Like we didn't already know but I went into Whitworths yesterday and noticed new price stickers 40% higher than the old being stuck on certain products. The employee said yes and some higher.
Quite apart from the fact that the old stock hasn't gone up inflation is not 40% or even 20%. Retailers are just gouging because people know there is inflation and because they can when there is an oligopoly or even a Monopoly.

Spot on.
I bought an 11L/Min fresh water pump on Ebay for $87 last week (including post and arrived in 3 days). $199.95 at Whitworths.

I was gonna start a post last week with the same sentiment but decided to just let it go. A 40% increase on some teak care products, but I was only half job done so wanted the same brand. But I won't be using it again. I also had a look at some of their ropes as I need to replace a few halyards and the main sheet... I won't be purchasing from there either..

In France same thing. I was talking to a chandlery owner and some 3M products are up 25% or more. I guess depending on the shop and other overheads going up could be a 40% increase for the customer.

I have been buying a fair bit of stuff from AliExpress lately. Pumps and deck fittings are generally well priced. My Jabsco heads pump could do with a kit but the price asked is ridiculous. I have one of these on the way.

www.aliexpress.com/item/10000003330438.html?spm=a2g0o.best.moretolove.2.23a12c25etOtu4&gps-id=pcBestMore2Love&scm=1007.40000.326746.0&scm_id=1007.40000.326746.0&scm-url=1007.40000.326746.0&pvid=198a306f-0d5c-42f1-b7f3-7b574a3ed115&_t=gps-id:pcBestMore2Love,scm-url:1007.40000.326746.0,pvid:198a306f-0d5c-42f1-b7f3-7b574a3ed115,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238114%23743&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2220000000007424697%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2230000%22%7D&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21AUD%2162.43%2162.43%21%21%21%21%21%402132a21116784764473141055eb994%2120000000007424697%21rec%21AU%21753417160

It is a replacement unit for a Jabsco and all the decals etc are the same except for the front label. I'm convinced it's from the same factory.

I'm not trying to defend Whitworth's or anything but I know their prices change every quarter with the new catalogue. They also usually have many products marked down in the first few pages and so you need to look back at the history of the products pricing to get the real story.

That 40% increase might be to a product that was on sale and marked down 30% in the previous catalogue? Or maybe they did just mark it up 40% from the previous price, I don't know.

My comment on retailers in the marine industry is the same as I use for sailmakers. It's all well and good to search for better prices online when you have a few weeks before you need it, however if the local guy goes out of business or moves away because of lack of local support, what are you going to do when you need something right now?

I just got an email from the supplier of my 11L/min pump checking I am 100% satisfied and if not contact them right away and they will send me another.
By comparison my experience walking into Whitworths Drummoyne the staff look away, huff and sigh if you ask them to do something and are generally arrogant.
There must be exceptions but I didn't find any!!

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Trek said..
I just got an email from the supplier of my 11L/min pump checking I am 100% satisfied and if not contact them right away and they will send me another.
By comparison my experience walking into Whitworths Drummoyne the staff look away, huff and sigh if you ask them to do something and are generally arrogant.
There must be exceptions but I didn't find any!!

I always found them pleasant and helpful. If the person didn't know about a certain item they got a person who did.

I don't think it helps criticising a business in this way, from one perspective.

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Jethrow said..
I'm not trying to defend Whitworth's or anything but I know their prices change every quarter with the new catalogue. They also usually have many products marked down in the first few pages and so you need to look back at the history of the products pricing to get the real story.

That 40% increase might be to a product that was on sale and marked down 30% in the previous catalogue? Or maybe they did just mark it up 40% from the previous price, I don't know.

I know in my case the product wasn't previously a catalogue special. It's possible (to give the benefit of the doubt) that they had kept prices too low for too long and when the correction was needed it seemed excessive. But none the less there are cheaper products at other stores. And now more than ever my back pocket is more important to me than there's.

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Trek said..
I just got an email from the supplier of my 11L/min pump checking I am 100% satisfied and if not contact them right away and they will send me another.
By comparison my experience walking into Whitworths Drummoyne the staff look away, huff and sigh if you ask them to do something and are generally arrogant.
There must be exceptions but I didn't find any!!

I totally agree... The staff at Whitworths Port Adelaide are exactly the same!! They all stand behind the counter looking morose and are very Rude.
There are only 2 that have any knowledge..
Just read there reviews...I try and support the local chandelry, they are friendly, knowledgeable, as they have their own boats and they offer 10% discount on most items..

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Trek said..
Spot on.
I bought an 11L/Min fresh water pump on Ebay for $87 last week (including post and arrived in 3 days). $199.95 at Whitworths.

Any link for details ?

I used to own a wholesale business in communications which was an industry that embraced eBay, online stores and vendors selling direct. Every man and his dog had a website selling products at near my cost.
We didn't see a dip in sales at all. The reason being we kept margins at 25-30% GP and serviced the pants off our clients. People will pay that for being able to get everything in one place and with great support.
But you get too greedy on your margins and you're toast. People aren't stupid. Once they find out the margins go from reasonable to excessive, they're going elsewhere and good luck getting 'em back.

We did have some low cost items at 50% markup (sub $10) but everything else was pretty much the same.

Well, WW's might not be much different from any other businesses the world over. The Italians had huge price rises, the haul-out is about 40-45% more expensive than last year and parts are just the same. The previous years in Croatia were showing steady increases too, the way, that the Italian marina seemed cheaper. Well, we are paying for it this year.
It does not make any difference, it is world-wide, we must pay for the last two years of chinese-virus losses and mismanagements and the poison, and they are here to collect.
Look at the prices at Aldi or Coles here. A tub of peanut butter up from $5 to $7.50 the tub of yoghurt 2kg, up from $8.50 to $13.00 and even the favorite Heinz b/b 3-pack is up from $5 to $ 8.50 just yesterday! And those are food prices, and they are up 35-50%!
So where is the 3,5% inflation???

Where in Italy are you or is the boat? I am in Porto Santo Stefano for the winter.
There was plenty of warning prices were going up. We bought or ordered a lot of things last year before prices went up. Italy is still cheaper than France. But as you said not as cheap as it used to be. The food is soooo much better too.

I am planning to fly out sooner or later to catch the summer over there, hoping the best with the war over there.
The tub is near Viareggo, so not too far from your den.
The food in Italy is one of the Mediterranian's specialties, but so is Spanish, French and on par with the Croatian, Albanian and Greek. Everyone can find his favorite around the Med.
The boat is on the dry right now for yearly maintenance and antifoul etc.
Will see the bill soon.

My wife and I are heading to Italy at the end of the month. If everything turns out Ok we might buy a place near Lucca, not far from where you guys are.
If it coincides you might have a crew available if you need one.

Lucca and the surrounding area is beautiful. There is an amazing restaurant up the valley. Near the Devil's bridge. I think it's in the little town before the bridge. Maybe you have already been there.
Food is amazing and still cheapish here. I would say very cheap compared to Oz from what I have been seeing! As I said cheaper than France for sure. I think Italy would be an amazing place to retire or have a holiday home and I live in France.
PM me if either of you want. Here until May,hopefully not longer!!
Beautiful day yesterday. Paddled out to an island just off Porto Ercole.

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BeamReach said..

Trek said..
I just got an email from the supplier of my 11L/min pump checking I am 100% satisfied and if not contact them right away and they will send me another.
By comparison my experience walking into Whitworths Drummoyne the staff look away, huff and sigh if you ask them to do something and are generally arrogant.
There must be exceptions but I didn't find any!!

I totally agree... The staff at Whitworths Port Adelaide are exactly the same!! They all stand behind the counter looking morose and are very Rude.
There are only 2 that have any knowledge..
Just read there reviews...I try and support the local chandelry, they are friendly, knowledgeable, as they have their own boats and they offer 10% discount on most items..

Another agreement to Pt Adelaide. I also prefer the chandlery.

Its the price gouging that is driving up inflation.
Not wage growth and the increase in interest rates to keep up with wage growth and slow the economy is the biggest lie we're being told.
The economy won't slow down until the price gouging ends & the government is in on it also, Gosford rates are going up by 40%

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sirgallivant said..

So where is the 3,5% inflation???

Who's talking 3.5%? The official figure is 7.4%. There's no reason for the guys who create the statistics to be biased; they are not in charge of the politics or the policies and they are public about the way the inflation rate is calculated.

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Chris 249 said..

sirgallivant said..

So where is the 3,5% inflation???

Who's talking 3.5%? The official figure is 7.4%. There's no reason for the guys who create the statistics to be biased; they are not in charge of the politics or the policies and they are public about the way the inflation rate is calculated.

The guys who create the statistics are very very biased. My father was pretty high up in the brewing industry in the 70s when there was rampant inflation and the government pressured the prices justification tribunal to keep the price of tap beer down whereas they didn't care what happened to packaged beer because tap beer was in the regimen and packaged beer wasn't. It all depends on what they put in the regimen that determines published CPI.

Highly doubt that boat parts is in it.

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actiomax said..
Its the price gouging that is driving up inflation.
Not wage growth and the increase in interest rates to keep up with wage growth and slow the economy is the biggest lie we're being told.
The economy won't slow down until the price gouging ends & the government is in on it also, Gosford rates are going up by 40%

Unfortunately it is well known that Gosford council was mismanaged for a long time, and rate rises were predicted then.

Such is life.

in my business we are gouging our customers just to pay for our new electricity and transport logistics. Australia is not a great place for a medium size business atm when your basic " keeping the lights on " bill rises by 20%.

It's is what it is, no business has come out the pandemic unscathed but, I suspect, it's nothing to do with the pandemic or the war in the Ukrain?

bar the rich companies who scored twenty million each of our money for nothing in hand outs from the previous government

got to pay for all of those WW toilet catalogues somehow!

Problem is there is no real bricks and mortar competition. They have a huge range, so it is hard to keep tabs on the quality of all the products. If it was a wonderfully profitable business, there would be more competitors. High inflation and high interest rates, reduction of discretionary spending, is going to make the business even tougher. So we have to live with it for now.