Bike retailer cartel

[The Saint]

You can download the 702 podcast here

http://www.702.co.za/podcast/podcast_TheWorldatSix.asp

[Icycling]

This has even made Summit TV news!

[Sean Badenhorst]

 

This has even made Summit TV news!

 

Makes a refreshing change. Normally the week before 'The Argus' the general media is telling us that cycling causes impotence.

 

 

 

 

[Hog_]

 

ok' date=' i can imagine the replies i'm gonna get for this post, but here goes...

 

i feel a little bit hollow after reading some of the stuff here. yes, sure, i should have thought of the consequences of what i did back in september. i won't apologise for it, but i kinda feel a little bad about it. i hate seeing my kids in trouble; i hate seeing anyone in trouble, because i've been in dwang myself. i have gotten to know andrew a bit since the topic first reared its head, and got to like him. i communicated and met fritz and it seemed like he harboured no animosity toward me. nor did i toward him. i posted the minutes, but didn't make judgement on them. it turned into a contentious issue.

 

want to say now is that i wish neither of them ill, and hope this matter gets sorted out quickly.

 

[/quote']

 

I get what you're saying. I've dealt with Andrew a bit by now, and he really seems like a nice guy, and I wouldn't wish anything bad on him. The harsh reality is that if they get found guilty of illegal activities, they'll need to deal with the consequences. I'm a nice guy (just try to imagine that for the sake of the argument), but that doesn't mean that I don't deserve to get arrested if I get bust for drinking and driving.

 

 

 

[Dicky DQ]

And when the fines come the pricing goes up to cover the expense. ASSHOLE WITH TEET, THIS ONE IS!!

[Mackie]

This can only end in tears,I just hope we have not benn fleeced, Andrew Maclean has done more for cycling in this country tha most of us put together, I will hence treatt this as "innocent until proven guilty" But **** we all love scandel don't we?????????

[Anthony]

these poor bike shops make next to nothing and service your bikes for even less, then get dragged over the coals when they realize that if they don't do anything about their margins they're going to go belly up...

 

 

[MintSauce]

 

these poor bike shops make next to nothing and service your bikes for even less' date=' then get dragged over the coals when they realize that if they don't do anything about their margins they're going to go belly up...

 

[/quote']

 

 

The whole point of a free market, is that it keeps things fair and just and protects the consumer.

 

If the shops are struggling because competitors are cutting prices, then it means the free market is doing what it's supposed to.

 

What it leads to is a few bikeshops closing down until the market has levelled out and has few enough bikeshops to enable them all to be sustained by the existing customer base.

 

That way the consumer doesn't get fleeced, which is ultimately what cartels do.....take away the competition which gives them free reign to charge whatever they want and there's practically nothing the consumer can do.

 

They broke, or attempted to break, the law. Is that what we now call 'doing something for our sport'....?

 

Burn them at the stake!

 

 

 

 

[Iwan Kemp]

Where are they located' date=' Crow?[/quote']

Montague Gardens

(021) 552 8285

www.cyclefactory.co.za

[Mr Giant]

 

 

 

 

Mint Sauce, I fully agree with you on that point. What I am hoping for is a complete list of retailers and distributors and they should be blacklisted! I will never support any entity or business that resorts to such pathetic unfair business practice. I have been monitoring prices since I stopped riding in 2007 and I was shocked to see by what percentages prices have gone up by. Like I said, lets hope the rest of these unfair business practitioners are named and shamed!!!

 

It is for this exact reason why I support the smaller shops and on-line European businesses....Sometime local is not so lekker!

rhalim2009-03-05 23:35:18

[mudda]

I heard it the news on 94.7 radio

 

I feel that the market should self regulate- if collusion is taking place - its no longer a free market.

 

 

 

 

[Guest Big H]

Maybe he they must get Mike Bolhuis to prove there is no video cartel..... price fixing........ looks like he is doing his best to save Joost's arse!!!!!!!!

[intern]

I really think these okes didn't realise that what they were proposing is illegal. Otherwise, there would be no way that 'evidence' would be so freely available. Think Tiger Brands and the bread scandal - these big business types knew exactly what they were doing hence the subterfuge.

 

Unfortunately for them, though, ignorance of the law is not a defence. I kinda feel sorry for them, they just trying to protect their businesses in the face of globalisation etc.

 

Reality is that you should rather protect your business by examining your value proposition and amending it as necessary if it no longer stacks up in changing market dynamics....

 

[fandacious]

 

I heard it the news on 94.7 radio

 

I feel that the market should self regulate- if collusion is taking place - its no longer a free market.

 

 

 

 

 

in a perfect world maybe. But if the government starts controlling pricing and telling the shops what they may sell items for, doesnt that sound to you like the rooi gevaar everyone was so worried about in the 80s?

 

[idrive]

Surely they realised that even if it wasn't illegal, it was certainly unethical ....

[wackwack]

A certain song is sticking in my head - goes like this!

 

The roof the roof the roof is on fire
The roof the roof the roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the mother#%cker(s) burn
Burn mother#%cker(s) burn

wackwack2009-03-06 00:07:11