| Author |
Message |
    
RCI2990
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 4:39 pm: | 
|
I dont know about the rest of you guys but i get sick of going to a CB shop and seeing stuff priced 50 to 75% above what places like Coppers, H&Y and a few other wholesalers have. I went to a shop once and saw a A99 sell for 119.95!!!!
Plus some of these guys sell used radios for almost new prices! Yeah i know they have to make a profit but C'mon! Some of these guys even have regular jobs and still overprice their stuff by almost 75%! Me myself i almost never buy new retail ( i do buy used from a local shop here and ther if the price is right) from a CB shop but get most of my stuff as cheap as i can. I guess they are ok for the guys that are either just getting started and dont know any better or a trucker that need something right now and doesnt want to wait for an order to come in via USPS. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 10:10 pm: |
|
2990 i think e-bay has a lot to do with it look at hamfests junk that sold for 5 bucks is now 50 .... and 10 years older |
Tech181
| | Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 11:48 pm: |
|
The internet has definately made the market place as a whole, more competitive. Even though you wouldn't know it buy looking at some people's prices. The latest Timonium MD hamfest had outrageous prices, most the same as retail. Not a whole lot of good deals there this year at all.
Don't worry about paying high prices at CB shops though. Buy through Copper and you won't have to.
Steve
Tech181
Tech181@copperelectronics.com |
ss8541
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 12:55 am: |
|
there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. i recently went back to work for a motorola dealer for the fact that i couldn't compete with the wholesale dealers (wholesale is the keyword) on the net. i had to go through distributors that charge me what you guys call 'wholesalers' charge you. also, i refused to remove limiters to give the "false loudness" (distortion) that truckers love, so that hurt me locally also. even though i used calibrated equipment for pll/vco, rx, and tx alignment, that other shops couldn't even spell, much less use, that didn't matter. the locals wanted to make the next guys speaker rattle.
since i refused to lower my standards, i had a big decision to make. being 2.5 yrs out of the usmc, and after building a new home and having 2 children 2.5yrs and 7mo, i decided to take my loses, and go back to the motorola dealer that had been asking me to come back for a while. when they offered their last raise, i took it.
i never tried to burn anyone, but i did have to make a living. so 15yrs from now when there are no 'true' techs left to service your radios, remember how the 25yr old ss8541 told you it was in 2002. if you haven't been established for yrs b4 now (2002), and you don't lower yourself to trkstop standards (no offense to anyone) you aren't going to make it. i'm living proof. but i must be a good tech. what motorola dealer would offer a loser tech (more than one offer) back their job with a raise? and this isn't b.s., i can give phone#'s to call for proof.
i'm just trying to show, that you either have to be a well estblished business (with almost distributor type cash flow) or a chop shop at a trkstop to make it in cb radios now days. i thought i could change this by giving top quality work, but boy was i the fool . |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 2:51 am: |
|
I am a old Coppers customer and although i havent bought much in the last 2 years id still buy wholesale preices before id buy from a CB shop that has the very same stuff and pay that riduculosly high markup.. What is kinda funny is i once saw a cobra 148GTL new in the box at a CB shop(this was in 1993 BTW when Coppers still sold the old style CB radios made by Cobra) and the guy wanted 250.00 for it!!!!! I menthioned that i could get it for the then price of 149.99 and the shop owner gave me this long song and dance and Boo Hoo Hoo about how he could never compete with Coppers and how unfair it was to undercut CB shops and I was like "Oh well"... |
Mrhappy
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 10:55 am: |
|
Richard,your not going to stop side work are you?,your the only guy i let work on my stuff.say it aint so.(99v,lincoln)in case you dont recognize the handle.(ken) |
Bullseye
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 1:26 pm: |
|
Have to agree. I'm lucky I don't think my tech will ever quit. As for prices there is a local shop here that gets,unbelievably, $259.99 for a Galaxy DX55V unmodified. They then charge $59.99 for modification. A "tune-up" costs $29.99 which consists of a "tech" saying auuuuuuuuuuudio and adjusting am modulation until it reads 100% on a meter cover back on "tune-up" done. So until these shops come to their senses I will by from copper and stick with my tech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
BIG FOOT
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 6:32 pm: |
|
.. if you let the CB shop employees know verbally about copper, or other places being cheaper...they can always say " you got one on order or " you actually bought it "... to smart off to you for letting them know their prices are too HIGH.... i DO plan to BUY something SOON from COPPER, just kinda waiting for this "post 9 - 11 recession " to end and folks get their jobs back..... (( recession when your neighbor / friend loses his job....DEPRESSION when YOU lose YOUR job ))) |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Sunday, May 05, 2002 - 7:46 pm: |
|
See what i mean?????? its •••• like this that give the overall CB industry the blackeye! I know of a few CB shops that so call tune a radio. HA! All they do is cut this and turn that and look for the info out of a $19.95 Coppers ( no offense here) "CB tune up guide master edition" and then charge 50.00 to do the work!! The rip it out and run mentallity. Rip out the limiters and run the customer out the door for the next guy and charge big $$$........... BTW i have all my work done by a local tech and he has well over 35 years exp. I only go to him and never send anything off to guys that advertise over the net. (no offense to you techs that are on this here forum) Saves me shipping and besides ive known the guy like forever and i do not know anyone that is on the net doing work. And he knows to well the way CB shops are nowadays and can sit here and agree with me 100% on everything ive said. |
Ncrebel
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 10:20 am: |
|
Thats why I tune my radio's myself and I quit cutting the limiter! And you're right,the cb shops are so dag-on high it's stupid.We have 3 cb shops around here,maybe some more that I'm not thinking of or some thats in somebody's back yard.But anyways,for example,my Maxon 45W which is a good radio (to me anyways) is $100 bucks unpeaked and without the high and low conversion at a cb shop about a 1/2 hour from here.At another cb shop we have around here,which is the certain cb shop a LOT of people recommend,they have the same radio for $70 brand new!!Thats 30% off!And they have a top shelf tech there to go along with that.The first place I mentioned has been there for over 20 years I think,but darned if you could tell it by me.Just me,a little ol radio operator who's been in it for just around 3 years,has gotten this guy confused about things in a radio.This is what techs have gone to these days.Whatever happened to good ol "radio nerds"
(no offence:D)that actually knew something about the technology they're dealing with??Now we have biker billy bob on the other side of the counter that thinks you're a dumb *** if you ask him a tech question and gives you a bumfuzzled look if you tell him something he doesn't understand (which can be something very simple)about the radio he sells.We need more radio techs out there!
All the good techs are going to motorola (how could we blame them though) and getting oodles more money.Wish I had the brains to get a job like that. |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 5:11 pm: |
|
With the knoledge i have about radios i could more than likely go to school and pass and be a tech but then i dont want anything to do with CB radios. Id never run a CB shop myself. Too much BS to contend with. I try to do all my own repairs and occasionaly i will work on another guys radio BUT only if i know him really well and i will not do any other outside work for anyone else but some of my friends. I hate to say this but the overall CB industry is going down the stool and i dont see it getting any better. No matter what we try to tell everyone about the bad thins to do to radios there will be more than enough screwdriver jockeys to tell the ignorant ones the BS about radios that is merely that! BS! its all about $$$ and nothing else anymore...... |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 5:18 pm: |
|
Ncrebel..
Then if you go to a high CB shop and see a radio for like instance Galaxy DX 88 HML for $425.00 new then tell the guy "oh i can get that radio for 319.99 out of Coppers" they give you the speel "oh i cant compete with those places" or the one i LOOOOOOVE to hear(LOL!!) "Coppers sells refurb radios as new radios" Yeah Umm ok, yeah right!! Then the deal when you -DO- buy a radio from Coppers (and save yourself a freaking TON of cash!!!) or another place and take it to the shop to get it converted or tuned and you tell the guy "I bought it from Coppers" or some other place they give you a funny look or some other crap shoot... LOL! They will never get it. People dont like to pay out the a$$ for radio equipment......
|
Ncrebel
| | Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 11:13 pm: |
|
I think a big part of a lot of this is think of all the techs there is out there that probally don't even talk on the radios even though they work on them all day.I know of a cb shop towards the coast of NC that the man has a cb shop out front and has a garage in the back.LOL What I'm gettin at is that the people who work on the radios probally don't even care what kind of image the cb radio industry has as long as they can go in there and cut the limiters and get it nice loud and *gulp* distorted.Thats why I'm leavin the limiters on my radios alone from now on.If you have your radio clear you can hook a
amp up and have it clear and loud not "fis is unif bzz 68 out bzz bzz bzz north carobzzlina" you get with over modulation.Just my .02 cents. |
KGG1157
| | Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 2:11 am: |
|
You wanna talk overpriced?....try cbcity.com
My only complaint is the antenna was shipped from Copper with the top part of the antenna missing.
I called to let them know it was missing and the salesperson (Carl) let me know that they have had a problem from the Manufacturer ( shakespeare) shipping them like that,,,,,now I ask you.
If a problem is known, why not check to make sure that the order is being shipped complete? But still...Copper is cheaper than most..the extra 5 days it took to complete my antenna. |
Apachee
| | Posted on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 11:57 am: |
|
I saw a 2517 galaxy base on the internet for $ 500.00 and i wrote the people and ask them why it was so high? I told them i could get it much cheaper at copper. $500.00 is not counting S&H and peaking it out. They wrote me back and said smart people don't buy from copper. |
Taz
| | Posted on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 2:24 pm: |
|
damn, that hits a nerve when people say stupid things like that. |
307
| | Posted on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 5:25 pm: |
|
You know , I did not even think of it but before I started working with Copper on the side years ago , ALL of the radios I bought were from Copper. I have been dealing with them for at least 20 years. I used to buy Cobra 2000 radios by the stacks from Copper. Other than Selman Enterprizes in Corpus Cristi Texas (probably spelled wrong) I never really had the chance to "price" other CB shops.Thats really weird to look back and realize that. I still have one of the "original" Cobra wind breaker jackets the Copper used to sell. I still have in the closet hundreds of Copper catalogs from way-way back..Wow time flies...
307
C.E.O Technical Operations
Copper Electronics
tech307@copperelectronics.com |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 8:58 pm: |
|
My 2517 is super,but I can't figure out why the ssb output is creeping up was 25 then 28 then 30 then 33,what's going on? A self peaking radio,kewl. |
Galileo
| | Posted on Monday, June 03, 2002 - 9:21 pm: |
|
Hey, Ive ordered alot of things from Copper...Never had a problem..CAN YOU SAY COD....The only way to go.....No product no cash...Im very happy with thier service..Out of 5 or 6 orders, I was missing one mounting clamp, and it was quickly sent to me......Tom Shaw |
Apachee
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 05, 2002 - 4:31 pm: |
|
I have order many things from copper allways came within 3 or 4 days. I have check many cb stores on the internet and a lot of them are way way to high. As long as i have a cb need for radio's,antenna's, and so on i will allways buy from copper. I was looking at a galaxy 959 dx and some places wanted $200.00 not counting S&H and peaking. I got it from copper S&H and peak for $196.00 One of the cb stores where i lived wanted $100.00 for a A-99 that's if you pay cash, if you pay by c card $125.00. 73's |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 05, 2002 - 11:53 pm: |
|
I almost never buy from any retail CB dealers. They are wayy to high for what they sell and most of them are a rip off anyways. What peeves me is when they try to buy used stuff and then turn around and resell it for 50 to 75% markup!! I saw a guy sell a local CB shop a very good looking and clean president HR 2510 once and the owner paid the guy a measly $75.00 for the radio. The next week he had it sold for $225.00!!!!!!!!! |
Dx431
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 1:58 am: |
|
I know a C.B Shop in Iowa that has a Galaxy 2527DX brand new for $549.00! I'm not even going to tell ya what he wanted for the 696F. And speaking of rip offs,the same man wanted $55.00 to convert my buddy's 2517, then he wanted to know if my buddy had all the parts to convert it! Parts? What parts? LOL |
bruce
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 10:09 am: |
|
And i thought Florida had a lock on crooked shops!
A guard out at the jail took his TUBE liner to a shop to have it checked the guy told him it needed new tubes $225 for 3 6jb6's GASP ! Well to make matters worse he ran into another man who had the same amp .... also " needed new tubes "
and they got talking so both opened up the amps to find the guy put used tubes from other amps in there...easy to tell he never bothered to even clean them up. O it gets better he told one cb'er that BY LAW he had to removed mods to the mans radio or he could not repair it this was a cool $50 too ...That promped a call to consumer protection .. the repairman left the state and last was driving trucks out west..... and you guessed it fixing radios on the side. |
BIG FOOT
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 1:42 pm: |
|
...pawn shops do the same thing...buy a used cobra 29 LTD classic for $ 10 - $ 20.... wait and resell it for $ 85 - $100.00 when you can buy a NEW one with a warranty for not but a few bucks more ( if that much )..... pawn shops near HUNTSVILLE alabama have been selling new MIDLAND wqalkie-talkies and COBRA 29 NEW for more than you cn but thru copper or other cb places...... the truck stop of i - 65 and hwy 67 east of Decatur sells new stuff for way too high prices...copper is just plain out CHEAPER and they know it !! BIG FOOT |
phineas
| | Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 1:43 pm: |
|
You have to consider one thing. The same places you get your stuff from, most CB shops get their stuff from. Probably from Copper also.
Phineas |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Friday, June 07, 2002 - 7:12 pm: |
|
bruce. thats why i tell all the guys that do run heat to take a little bit of paint or nail polish and put a red dot on the top of every tube and show that to the shop owners so that way if the guy does work on the amps he can tell if the guys cheated him on the tubes. |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Saturday, June 08, 2002 - 7:38 am: |
|
Whats funny is if you talk about getting your radios from either another dealer or over the net from places like Coppers they tell you "oh i cant compete with those places" Or i had one guy tell me " id never buy anything from Coppers becaus they sell refurb radios as new" or some lame exscuse like that. Now i know its good to have a local shop for repairs but man alive, do they have to be so darn high on ther stuff???? |
BIG FOOT
| | Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2002 - 9:57 am: |
|
...at least with COPPER...quality and good prices just can not be beat !!...BIG FOOT |
capncrunch
| | Posted on Friday, August 16, 2002 - 7:44 am: |
|
the thing with the truck stop cb shops is that most drivers dont try to learn anything about the radios they just go to the first shop they come to and say make this radio kick butt and when the guy tells them it costs an arm and a leg they just pay it even though the shops equipment only consists of a dosy pm 1ooo and a power supply with the mod bible layin on the bench for him to look in,i once found some upgrades for the 2950 online that i thought would be ok so i went to a cb shop and told him what i wanted and he had no idea what i was talkin about so i got from the truck the copies i had made from the net on what i wanted and showed him he was like oh i never saw this before can i make copies so i just left never did let him tune it or do the am detection upgrade or the roger beep modification |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 12:05 am: |
|
a local radio shop here wants 50 bucks to put in my echo board! |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 1:26 am: |
|
LOL!!!!!!!! I know a CB shop that charges 200.00 to put in extra channels in a cobra 148 GTL!!! That was back in 1993 so im sure he charges more now or maybe doesnt do it at all.. |
2600
| | Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 2:12 am: |
|
Once upon a time, before the age of the "Toll-Free 800 number", there was a local ham radio shop in 50 or 60 cities around the U.S. Their overhead was pretty high, but since the factories wouldn't sell direct, you had to pay their prices. Some brands did sell factory-direct, but always at the 'suggested retail price'. Along came the new-fangled direct-dial long-distance phone network, and pretty soon a new service called "W.A.T.S." that used an area-code prefix of "800". Ambitious folks figured out that they could beat any store-owner's price by "drop shipping", or acting as a middleman for the factory. He never dug in his pocket to pay for a radio, buying it on "NET 30" business credit, and collecting from the customer in time to turn around and pay the factory. Believe me, nothing drives up your cost of doing business like paying (in advance) for your inventory. One by one, the small regional "factory-authorized" dealers found themselves working full-time doing warranty work and 'hand-holding' for radios they didn't (and couldn't) sell. One by one these guys either fell by the wayside or found other business interests to pursue. Bit by bit, people got used to having only a few large, national retail dealers to choose from. Some brands tried to go 'factory direct', but it didn't last.
There's no point to whining about 'retail overhead', or paying $1500 per month to rent a tiny corner of a truck stop. There's one unbreakable rule, one test that is ALWAYS accurate to measure "Does he charge ENOUGH ?". If he's still in business next year, he charged enough this year. Period. If he didn't charge enough, you'll waste a trip going back to him next time, after he's gone. Free markets are a gift of our free, open society, and you are always entitled to vote with your feet, and choose somebody cheaper.
73 |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 11:28 pm: |
|
I dont care as long as i can but it as cheaply as i can and NOT pay the higher than he$$ retail prices. thats why there are pkaces like Coppers around year after year.... :-) |
|
