----- Original Message -----
From: "Sain'T Tom" <k4rv@mindspring.com>
To: "Richard Karlquist" <richard@karlquist.com>
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 4:03 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Looking for cheap source of radial wire...
> Believe it or not, there is rhyme and reason to the pricing of Romex 14-2.
> Well, sort of . . . .
>
> I was in the hardware business for 10 years. In that business I found
> out that there are some items, usually called price sensitive items, that
> all competitive hardware stores use to mentally leave you with a "Wow,
> What a LOW price!" impression. 250 foot 14-2 with ground INDOOR(NM) Romex
> along with Thompson's Water Seal, Round-Up weed killer, 2x4 lumber,
$3.99
> rakes and shovels and about 100 others are in this group. There are well
> over 3000 otherwise normally marked-up items in the smallest hardware
store
> that are not price sensitive. Gross profit on price sensitive items is
less
> than one dollar - sometimes less than 10 cents - even at the so called
> discount home centers. Normal profit on regularly priced below $20.00
items
> is from half again to double store cost. This is not unreasonable on the
> less than twenty dollar retail items from which a hardware store MUST make
a
> profitable living to survive. Hey, do you work for nothing? Most items
> over twenty dollars retail have a less than 20% mark-up. That is why you
> seldom see a brand new current model lawn mower on sale for half price.
>
> The idea is that if you find such a low price on these well known
items,
> then mentally you associate the pricing on all other items in the store as
> being just as low. It works!! You may think you are immune to such
> "trickery". All other things being equal (service, selection, employee
> attitude, etc.), you always return to the place where you perceive that
you
> got a good deal.
>
> If you really want the lowest price on that 250 foot 14-2 box of
indoor
> Romex, go to a COMPETTIVE local hardware store (Ace, True Value, etc.) and
> ask the owner or manager about buying 10 or more boxes. Likely, for a
> quantity buy he will work with you to cultivate your business. However,
> don't expect more than a 5 percent savings because the shelf price starts
> out as that of a price sensitive, very low markup item. At the giant home
> centers, the manager usually does not have the authority to arbitrarily
> lower pricing unless you can PROVE that you can buy it cheaper somewhere
> else. After all, just like when you sell your house, car, rig, or
> whatever... why should you sell it for less when somebody else will pay
> more? You get all you can!!
>
> 73
> Tom K4RV
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Karlquist" <richard@karlquist.com>
> To: "David O Hachadorian" <k6ll@juno.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2001 23:26 PM
> Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Looking for cheap source of radial wire...
>
>
> >
> > I have been studying the wire market for
> > several years. (I know, I need to get
> > a life :-) Anyway, I have noticed that, for
> > some unknown reason, 14 THHN is considerably
> > cheaper than bare 14 gauge wire. OTOH,
> > Romex 14-2 is considerably cheaper than
> > THHN (per foot of conductor). If you don't
> > mind the labor of stripping off the cover,
> > just look for home improvement stores blowing
> > out 250 ft reels of the stuff and you can't
> > beat the price. It ALWAYS seems to be on sale.
> > Bigger reels may not necessarily be a better
> > deal. No rhyme or reason to it.
> >
> > Also, the price per foot is minimum at 14 gauge.
> > Larger or small is more per foot (in home improvement
> > stores). If you want smaller gauges, magnet wire
> > vendors charge several dollars per pound. This
> > works out to about 1 cent per foot for 18 gauge.
> > Only slightly cheaper than Romex.
> >
> > Must be a volume thing as near as I can figure.
> > Everybody needs Romex.
> >
> > Rick Karlquist N6RK
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> > > [mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of David O
Hachadorian
> > > Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2001 12:44 PM
> > > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Looking for cheap source of radial wire...
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, 10 Nov 2001 18:46:03 -0800 Steve Gehring
> > > <steven.gehring@verizon.net> writes:
> > > >
> > > > All,
> > > >
> > > > I'm looking for a cheap source of radial wire, somewhere in the 1000
> > > > to
> > > > 2000 ft range. Any ideas? There aren't any local hamfests in the
> > > > near
> > > > future. Thanks ahead of time...
> > > >
> > > > 73 de Steve, KZ9G
> > >
> > > Try pricing a large roll of Romex, 14-2 with ground. It's cheap,
> > > and it's easy to remove the outer cover by stripping off a couple
> > > feet, tying one wire to a tree, and pulling on one of the other wires.
> > > There's no shipping fee, and two thirds of the wire you get is
> insulated.
> > > #14 is large enough to provide good mechanical strength to last for
> > > a long time.
> > >
> > > Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
> > > Yuma, AZ
> > > K6LL@juno.com
> > >
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> >
> > -----
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> >
> >
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> >
> > -----
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> >
>
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