I’m a believer in buying locally, but I don’t think that local businesses should take advantage of my predisposition by not competing at all in the market. For example:
Leah and I like the sink we now have at our house. We’re talking about getting one just like it to put in at our new house. The plumbers that came and gave us bids for the sink and other plumbing work said they wouldn’t be able to guarantee their work if we didn’t get the sink at a local dealer called Plumber Supply. Plumber Supply is selling the sink we want for $340.
Leah and I were at Lowe’s a couple days ago looking at window treatments, and I stopped through the kitchen department to see what they had for sinks. They’re selling our model for $184. Now, why on God’s green Earth would I ever spend 50% more? I could MAYBE see $200, and I might even go ahead and spring for the difference, but when you have plumbers going around making threats to homeowners about the quality of their work should you decide to try to save some money, that’s just low down, dirty pool.