[Rhodes22-list] Triad Trailers

Thu Jul 5 08:05:25 EDT 2007

OK, Michael, I take this time, at the expense of others waiting for boats, 
in all due gratitude for your years of loyalty - and for innocently not 
being tuned into some business type idiosyncrasies:

First of all you should know this letter did not have you in mind as a 
person but only addressed an ongoing issue of who sets pricing - the owner 
of the product or the subcontractor who makes that product for the owner.

If I sold you a Boat Show package and then gave you list price credit for 
each item you did not wish to take that came with that package at the that 
show boat pricing,  and you elected to take off all of the items in the 
package and get credit for them all,  I would owe you money;  obviously not 
the name (or rules ) of the game.

Triad has no right to set its own retail figure on our trailers and then 
sell them at that figure since it does not make that trailer as a stock 
items and only builds them under contract to us as our product.  Once Triad 
tells you what they think should be the list price of that trailer it has 
advertised that price to the world and boxed us in.  And it does this 
without even considering what our actual costs may be.  One quick example of 
our other costs in setting our own list price:  do you have any idea of what 
it costs us to bring each trailer individually to our plant?  I doubt you 
have considered any of the multiple costs we have to consider in setting the 
real selling price of these trailers.  Take my 48 year old word for it that 
we have to have the right to set our retail price for each product we have 
made for us and the amount we may wish, or not wish, to discount this item 
as part of any of our promotions.

As you know, I am the lists number one bleeding heart liberal and would have 
given you the trailer or any parts you needed free if you were not in a 
position to pay for them, but, as founder of the EC Party (Enlightened 
Capitalists) I also have to reserve the right to set my pricing to make up 
for my good pro bono work for the overall benefit of sailing-kind.   If you 
still do not see the correctness of the above explanations, I would be happy 
to take it up further with you after hours.

stan/GBI

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael D. Weisner" <mweisner at ebsmed.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Triad Trailers

> Stan,
>
> I do not understand your position.  I feel that it is unnecessarily harsh
> and terribly short sighted.  As a long time member of the "Rhodes Family" 
> (I
> purchased my R22 in the fall of 1980) I have recommended the design and 
> YOU
> to many current R22 owners and prospects in the past 27 years.  Your
> comments seem to discount the GOODWIL and CUSTOMER SUPPORT that most GB 
> boat
> owners are more than happy to provide to others.  I would think that the
> future of GB lies in maintaining this alliance in an effort to sell more
> R22s, not just replacement parts sold out of the plant.
>
> My original correspondence with Triad was prompted by a discussion on this
> email list with Ed (Jan 5, 2007) concerning the purchase of a new trailer.
> Since I had the quotation and specifications from Triad, I simply passed 
> it
> along, in an open forum, when the topic arose.  If I were to buy a
> replacement trailer, it is ridiculous to think that I would travel to NC 
> to
> pick it up, when they are manufactured in CT.  Triad made the point that
> they would compensate GB for any sales made with them; case closed - you 
> get
> paid whether the purchase is direct or not.  Where's the problem?
>
>
> Mike
> s/v Shanghai'd Summer ('81)
> Nissequogue River, NY
>
>
> From: "stan" <stan at rhodes22.com> Friday, June 29, 2007 8:50 AM
>> Trailer buyers:
>>
>> Please Note:
>>
>> We are against Triad quoting prices on our trailers or selling them to 
>> any
>> of our owners.  We spent a lot of time and money developing our design 
>> and
>> if Triad quotes our prices or in anyway sells our trailers to Rhodes
>> owners,
>> we will no longer use Triad as our supplier.
>>
>> In turn, if any Rhodes owner bypasses GB in obtaining a trailer for a
>> Rhodes, we will no longer feel any obligation to consider that owner as
>> part
>> of the Rhodes family that we go out of our way to help.
>>
>> If this seems harsh to anyone, try meeting a payroll every week year 
>> round
>> regardless of the ups and downs in this economy.   If you buy the Oil
>> companies logic for their pricing, you should certainly appreciate ours.
>>
>> ss/EC
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Michael D. Weisner" <mweisner at ebsmed.com>
>> To: "Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:35 AM
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Triad Trailers
>>
>>
>>> Alan,
>>>
>>> I, too, have had my trailer serviced at the Triad plant.  Several months
>>> ago, I requested information directly from Triad Trailers in CT asking 
>>> if
>>> there was a proper method of purchasing a replacement trailer without
>>> going
>>> all the way to NC to pick it up, since it is manufactured less than 100
>>> miles from home.  Michael Orro, president of Triad Trailers replied,
>>> protecting Stan, (see attached pdf document for full reply, options and
>>> pricing)  as follows:
>>>
>>> "Technically I am unable to sell the trailer direct however I am going 
>>> to
>>> forward the pricing to you and will allow you to order the trailer 
>>> direct
>>> from us.  I'll work something out with Stan if you happen to purchase a
>>> trailer from us."
>>>
>>> Mike
>>> s/v Shanghai'd Summer ('81)
>>> Nissequogue River, NY
>>>
>>> From: "Alan Robertson" <bigal_61 at msn.com> Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:54
>>> PM
>>>> Jim,
>>>> Curious. Is Stan still selling the custom made "built like a 
>>>> battleship"
>>>> Triad trailers designed for a float on and off Rhodes fin keel. I 
>>>> bought
>>>> one with our boat and about 15 years later trailered it over to the 
>>>> mfg.
>>>> in Waterbury Conn. who made some minor repairs including 1 weld.  The
>>>> fender skirts on the trailer had steel like the fenders on my uncle's
>>>> '39
>>>> Studebaker President.
>>> -------------- next part --------------
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>
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