Manure by rail? (Not really)

[mudchicken]

Hope he never meets BNSF's Carl Ice in a back alley in the dark.

[Murphy Siding]

Euclid

 

Murphy Siding

In a nutshell they are trying to talk up the price on their wood and switch us to wood from another region.

 

 

I don't understand the connection between these two items. What does wood from another region have to do with anything?

It sounds like they are making excuses for their price being what it is.  But why would a customer care about excuses?  All the customer cares about is the price.  If there is an alternate supplier at a lower price, excuses for the higher price won't help, and if there is not an alternate supplier, excuses for the existing price will not be necessary. 

 

     Probably the best way to explain it is as some sort of offensive defense strategy.  What they’re trying to convey is “Hey- you’re probably thinking that our pricing is too high. It’s not our fault! It’s because of the mean, old railroad. However, we have an option to get you lower pricing, using some made up *facts*”.

   I find it ironic that the railroads are wearing both the black hat and the white hat in their scenario.

[Euclid]

Murphy Siding

In a nutshell they are trying to talk up the price on their wood and switch us to wood from another region.

I don't understand the connection between these two items. What does wood from another region have to do with anything?

It sounds like they are making excuses for their price being what it is.  But why would a customer care about excuses?  All the customer cares about is the price.  If there is an alternate supplier at a lower price, excuses for the higher price won't help, and if there is not an alternate supplier, excuses for the existing price will not be necessary. 

[rdamon]

Murphy Siding

 *Trains can’t haul as much in the winter, therefore transportation costs are up.

 

Is that because they have to put on snow tires? 

[BaltACD]

Salesman is trying to sell refrigerators to Eskimos without electricty.

[Murphy Siding]

 

When you job and your hobby interests collide-

A major vendor of ours gave us a presentation about lumber supplies. Unfortunately, their presentation turned into layers of cow manure on train cars. I get frustrated when people make stuff up and don’t do their homework. In a nutshell they are trying to talk up the price on their wood and switch us to wood from another region. To do that, they simply pulled *facts* out of....the air.They tried to use railroads as both a scapegoat and a tool to push their agenda. Among other things, they said:

*There’s a major shortage of railcars in Canada, therefore transportation costs are up.
*There’s a major shortage of railcars in the US, therefore transportation costs are up.
*Theirr lumber is loaded on a CN train and taken to the border where it must be parked and wait for a BNSF train, therefore transportation costs are up.
*Both CN and BNSF are short of trains right now, therefore transportation costs are up.
*Trains can’t haul as much in the winter, therefore transportation costs are up.
*Changing to Southern Yellow Pine lumber from Texas would be an all BNSF ride, therefore it would cost less. (Disregarding the time the cars spent on a connecting short-line I suppose.)
*Canadian mills have bought into Texas mills. They would now be able to *shuttle* lumber cars to us. Huh? A loaded train would leave Canada and bring us a car 1300 miles and unload. The empty car would then travel 1100 miles to Texas, get loaded and ship 1100 miles back to us. It would then travel 1300 miles back to Canada to start over. Someone in marketing thought that made sense as a sale pitch!

Sometimes I get in trouble with marketing people when I question things.

Any comments?