Is Smeg is a company in Massachusetts. Smeg, MA. ?????
Weber in Australia
- Thread starter SmokinAussie
- Start date
peeps
somebody shut me the fark up.
That's them!
daninnewjersey
Babbling Farker
:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_wsEPiY9E&feature=player_embedded"]Joe's BBQ - Quality BBQs, Weber Barbeques, Beefeater BBQs - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_wsEPiY9E&feature=player_embedded"]Joe's BBQ - Quality BBQs, Weber Barbeques, Beefeater BBQs - YouTube[/ame]
Bluesman
Babbling Farker
Bill is going to awake........hung over from getting pissed and say............Wow they understand............:butt:
peeps
somebody shut me the fark up.
Touche, mate!
Doing my best to add Aussie phrases so he doesn't have trouble understanding
mbshop
Babbling Farker
maybe come to America, buy a container full of webers and ship them back to sell.
or just move here and get all the cheap webers you want. simple.
or just move here and get all the cheap webers you want. simple.
SmittyJonz
somebody shut me the fark up.
Seems like someone would start manufacturing a knockoff down there........:twitch:
Mixin
Is lookin for wood to cook with.
I work for the Aussie division of a large US corporate, and whilst we do have a small premium on some of the products, it's really only enough to cover freight & a bit of handing/storage. We are still doing well because it's easier for Aussie businesses to buy locally from us, at a similar price to what they'd pay buyig direct & shipping it themselves - but the prefer to to have the hassle of that.
I'm also well-versed in the free trade agreements, tariffs & import duties - which are bugger all, and only on a very small range of products now - which is why our manufacturing industry is well & truly farked.
Our governments over the last 3 decades have progressively sold us out to the Asian nations - so many "free trade" agreements, and tariff removals, all one-sided, and none of it benefitting Australia. Unfortunately the uneducated public want high wages, but only want to pay chinese prices - and cannot see the perilous hole that creates. And they wonder why their jobs are all becoming redundant.
It has made the gap between quality products, and really cheap junk, much wider, and at the quality end, the manufacturers try to push the envelope even further.
We do have 10% GST (sales tax) but that's still no excuse for prices that are 3x what the USA pay for the same product. Our currency was higher than 1:1 with the greenback for many months in a row, and is still only sitting around US$0.95
Even allowing for shipping & warehousing, a 50% higher price from Weber would be acceptable, but not 300%.
It's not just Weber - many multi-nationals look at Australia as a land of opportunity - full of suckers who will pay through the nose for product. We have been inundated in recent years with all manner of unheard of brands & models of everything - cars, consumer goods, and even retail chains - all thinking Australia is the promised land where they can make obscene profits.
Trouble is, most non-Australian business people - my own global colleagues included, have no idea that our population is only 23 million, and we're literally all dotted around the coastline, or within only a few hours of it.
I'll never forget the look on a (US) senior marketing manager's face when he pointed to the centre of a map of Australia & asked who managed that region. We told him nobody, because there ain't nothin' there. He thought Alice Springs was a city of 5 million people....
I have often tried to buy stuff direct from the US, and been told "sorry, go to the Aussie distributor" who are 2-3x the price. Many online stores are like this too, but I have bought several items & had them shipped to friends in the US who have forwarded them on.
Larger items are a problem - shipping is very expensive - I was quoted over $250 for a box the size & weight of a Weber kettle. I have been lucky though, I'm into vintage Chevys from the 1920s, and I've recently had a mate bring out 2 cars from CA. I took advantage of the shipping to get a few bulky items sent over in the container with them - but I needed a US address to send them to first.
I have often discussed this with some of my US colleagues, and we all agree there would be a market. Problem is, a container costs around $4000 to get here, so you'd need to have a substantial amount of product, and therefore some way of shifting all that product. It's not uncommon for parellel imports to land here like that, but our government is easily swayed by the global giants who don't like it, and try to stop it - often successfully too. I'm sure Weber would launch legal action against anyone shipping in a container full of kettles or gassers.
I'm also well-versed in the free trade agreements, tariffs & import duties - which are bugger all, and only on a very small range of products now - which is why our manufacturing industry is well & truly farked.
Our governments over the last 3 decades have progressively sold us out to the Asian nations - so many "free trade" agreements, and tariff removals, all one-sided, and none of it benefitting Australia. Unfortunately the uneducated public want high wages, but only want to pay chinese prices - and cannot see the perilous hole that creates. And they wonder why their jobs are all becoming redundant.
It has made the gap between quality products, and really cheap junk, much wider, and at the quality end, the manufacturers try to push the envelope even further.
We do have 10% GST (sales tax) but that's still no excuse for prices that are 3x what the USA pay for the same product. Our currency was higher than 1:1 with the greenback for many months in a row, and is still only sitting around US$0.95
Even allowing for shipping & warehousing, a 50% higher price from Weber would be acceptable, but not 300%.
It's not just Weber - many multi-nationals look at Australia as a land of opportunity - full of suckers who will pay through the nose for product. We have been inundated in recent years with all manner of unheard of brands & models of everything - cars, consumer goods, and even retail chains - all thinking Australia is the promised land where they can make obscene profits.
Trouble is, most non-Australian business people - my own global colleagues included, have no idea that our population is only 23 million, and we're literally all dotted around the coastline, or within only a few hours of it.
I'll never forget the look on a (US) senior marketing manager's face when he pointed to the centre of a map of Australia & asked who managed that region. We told him nobody, because there ain't nothin' there. He thought Alice Springs was a city of 5 million people....
I have often tried to buy stuff direct from the US, and been told "sorry, go to the Aussie distributor" who are 2-3x the price. Many online stores are like this too, but I have bought several items & had them shipped to friends in the US who have forwarded them on.
Larger items are a problem - shipping is very expensive - I was quoted over $250 for a box the size & weight of a Weber kettle. I have been lucky though, I'm into vintage Chevys from the 1920s, and I've recently had a mate bring out 2 cars from CA. I took advantage of the shipping to get a few bulky items sent over in the container with them - but I needed a US address to send them to first.
I have often discussed this with some of my US colleagues, and we all agree there would be a market. Problem is, a container costs around $4000 to get here, so you'd need to have a substantial amount of product, and therefore some way of shifting all that product. It's not uncommon for parellel imports to land here like that, but our government is easily swayed by the global giants who don't like it, and try to stop it - often successfully too. I'm sure Weber would launch legal action against anyone shipping in a container full of kettles or gassers.
jeffturnerjr
is Blowin Smoke!
Sounds like we need to start our own line of smokers, move there, outsell with better quality and lower prices, and give Australia better q.
Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
martyleach
Quintessential Chatty Farker
That pretty much sucks for you guys down there. I'm thinking that the cost of shipping is making the prices crazy for you. It costs me about 5 dollars to ship a handle in the USA. $12 to Europe and about $20 to down under land. Maybe the weight of the BBQ's is the killer.
Mixin
Is lookin for wood to cook with.
Shipping via container or even consolidated air isn't that great for a business - we average about 4% of the stock's cost for sea, and up to 15% for air shipments via a freight forwarder from the US to Oz.
Individuals face much higher postage costs. I recently bought a couple of BorgWarner T5 shifters (they suit the 3rd gen F-body T5s used in some 1980s performance GM-Holden cars). The seller was from TX and couldn't do enough to help me and make for an excellent buying experience - and I'm finding more & more US sellers are willing to bend over backwards these days for a sale, but that's another topic....... The small box weighing a few pounds cost me just over US$60 postage for USPS, when sellers of similar products in the US are offering free shipping within the states. I think a lot of it has to do with how sparsely we are populated when you get away from the capital cities (but that doesn't explain port-to-port costs!)
When it got here, i took my one out, and then I then sent the other half of the parcel on to my mate in New Zealand (our neighbouring country) and it cost me AU$75 for half the weight.
Their postage is very cheap though - He sent me a huge parcel of parts - about 15lb, a box the size of a 17" alloy wheel for a car, and it only cost NZ$25 (about US$18).
But in answer to your question, I couldn't see freight adding more than $20 to each kettle or Q if weber shipped a container load of them here. The kettles are very popular in Oz, and the small Qs are becoming common too. The cheapest full-size kettle starts at about $280 in one of the 'big box' type hardware chains. You should see what it costs for briquettes, a chimney, or a looftlighter! Luckily there's a good guy in the west who imports & sells a lot of similar stuff for much more reasonable prices, but he's not selling the full weber range that the BBQ stores sell.
Individuals face much higher postage costs. I recently bought a couple of BorgWarner T5 shifters (they suit the 3rd gen F-body T5s used in some 1980s performance GM-Holden cars). The seller was from TX and couldn't do enough to help me and make for an excellent buying experience - and I'm finding more & more US sellers are willing to bend over backwards these days for a sale, but that's another topic....... The small box weighing a few pounds cost me just over US$60 postage for USPS, when sellers of similar products in the US are offering free shipping within the states. I think a lot of it has to do with how sparsely we are populated when you get away from the capital cities (but that doesn't explain port-to-port costs!)
When it got here, i took my one out, and then I then sent the other half of the parcel on to my mate in New Zealand (our neighbouring country) and it cost me AU$75 for half the weight.
Their postage is very cheap though - He sent me a huge parcel of parts - about 15lb, a box the size of a 17" alloy wheel for a car, and it only cost NZ$25 (about US$18).
But in answer to your question, I couldn't see freight adding more than $20 to each kettle or Q if weber shipped a container load of them here. The kettles are very popular in Oz, and the small Qs are becoming common too. The cheapest full-size kettle starts at about $280 in one of the 'big box' type hardware chains. You should see what it costs for briquettes, a chimney, or a looftlighter! Luckily there's a good guy in the west who imports & sells a lot of similar stuff for much more reasonable prices, but he's not selling the full weber range that the BBQ stores sell.
The thing is, as long as Weber can get away with those prices, they will continue to charge. They have indeed been extremely diligent in litigation. If you even think about trying a parallel import, you'll have a writ on your doorstep before the stuff actually gets here. It's pure and simple market forces. They have created a premium image and brand in Australia (which has cost a lot of money) and any one knows that selling fewer units at a much higher price is a better business model as it earns better profits
So, we will continue to get drip fed products at exorbitent prices, and Weber will continue to extort 30 thousand dollars a year from anyone who wishes to be a dealer... and that's why these dealers are not going to have product sitting on the shelf gathering dust.
I would like however, to have the opportunity of buying a cover, and some cherry wood without having to get it ordered in.. or indeed being told by the dealer that Weber won't let them have it...
It is another case of the Aussie public being ripped off and played for a sucker.
Bugger...
Bill
deguerre
somebody shut me the fark up.
If CD's Philly connection don't work out, I know a couple Huntsville fellas...
