14-08-2013, 08:14 AM
In fairness to Direct Plastics, re the higher price, it is genuine Tufnol that they sell, in three grades including Whale and Kite, whereas the stuff I bought is billed as ‘Tufnol substitute’, but that said, it’s fine for my present needs.
'Direct Plastics' seems to be the name that the Barkston Group Ltd established in 2005 for online trading, and they do a lot of business on internet. Barkston have a local branch in Hull and I have a chum who has a trade account with them. I didn't know the two firms were one and the same until I got an online quote for a sheet of polycarbonate for a chip-guard for our club’s lathe. My chum also got a quote on his trade account at Barkston, expecting it to be less, but if fact it was quite a bit more. He remonstrated with them saying he could get it much cheaper online from a firm called Direct Plastics and was told: ‘Oh, that’s us’. He asked why the huge difference in price, and was told that online, people can instantly compare prices with competitors so their prices online had to be much keener. Noting his indignation, they let him have it for the internet price. Locally, they don't so much trade on price, but on convenience and local service, which comes at a price.
I think we've come to take for granted how convenient it is to shop around on internet compared to yesteryear when we used to have to thumb through Yellow Pages, make phone calls, and so on. Who would have though not so many years ago that by now, we'd routinely be sourcing stuff from the world over, and buying it with a few mouse clicks? Radio magazines from the 1980s and beyond often had a 'Can You Help? column where people asked for copies of circuits - maybe waiting months for their plea to be published, and possibly not getting a response. Now, such circuits are almost all on one DVD, and on websites such as the BAMA archive and DKMODS etc.
'Direct Plastics' seems to be the name that the Barkston Group Ltd established in 2005 for online trading, and they do a lot of business on internet. Barkston have a local branch in Hull and I have a chum who has a trade account with them. I didn't know the two firms were one and the same until I got an online quote for a sheet of polycarbonate for a chip-guard for our club’s lathe. My chum also got a quote on his trade account at Barkston, expecting it to be less, but if fact it was quite a bit more. He remonstrated with them saying he could get it much cheaper online from a firm called Direct Plastics and was told: ‘Oh, that’s us’. He asked why the huge difference in price, and was told that online, people can instantly compare prices with competitors so their prices online had to be much keener. Noting his indignation, they let him have it for the internet price. Locally, they don't so much trade on price, but on convenience and local service, which comes at a price.
I think we've come to take for granted how convenient it is to shop around on internet compared to yesteryear when we used to have to thumb through Yellow Pages, make phone calls, and so on. Who would have though not so many years ago that by now, we'd routinely be sourcing stuff from the world over, and buying it with a few mouse clicks? Radio magazines from the 1980s and beyond often had a 'Can You Help? column where people asked for copies of circuits - maybe waiting months for their plea to be published, and possibly not getting a response. Now, such circuits are almost all on one DVD, and on websites such as the BAMA archive and DKMODS etc.
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
