The price through a local distributor is still $30 a case delivered, as local distributors agreed to continue to honor the pricing structure set by Red Bull/CC to grow their vendor program. The cost you quoted for Sam's doesn't figure in the price of annual membership, cost of gas to pick up the product, etc. Even if the price variance were only $1.34/case, and you could arrange to purchase product with any consistency for more than 5-10 machines, multiply the $1.34 difference by 1000 cases or more. That mere .06/can difference seems negligible when held up by itself, but it very quickly grows to noticeable figures with volume.

My distributors "normal" price is $32 a case. I assume this varies to some degree depending on where the distributor is located, but the price to existing vendors is set at $30/case regardless of their normal wholesale price. Distributors have every right to change that, I assume, however I haven't heard of any distributors failing to honor the price Red Bull set.

If you only ever plan on having 5-10 machines, you could probably justify a support architecture that consisted only of membership outlets, but if you plan on growing a company to 10 machines or more, I would highly recommend seeking out a local distributor and developing a relationship with them. No one understands your local market like your local distributor, and the importance of developing a relationship with them and using them as a resource can't be overstated.

And with that, I believe I am done with this thread. I don't think we can kick much more life out of it.

[ 07-13-2006, 07:49 PM: Message edited by: -VV- ]