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Fritz Pienaar denies uncompetitive behaviour


Ralphk

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I wonder when other industries are going to jump on the bandwagon and do what it done at our service delivery departments. Imagine if you go into a bikes shop, that attendant approaches you and ask if he can help. You say yes you want a tube. you get what you want and at the till they ring it up RXXX for the tube + R20 service fee. Or do what is done at the pharmacies. They are not allowed to put up the price higher then the min RRP but they can ask "dispensing" fees.

 

 

 

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The intention following was to limit discounting by certain?shops?by having the wholesaler / importer limit or stop supply to these?discounting shops.

 

Porky

 

 

 

Now where on earth do you get this, have you got facts, very conclusive and substantial facts ?

 

I have absolutely no idea where this comes from.

 

Now I will echo what you said, please stop making childish arguments and stick to the truth.

 

Let me guess, you are going to say "the truth, I will tell you the truth", yes the truth, without facts you are purely speculating.

 

 

 

 

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....... then again maybe I'm just rambling on needlessly who knows

 

 

 

Yes you are.

 

Who is to say that anyone and all who were at the meeting, agreed with what was discussed.

 

Who is to say that EVERY bike shop owner walked away from that meeting and implemented an increase.

 

Assumption is the mother of all cock ups I dare say.

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Toyota and Subaru siting down together with PSA to decide that they need to make more money is anti competitive and therefore illegal.

 

Have a look at a Toyota Aygo, Peugoet 107 and Citroen C1.  Then tell me again they're not working together.

 

In SA, just sitting down together, for whatever reason, gets you into trouble.

 

And I don't want to say if this is right or wrong, or competitive or not competitive, or legal or illegal.  I just wanted to point out that it helps to know who's who.

 

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Working together to develop a product and siting down to determine price to the consumer at the retail level are tow totally different things

 

Many auto mnuacturers develop products together.

 

VW sold diesel engines to Ford and co developed a MPV.

BMW sold engines to LAnd Rover

Toyota, Peugeot have worked on smalls together before.

there are lots of examples of collaboration in engineering. thats not illegal.

 

However if their retailers sat down to discuss how much the mark up should be and how much they can discount, then you have a problem.

 

in Sa theygot fined for such behaviour. But collaboraive engineering is not a crime
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The intention following was to limit discounting by certain?shops?by having the wholesaler / importer limit or stop supply to these?discounting shops.

 

Porky

 

 

 

Now where on earth do you get this' date=' have you got facts, very conclusive and substantial facts ?

 

I have absolutely no idea where this comes from.

 

Now I will echo what you said, please stop making childish arguments and stick to the truth.

 

Let me guess, you are going to say "the truth, I will tell you the truth", yes the truth, without facts you are purely speculating.

 

 

 

[/quote']

 

 

 

From reading the minutes I too picked up that this was one of the aims of this infamous meeting. In fact I think many people did and from what I gather this is what has infuriated most people. Charge what you want but don't try cut off supply to a shop who provides a discount.

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 Toyota does NOT own Subaru. Subaru is a subsidriary of Fuji Heavy Industries' date=' a competitor to Toyota.

Fuji in fact makes components for Toyota and welding machines for their production lines.

[/quote']

 

I guess that's why Toyota bought 20% of Fuji Heavy Industries 3 years ago...Wink

 

Free show for popcorn LOLLOL

 

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Lefty,dont you work for a petro company of sorts,your coments are very rich coming from you,being involved in most probaly the most corrupt and price fixing industry in this country.

 

Secondly Andrew was invited to the meeting,he did not call for it,onse again get your facts right and put your names on it.
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....... then again maybe I'm just rambling on needlessly who knows



Yes you are.
Who is to say that anyone and all who were at the meeting' date=' agreed with what was discussed.
Who is to say that EVERY bike shop owner walked away from that meeting and implemented an increase.
Assumption is the mother of all cock ups I dare say.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the chat Boris - all clear now Big%20smile
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From: Fritz Pienaar [mailto:mm@firebreak.co.za]
Sent: 17 September 2008 12:27 PM
Subject: Minutes - margins in the bicycling industry



Dear bicycle wholesaler and retailer' date='

Thank you for your support and great response in making our industry more healthy.

Cut cut cut cut cut

 

I have had numerous meetings with retail shops and wholesalers over the last couple of months and everyone seems to agree that the retail shops are not making enough profit and that something needs to be done about it. The bicycle wholesalers agree that a healthier retail industry would also allow for a healthier wholesale industry."

We've had a great response from the meeting on 10th September 2008! With all the mayor bicycle wholesalers and retailers in Gauteng, we've all come to agreement that raising the margins is the resolution to the problem.

It is of utmost importance that we sign-up and state that you support this decision, we need everyone?s support to be able to make this change and to be able to implement these changes right away.

Click here to see the attendance of the meeting on 10th September 2008

Click here to see the meeting on 10th September 2008 minutes

Please click here, to state if you are supportive of higher margins in the Bicycling Retail sector
(We recommend that you read the minutes if you were not present at the meeting)

Regards,

Fritz Pienaar
<?: PREFIX = SKYPE />083 275 2123

PS. Please forward this to all bike shops you know of, or wholesalers that did not attend.

[/quote']

 

20090317_083803_gun.jpg

 

I think this is the smoking gun indeed.

 

It is such a pity that we have not yet seen a list of attendees. Or have I missed something.

 

This industry is rife with anti-competitive behaviour. I know of at least one retailer that phoned up a distributor mate of his and said (coerced) him not to support someone else in the industry. That distributor complied. Further, the distributor in question also then phoned a mate of his at another distrtibutor and discussed the issue with him, after which that supply chain was also cut off.

 

This leaves one less competitor in a certain, albeit small, subsection of the market and ultimately less choice and consequently higher margins for the circle of friends who keep the market to themselves.

 

The collusion is both formal and informal, but rife.

 

I just wonder how many calls were made to distributors, requesting them to screw Chris Willemse Cycles when he started to discount.

 

I get the impression the participants in this gang of friends were brazenly naive, thinking they fly under the radar in an obscure industry that's not linked to the commoddities where attention is fierce.

 

Lets see a list of attendees. If they responded to this invitation, they knew why they were there. I'd also like to see a list of apologies or a list of people who didn't attend. This could tell us something about who the honest businesspeople may be. Some of course couldn't attend because their daughter featured in a school concert that night, but we have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

Ben, do you have such info?

 

 
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Lefty' date='dont you work for a petro company of sorts,your coments are very rich coming from you,being involved in most probaly the most corrupt and price fixing industry in this country.

 

Secondly Andrew was invited to the meeting,he did not call for it,onse again get your facts right and put your names on it.
[/quote']

 

Chucky, just working for a price-fixing company doesn't make you a price-fixer. Also, working in a certain disreputable industry - DDT factory, radio-active isotope producer, tree-logger or buthery chain - does not exclude you from commenting about the industry or wanting to effect changes from within.

 

Besides, I doubt Lefy works for Sasol. He's more of a fashion guy.
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Here is the attendance register. Apparently it is also "inaccurate"

 

 

 

Absolut biking - Commencal      Graham Terlouw

 

Alien Cycles                      Mike Bosch

 

Bester Cycles                      Jaco Bester

 

Bester Cycles                      Peet Victor

 

Bicicletta                      Shamus Kreuger

 

Coolheat Cycle Agencies             Steve Meltzer

 

Cycle Lab                      Andrew Mclean

 

Cycle Lab                      Brian Pienaar

 

Cycle Lab                      Gary Marescia

 

Cycle Tech                      Marco Swart

 

Cytek                              Derek Edwards

 

Dunkeld Cycles                      Merlyn Jackson

 

Dunkeld Cycles                      Marc Wiederkehr

 

Johnson Cycle Works             Bassem Riad

 

Le Peleton                      Eddie Brandstatter

 

Le Peleton                      Dave Schemmel

 

Maverick Cycles                      Mike Bradley

 

Omnico                              Alan Hodson

 

Omnico                              Vincent Stevens

 

Probike                              Dave Wyatt

 

Saloojee's Cycles             Ebrahim Saloojee

 

Silverback                      Zoon Cronje

 

Sports pro (felt bicycles)      Clive chowles

 

Thule                              William Tyson

 

Just Fun Sports (Trek)             Barney Treger

 

Just Fun Sports (Trek)             Ricky Treger

 

Hot Spot Cycles                      Jacques Maritz

 

Summit Cycles                      Anton Bosman

 

West Rand Cycles             Eben Venter

 

Fritz Pienaar Cycles             Ervin Jacobs

 

Fritz Pienaar Cycles             Charl Theron

 

Fritz Pienaar Cycles             Fritz Pienaar

 

Fritz Pienaar Cycles             Heinrich Richter

 

Fritz Pienaar Cycles             Ruan Deyzel

 

Cape Cycles                      Steven

 

Cycles Africa                      Robert Cunnington

 

The Cycle Hub                      Wendell Bole

 

 

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I like the no Cajees and Westdene. It's proberbly with them the rest have a problem with.

 

 

 

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I like the no Cajees and Westdene. It's proberbly with them the rest have a problem with.

 

 

 

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Nice. They're the only two shops that have seen a single cent from me in like the last 5 years...

 

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IMHO ...and now they can go, merge into one company called Soeper Saaikling SA, raise the prices with 100%, and there will be no anti competitiveness. Like others in this 'so called' open economy has done. And when poor little me start a shop, and want to import, they bribe the importer not to supply me... and I sink, and then they offer me a nice couple of Rands to merge with them ...  my 1c worth. And there will be crazy competition in the cycling economy.

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Lets see a list of attendees.

 

I agree with mixed emotions. I'm not sure if I'd like to know if my LBS was there or not. However I am happy with the fact that I don't pay RRP at my LBS anyway.

 

And now I'm happy as Finish Line Cycles isn't on the list. Whooopeee.

 

However I can say the shop I used to use was definitely there, the owner admitted as much while his wife spent 2 weeks peeling off old prices and repricing every item in the store Shocked.

 

And now appears as the last shop on the list Jules posted.

markStockton2009-03-18 06:08:42

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