ORIGINAL: carrellh
I agree that using the LHS, or any business, to ‘test drive’ items before buying online is wrong.
When my brother was looking for his first computer radio he had 3 or 4 models in mind. He went to Mike’s in Carrollton and they showed him all of the models and even walked him through basic setup such as dual aileron servos. He was on a tight budget and settled on a Hitec Flash 5X for I think 180. Tower was selling it for 150 but the info we got at the hobby shop was worth a lot more than the 30 dollar difference.
He may have paid a little more for it, but look at the service he got and will get in the future. And he got to look at and feel the real thing before he bought it. AND he got a good warrantee. GOOD for your brother, sounds like a stand up guy.
Back before we had the internet we did have mail order shopping. The LHS carried most everything you needed, sure that's not quite true today. Sure we ordered airplane kits from Tower, Circus Circus, The Hobby Market, Hobby Lobby and other mail order shops. It was a known fact that the LHS profit margin on kits were only about 5%. We would order the kits that the LHS didn't carry from mail order and buy all the extra stuff from the LHS. The LHS had a much larger profit margin on all the accesories and we knew it.
Today, we wonder why our LHS doesn't carry everything we need . It's because most people order online most everything they want just to save a few dollars.
You can't really blame anyone for wanting to save a few dollars, but before long, when it comes to needing that one part immediately, you won't be able to get it, the LHS won't be there for you.
This reminds me of a situation where I was teaching this guy to build and fly a plane. He needed a red spinner. I recommended that we go down the hobby shop and get one. His reply was, " I can order one from tower right now and it will be here in time to fly this bad boy."
The Tower spinner cost him $5.29 plus $5.50 shipping and the LHS had it for $5.99 plus tax.
Go figure!
Frank