as every other commodity.

You could do what the dems would love to do and over-tax the big companies......but imagine if they get tired of it and "take their ball and go home".

What's YOUR plan? Put a limit on what the oil companies can make? Tax their profits (even more)? Would this make the "Robin Hood" crowd feel better?

When we discourage initiative and reward complacency.....our country is doomed. It's spiraling right now.

RuttNutt

I am not ankle bitting, so dont go there, but the reason were spiraling right now is because of your george boy and "his war".

And taxing there sickly overpaid monopoly will not make them, what did you say??? "take there ball and go home",,,,,hahahha.......cough..haha..

MeanV2

Quick??[&:]

You seem Pretty Slow to me!!

Dan

BigJ71

While I can see both sides of this debate and I certainly don't like to pay more for a product than I should. However, there is no way I feel any kind of "entitlement" to access of ANY companies books in order to dissect their overhead and discover their profit margins (if any). As an owner of a small business there is no way....let me repeat that, NO WAY I would show any prospective consumers how much profit I am making, that's bad business. Hey I'm in business to MAKE MONEY and there is no way I'm going to shoot myself in the foot.

Now, you may ask....BigJ...What stops you from charging double or triple your normal rates tomorrow? I'll tell ya...No one would use my services anymore that's why...capitalism.

No one...again let me repeat that...NO ONE is forcing you to buy a bow much less a certain brand bow. We as consumers have the right to walk away and buy another product or nothing at all.....again capitalism.

Using big oil as an example while relevant is really not the same thing as buying a bow. We (for obvious and complicated reasons) have become dependent on oil, not so with bows so to draw comparisons between the two is unfair.

At the end of the day, businesses are supposed to make money.....how much depends on how good the product is, and how willing the consumer is to buy it.

Fran, I totally understand your position but I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that you (if you happen to go into private practice)will ever disclose your overhead and profit margin with any of your prospective clients.......nor would I expect you to.

PABuck_HNTR

How does this differ from those practicing law? How does this differ from Insurance companies? [&:]

Kinda an odd thing to say on an Achery thread. Doesn't that break some rule somewhere?

peakrut

Alright enough now I am locking this thread.

peakrut

Crap! I can't!

SwampCollie

Yep CR&G is still in business. And I guess the long building is a good way to describe it, as the building is shaped and oriented to road just like most Charlestonian houses are (side to the street). Although when you went there they were probably only half the size of what they are now. One of the shops next to them closed down so they doubled their space. May have been there when you lived there but Neil (the owner) put several head of his african game up, as well as his 370" class bull elk. Kinda stands out in the back. They put a high ticket case in behind the registers also. Neil actually bought the whole building a couple years ago and back then we were talking about redoing the store and moving the counters around a what not. I drew up a couple of schemes for him while I was there. Don't know if they ever did rearrange everything or not. We/they have focused mostly on high-end goods now. Blazer, Dakota, Kimber, Styer, Schmidt-Bender, Boyt, Filson, Surefire etc etc. Lots of the good ol' boys think the shop is snooty and don't bother... you can buy an 870 at "Richard's" just down the way, and we kept a few around but didn't try to compete. We usually had a couple of Sauers and LC Smiths, Model 21s and Foxes, and have had at times H&Hs, Diana and Midas grade Superposed, as well as some higher end rifles. They don't make'em like they used to!

Buck and Bass did go under, and I think Ludens is still there. Charleston Angler has a couple of stores. There is another place behind Earthfare on James Island (big tackle shop) but I can't remember what the name of it is. Toby's on Johns Island was still open and may still be. I know their Bow guy named Steve moved from Toby's to Barton and Burwell. B&B built a real nice place over in Mount P right near Palmetto Ford with a second story indoor range. Bud's Bow Shop in N. Chas was still there when I moved back to VA in late 2006. Cabelas was talking about building in N. Chas, but most of the small business owners cried foul for the huge tax incentives Cabela's often demands. Senators and Congressmen were called. Don't know what the status of that is. They also built a Krispy Kreme right next to Carolina Rod and Gun and it was hard to stay out of that place in the morning, especially when it was cold... everytime the door opened that smell would waft in... I ate so many that I would have killed for a Dunkin Doughnut by the time I moved back home! Too much of a good thing.

SwampCollie

I wasn't alive when it happened, but speaking of CR&G like we were, I remember a conversation just after Hurricane Katrina when gas prices were changing hourly that some of the old timers at the gun counter had.

One of the guys was working on a shrimp boat in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was president and apparently tried or threatened to impose governments will onto oil companies. When they were out fishing/shrimping, the gent told us that anchored about ten miles offshore were litterally dozens of container and oil ships... just holding their cards until Carter backed down. From what I understand and read, the price of gas sky rocketed as supply was shortened and demand remained the same. The oil companies made it a point to prove that they could, with a few phone calls and a few dropped anchors, bring this country to a stand still.

With regards to Exxon, who is just a refiner of crude... the price of a gallon of gas in March of 2004 was according to CNN $1.79 a gallon. Exxon's profits have increased 60% since then.... and today gas hit an average of $3.27 a gallon.... I did ace economics in college, but I have forgotten most of it... never the less... something kinda tells me there is a correlation there.

Big J did make a good point... comparing oil to bows is a bit out of context. Our economy has become dependant on oil, I personally drove 94 miles today on a business roadtrip for work the next four days. That in a personal vehical to boot. Nature of the beast when you are young. But our prices and the price of everything has gone up (in some cases way up) and my expenses have gone up just to do my job in the last year... yet is anyone getting a pay raise? Not where I work... not where my parents work, not where my girlfriend works, not where my friends work. In fact several companies are laying off a lot of workers. So are the American people really benefitting from rising costs and shrinking margins....






no.


In the sporting goods industry there is one company (and its not a bow company.... I'll give you a hint its a gun company) that stands out as the one in my mind who exemplifies everything that quick was talking about in some of his early posts.

Anyone care to take a stab at it? Not that hard to figure out!