It's Cold Outside, Grab a Blanket...

It's Cold Outside, Grab a Blanket...

For many in the fence business, life slows down a little in the winter. Cold weather, rain, ice, even holidays, can make the fence business a tough one in December and January. Whether you close down for the winter, or “plow” your way through, now is a great time to plan ahead and take advantage of significant savings throughout all of 2015.

Modern Fence Technologies doesn't offer sales gimmicks, or “preferred customer discounts”, or any of the games other companies play. The price we quote is the price of the product. The way to get a lower price is to buy in volume. But what if you know you don't need a pallet of hardware on January 10^th?

We're glad you asked. Our blanket ordering system allows you to estimate what you would use in a typical year, add it up into one order, receive the discount level based on the volume of that order, and then opt to receive partial shipments of that order throughout the year, paying for each shipment as it is received, rather than paying for a container load or pallet of parts that may not be used for three or four months.

Did we mention that you can mix and match products to get to those discount levels? That's right. If the Online Store says you need to buy 25 cases to get the best price, you don't have to buy 25 cases of the same item. You can buy ten cases of hinges, ten cases of latches, and five cases of drop rods to get the “magic number”. You can do even better if you mix vinyl caps and accessories with hardware. You could save 5, 10, or even 15% or more over what you currently spend.

We can offer these savings because there is a value to your larger order. We can also plan production around anticipated demand much more accurately when we know we have orders for certain items coming due. Call your Modern Fence Technologies sales representative and ask about “blanket orders” and see how much you can save, while growing your business using American made fence products from Modern Fence Technologies.

Great article from Mark Mitchell of Whizard Strategy

I don't always recommend other people's articles, but when I do, they are as good as this one!
http://www.seethewhizard.com/blog/why-do-building-material-prices-rarely-rise/

The Hidden Cost of Low Prices

  So you finally decided to pull the trigger on your new fence. You did the research and found the best fence product for your application and price range. Because you want this fence to reflect the level of investment you have in your home, you bought a top quality, American made fence. But what's holding it together?

  Whether you chose ornamental aluminum, or steel, or even chain link, wood or vinyl, all those components have to be held together with something. All of the fasteners, brackets, post caps and gate hardware added together represent just 10% or less of the value of all the materials used in the fence. Did you know that these components are also the ones most likely to be imported in bulk from overseas?

  Why does that matter? Common opinion holds that American products cost more than imports because of labor costs. The fact is that American labor is more expensive per hour than labor obtained overseas. Another fact is that the American labor used in manufacturing these items is much more efficient and has a much lower rate of substandard parts than those from overseas.  In the U.S., the cost of labor per unit is actually lower on many items.

  So why are imports so much less expensive to buy? That's a great question. Especially when you factor in the cost of shipping all that distance. There are several factors that factor into the price difference.

  First, the imported parts are made to lower quality standards than most American made parts, resulting in more rejected parts, (which the contractor had to pay for, and you can be certain that price is passed along to you), and shorter usable life spans for those components due to incomplete parts and poor fit and finish.

 Second, the imports are made of inferior materials. In some cases the total amount of material that goes into an imported part may be as much as 30-35% less than an American made part.

  Third, and possibly most importantly, quality American made parts often carry Manufacturers Liability Insurance. Most importers in the states don't carry this insurance, and neither do their suppliers. Most people think that the insurance is to protect the manufacturers, but actually, it protects everyone in the chain, from the factory, to the installer and end user from damages resulting from product failure. Imports typically don't offer that level of service and protection. They instead count on you not knowing that.

  Keep in mind also that American manufacturers are involved members of communities. They contribute far more than just a good post cap or fence bracket. They participate in local service projects, the jobs they provide support families, and they are tax paying members of the country you call home. So while the price might initially look higher, consider the cost of not using American made accessories to assemble your fence, and demand the best. In most cases, the cost of owning a fence that is 100% American made will be far lower than that of one using imported components.

http://cerasis.com/2014/04/28/us-manufacturing-reshoring/

Sell American!

  I've written a lot on this blog about why you should buy American made, but what if you are in the position to sell American made products? Is it worth the trouble to source American made products? Aren't they more expensive and therefore harder to sell?

Apparently not, according to this article in Consumer Reports. It seems that American retailers are slowly coming to the realization that their customers are most concerned about price when they believe they are buying inferior quality. When offered an American alternative, an overwhelming majority of customers are ready to shell out significantly more money. And that's not just in America! Even among Chinese consumers, over 60% would rather buy American goods.

So what is stopping you from taking advantage of the increased market share you can win by offering American made products? Think about it. Even if you pay slightly more for an American alternative to supply your customers' needs, your margin is computed from that higher base, so you are earning more real cash per transaction, and your customer is looking for you, because you care enough to offer what your competitor won't...quality!

Did he really say that...out loud?

  Does your supplier pee on your leg, then tell you its warm rain? Or, to put it more delicately, are you getting everything you're paying for when you buy fence materials? Chances are, unless you know your supplier and check each delivery, what you get is what you get.

  The easiest way for anyone to get your business is to offer you a “better price”. I won't go into that loaded term here, but let's just assume for now that means a lower price per unit. There are a couple of ways for a supplier to do that. One, is to buy in such large quantities that they can save money on the unit cost, as most manufacturers and distributors offer quantity discounts. This is unattractive to all but the very largest of companies because of the high cost of storing and paying for inventory. Most companies trying to drive down unit price do so by seeking out a supplier that offers a lower price per unit for the parts they need.

To do that, the supplier must remove something from the product.

  It takes a measurable amount of material costs and labor costs to manufacture anything, along with transportation cost to get it to the end user. To reduce the unit price, one must reduce either the cost of labor, i.e. “outsource”, or the cost of materials, or the cost of transportation. In the age of spiralling fuel costs, cheaper transportation is very scarce, and the cost of transportation is largely out of the control of the supplier. Labor can be found elsewhere, much cheaper than in the U.S., but that usually means additional transportation costs. Recent increases in the relative wages in common outsource supply countries has led to a closing gap in the cost of goods sourced in Asia when compared to American made goods.

  This leaves only material costs as a means of controlling unit price. Many manufacturers are succumbing to the pressure to drive down unit price by reducing the amount and the quality of the raw materials they use. The alternative is to continue making top quality products at reasonable prices to compete with the poor quality, lower priced alternatives being dumped on the market.

  Unfortunately, for most contractors, the alternatives are to buy poor quality, and hope the check clears before the product fails, or try to figure out how to win a bid against someone selling lower priced, (inferior) products. The key is to help the customer see that by buying lower price, he is getting lower quality, and will not be satisfied for long. It can be a difficult sell, but Bill Gates didn't get rich clipping coupons. The key is to teach the customer that though a component looks like the one you are selling, it will not perform the same.

  No one likes to spend too much money for what they buy, and saving fifty dollars today and finding out that you'll pay hundreds to repair the problems caused by the poor quality component that you saved money on is absolutely painful. Insist on getting what you pay for, and be ready to pay a fair price for quality, or prepare to pay for a lot of broken promises.