[Aardvark]

Not really a question but as I furiously attempt to get a small shop up and running I have noticed that the prices charged by some of the larger PC operations in this area (Austin-San Antonio-Houston) for small batch runs have started to drop to the point where profit margins are narrowing...especially on batch or repeat items. As an example- A guy who builds pitching machines and has them PC'd in San Antonio....He sends them to the Coater at around 25 at a time...I know volume is/can be cheaper but he is getting them prepped and coated for what the powder alone would cost me....

Seems like the Big Box Store mentality of having "Loss Leaders"- Stuff you sell at a loss to bring customers in for the profitable stuff (Which really kills the little guy just trying to get by)- has found its way to the Coating Industry. Or maybe its been there all along..Since I'm new to this world, I hadn't previously paid attention....

I'm sure that by buying powder in the hundreds or thousands of pounds at a time saves the bottom line- And that is just Business.

This wasn't meant to be a ranting post (Sorta ended up that way)-

Just and observation............