I think most people are willing to pay a little more at a place with helpful and knowledgeable staff. Hard to put a price on years of experience.
One of the major issues is _pay_. You want high qualty people? Pay them. I'd love to work in a train store. Oh, wait? at $10 an hour? Saturdays? Sundays too? No paid vacations? No bennies? That just won't cut it. Tell ya what. You pay me $25 an hour + bennies and 2+ weeks vacation, and holidays, sure, I'll consider it. Oh, and a piece of the pie. Thanks!
I have to say that Grey has a good point here. My LHS offered me a part time job. I asked how much they paid, 8.00 Hr. I had to say no. I just couldn't afford it. Having been in a service job for the previous five years, thank god I'm done with that, being on the ball with every customer can be difficult. The person you dealt with either had a bad day or shouldn't be in a service job anyway. Most of the guys at my LHS are good guys, the thing is they have to pretend to be authorities on everything MR related. Sometimes their "Shtick" begins to be just that. they don't listen and try to tell customers what they want. I'd just let this slide and move on. Chances are if you caught the guy on a different day, you might get a completely different experience. certain things shouldn't be discussed openly: Politics, Religeon, Track brand and scale. while i'm at it DCC systems too. LOL
Yep. Ever try to deal with a certain large nationwide cellular provider with CS in Michigan? Absolute idiots. And rude. Granted we're only paying these twits around $400 per month, but we WILL be switching to another provider ASAP. After doing most of my purchases online due to a lack of stock, etc at my remaining local shops, I discovered Lombard Hobbies in Lombard, Illinois. Reasonable prices and a very large selection.
Maybe the HO folks gravitate more toward the trains.com boards. Seems like HO trafiic over there outweighs the N traffic by quite a bit, which is why I'm here among other reasons. Just an unscientific observation.
Over at Atlas (at least in their stats since revising the forums) the N and HO forums have the same number of threads, but HO has slightly more posts. I seem to remember back in the old days that the N scale forum was busier there, but my memory isn't all that reliable. I agree with bnsf_mp_30 that HO is more common over at Trains.com. Regards Ed
Some time back I was inquiring about the MRC Controlmaster Memory throttle or any memory throttle that would put out 2-3 amps at a LHS here in the metroplex, and was told that MRC will no longer make standard throttles. They were going to produce nothing but DCC from here on out. Either they are misinformed or all they want to sell is the high end DCC for $200-$500 because that's all they have in stock. So with that in mind, who are the good internet stores that give good service and pricing in HO. From what I can tell Wig-Wag & Feather River are N-scale only. What gives?
I was asking about other products (structures, rolling stock, engines). I found the throttles on the internet that I am going to build myself. More features for far less money.
A couple of observations. I think the guy ment well. One issue I have seen with clubs is that clubs buy into standards. That's a good thing. But what happens is in a 50 person club, 5 of them understand the options (e.g. rail code, tie spacing) in a way that they can make a decision. They do, and get the word out to the club. What you end up with is 45 other people who say "you need to use xyz because of abc", and maybe hear an anicdote about other track. I can't tell you how many NTraker's I've met who say "no code 55". Well, Peco and ME are explicitly allowed, but only in the latest version of the manual. Earlier manuals said nothing, as there was no Atlas Code 55. Those in the know understand why, Atlas Code 55 has issues with Pizza cutters. So for better or for worse NTrak had to say no. However that has created a huge group of people who believe that "Code 55....causes derailments". His coments went further, trying to show "the club way is better". Sure, 24" min raidus is hard to do at home, even for those with a lot of space. So he's right, in that respect a club is better. However, clubs come with other baggage. You have to meet at specific times and places, you have to pitch in on "community" projects to tie everything together. You have to deal with personalities. At the end of the day, I feel sorry for the LHS owner. Try and find someone who knows Model Trains, Model Rockets, Model Airplains, Model RC Cars/Trucks, RPG's, all while having a full knowledge of paints and tools. Ok, that won't work, so let's employ 2-3 people who each know some...except now they get 1/2 to 1/3 the money, because it only makes a small uptick in business. Depending on where you are, and how vibrant the economy and local train scene is finding a qualified candidate can be somewhere between difficult and impossible. Years ago I read a book on running your own business. It had a section on measuring your progress. One of their bits of advice was that if in 5 years of running your business you weren't able to invision a second location that could also be a viable business then you were not going well enough. The basic idea was that if you didn't have enough people coming from far enough away that you could see another location then your business was very vunerable to economic downturn, a competitor, a shift in customers habits, etc. I'm not sure I completely buy that advice, but I think it's an interesting way to look at things, and a test many LHS's wouldn't pass...
Thanks, I think you hit it right on the head there. He probably assumed I knew next to nothing since I said I was "new to N scale," and I never even mentioned doing months of research online. For instance when I told him that Peco and Atlas Code 55 track does not match he scatched his head and said, "Hmmm, that's a new one..." Clubs are cool but for me the money and time invested don't justify the price of membership dues. Plus, if I wanted to run trains at 4am, I can just turn on my own layout in my room. Also, though I love trains and all that, and recently have made a few more model railroader friends, I do not want a club to be the extent of my social life. I have other interests and things to do, so joining a MRR club doesn't appeal to me personally. Still it won't change the fact that I won't shop there anymore, and the few locos I've seen behind the glass that looked cool, I can easily find on eBay or an online hobby shop.
Have to disagree with you there...though I suppose it depends on the club. I've joined a club because I don't have space for a layout in my apartment. But even if I could build my own, the amount of time and money it would cost me to put together a good layout would be just as much if not more. Plus, I wouldn't end up with a 20' x 70' layout.
Yes, but any such employee could still be smart and polite enough to ask questions instead of give lectures when a customer asks for something the employee doesn't understand. That way the employee learns what he doesn't know overtime, instead of driving away the customers who might teach him a thing or two. Still, I hear ya, finding good people is hard in any business. Maybe that's always been true or maybe it's a comment on contemporary America...
Boxcab: here is the link to the throttle I was refering to http://www.awrr.com/throtl8.html Now back to our regularly scheduled program... Years ago I used to help out in a hobby shop on occasion. Also did some custom painting. Then due to situations beyond my control, I was out of the hobby for a few years. I've been back about three years now that I have space and time to build a layout but I no longer have a desire to "work" in the hobby because the work killed the fun I used to have. Also a lot of things had changed in ten years so I have had to re-learn some of the methods used today not to mention all of the new products that are available. If I were to work in a hobby shop today (railroad only) I would be horrible for a while because I don't have the product knowledge that I had 10 years ago. Now if I encounter something I am unsure of, I turn to the TB members (not the LHS). If you get enough responses, compare them, and the most common one usually wins out.
MOPMAN, excellent post and one I can agree with. I have worked in the hobby industry for over nine years, six of those in a hobby manufactuer and three as a model railroad related brand manager. I was more productive when I worked for an RC company that largely did not deal with trains because I did not get burned out. Working as brand manager was ok as I worked with trains, both prototype and model about 45% of the time. But after spending time on the phone with customers, modelers, distributers, railroads and other legal duties, coming home to work on my railroad was not fun anymore, it was work. That is what led me back into radio control aviation. It is true that these employees have to know all about various hobbies and should be well informed. That said however I should as a store owner or worker push my biasis on the consumer. Give the consumer information and options then let the consumer make up his mind. Jim
Amen to that. I have played both sides of the counter (salesman, customer) and I must say there are snobs (rivet counters) on both sides.
What I mean to say the time I plan to invest in a MRR club won't justify the monthly dues for me, since I would hardly have the time to devote to the club...It's like people who buy health spa/gym memberships and never really go...
