SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
In a galaxy far far away…. someone whispered price increase and that’s where this article begins; who knows how it happened? Maybe it was a plot against the force or maybe it was just the way things had to go? 1972 is the year the message from deep space reached me “find cheaper gas”. My best recollection of time was that someone at school had told me that I could buy gas for my 1965 Ford a whole nickel cheaper if I was willing to drive 8 miles to Argus, Indiana. That was the beginning of my lifelong quest to “find it cheaper”.
Now I have logged somewhere to the high side of 2 million miles and I find myself looking far beyond the little town in Indiana for best price. Matter of fact, as I write this I’m seeking best price in the Far East. Even though I’m optimistic by nature, I know that the likelihood of a price increase is inevitable. But still, I push on further and further, more determined then my last quest. The truth is, these days I feel satisfied if I can return to my home port with just a small price increase.
Reflecting back on my childhood experience with cheaper gas, I’ve come to realize that it was all about oil prices then and it still is now. Over the years, I have had stories told to me by the factory owners I have done business with; the price of plastic is directly tied to the price of a barrel of crude! And usually the story continues on to cover this term Benzene, who would have ever thought that our little vending toys and the capsule they come in could be reduced to “crude benzene”? Who would have thought our little known industry was tied directly to current world affairs?
Unlike our favorite deep space fantasy tale, the good guys and the bad guys are hard to identify. To some the distributor of bulk toys looks like the bad guy, never giving a low enough price for the operator to make the profits they are due! To the distributor it looks as if the operator turns only to the distributor for lower price to help them against a sagging bottom line No matter what side you find yourself on noone can deny that oil prices have risen and they are continuing to do so with no end in sight. And what is more ironic, the suppliers in the far east with little or no identity to most in the industry have no hesitation in announcing price increases!
Just as the prices spiraled up in 1972 so it goes into 2007! However, things seem different today for some reason. I’m told it cost the government more then .25 cents to make and distribute a quarter. The math just does not make sense! And just look at our Bulk Vending industry that survives on that same quarter. Still to this day a big share of the Bulk Industry revenues comes from a single quarter vend!
To this end, there is no right or wrong, no good guys or bad guys, or any rebel heroes to save the day. There is just us, a small band of rebels (Vending Companies of all types) struggling in a world that continues to have rising costs with the majority of the population not even knowing we exist.
The “Price Wars” saga began in a fictional” galaxy far, far away” but I assure you it finds itself in a non-fictional real world drama! For now; “Let the force be with you”
- Dax Logue
