first of all, thankyou for the intense discussion, hence a very warm welcome to me. haha
i am currently wrking in one of the LFS, and in my eyes though the years, i have seen some things. let's summarize them:
1. price is the most important aspect for customers, not quality... although it is sad, it is so in the market, for the few reefers who have their eyes on quality, it is not enough to support a LFS... businesswise, the decrease profit margin=less care for livestock=more crappy product on shelf for dummy shoppers... it is a vicious circle.
2. to tell you the truth, in the north american market, economy of scale is very important, big stores like JL and big al's get dry good/equipment for alot cheaper. a small LFS are very hard to compete. it is not profitable.
3. usually what you see is this, a start out LFS would sell livestock to build up capital, and load up dry goods. the thing is, when price is low, profit shrinks yet sales figure not drop... why? because there are alot of people out there willing to take chances on un-quarantine, sick fishes and inverts... in a business POV, the livestock grade is indifferent for them because shipping charge is constant, i mean, a sick fish shipping is the same as the good fish, so owner will try their best to sell every daXn thing in order to at least break even.
4. as all of you guys know, if you guys can mail order/group order stuff through the internet from big companies, there remain no markets/demand for LFS to order in stuff, and when they do, the cash are sunk. the interest can be otherwise earned (oppotunity cost of stocking)are charged in the price tag, therefore you see a rise in price of dry goods in LFS.
what i wanna say is, by mail order stuff, you destroy demand, and supply WILL shrink. this is a lost to reefers because there will be no bulbs at your tank tonight if yours in burnt in the morning. because LFS see no need for them to stock... one might say, i can buy 2... but is that the right way to go?? can't your money be better well spent?? becasue there are no demand for stocking, now all reefer has to incur oppotunity cost of stocking stuff themselves.
this is the story of dry goods. how about livestock?? do you stock "spare" livestock? think about it guys! the LFS is important, they are the ones to take the risk to order the animals, and sustain any lost it might occur.... i surely will not put whatever stuffs in the mail order into my tank, why keeping stuff you don't like??
and to all of reefers out there, i feel no remorse to name LFS for their bad practice, they should be responsible for their own action. this is why this forum is here.
as you can see, i am a economics junky., it is what i do.
i open this topic to say, sometimes employees have different intentions to storeowner, i think my head is very clear. and i am rewarded with loyal customers who only come to the store when it is my shift.
and lastly, by no means i am targeting anyone. i am just giving my thoughts.
Cheers