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From: ILPI Support <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] List of splash goggles, useful?
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2018 21:34:34 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: A5E27A9C-3CD1-4E5C-BB03-1008D0368B95**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com
In-Reply-To <006901d45db0$b55ff8e0$201feaa0$**At_Symbol_Here**rochester.rr.com>
Preface: as most of you are aware one of the hats I wear is owning a company that sells lab and safety supplies, so I'll wear that hat to answer this question.
Responding to Peter's comment below, it's a terrible inconvenience for merchants like myself. Most manufacturers operate through distributors, who would have to hold inventory of a rare item that may not ever move. Goggles are consumables that are generally sold by the case to distributors - you can't simply drop ship a single pair of goggles from the manufacturer. This is why my own lab/safety supply company doesn't even offer consumable low-value, low-margin commodities like gloves, goggles, and earplugs. If you can sell them by the case, that's great, but most companies simply can't offer them in onesies and twosies.
On some product lines there are ways around this with the right supply chain and market. For example, I just solved the puzzle of FR lab coats in sizes from S to 5XL in various lengths which we hope to offer soon (hopefully at prices that those on the list will like).
On other types of products, you're right - there is no added cost other than the time/effort to put them into the system, which has paid off nicely for us on some rather uncommon but essential-to-someone items such as vandal-resistant safety equipment, custom length lab frame rods, a 250 lb Class D extinguisher etc.. all purchased right off our site on a credit card. It works great provided your e-commerce system doesn't limit you on bandwidth, pictures, products etc. as many of the lower end ones do. On the other hand, offering too many products can make it difficult for people to find and then select your products - too many choices (and, of course inventory) are bad from a seller's perspective.
With respect to Shiela's earlier comments about demand survey that could serve two functions. One would be to have a list of hard to find things and where one can obtain them. A creative extension of that would use the data as input for a buyer's group/club so folks could source hard to obtain items and make a case-quantity purchase that they divvy up. For example, X is only sold in cases, but if one can find enough people to go in on a case and then split it up everyone would win. For most people on the list the logistics for that are a non-starter (try explaining the plan to Central Purchasing), but if you can find a vendor willing to play along by taking the inventory after getting enough commitments, then you're on to something. You could also apply the same concept to volume pricing. In essence, a Groupon-type approach but narrowly tailored to our little world.
Rob Toreki
This is remarkably short-sighted of the manufacturing companies involved. Listing low demand items on line has got to be less expensive than in printed catalogues, of course, and is basically a one-time cost. After that it is just the cost of a few K of memory and you make the item readily available for ANYONE to find and order, increasing the likelihood of actually selling some.
Yes, if it includes the other end of the spectrum. I wear glasses from the children's sizes, and the ones that fit are made for kids ages 4 - 7. No standard safety goggles in adult sizes can possibly fit well enough on my face to actually act splash guard. I spent many months trying to find a small enough size, and did find them at Flinn Scientific, but they don't (or didn't then) appear in their catalog or the online catalog, but I got one of those postcard ads from them for them, and they fit. In talking to them, they told me that most companies that sell safety goggles have them, but the demand is so low that they don't put them in the catalogs or online catalogs.
I've had many students over the years whose heads were as small as mine, and had to special order goggles for them to get ones that actually fit. (and they won't protect from splashes if they don=E2=80™t seal to the face.)
Meg
Meg Osterby
W831 County Road K
Stoddard, WI 54658
414-539-1543 (cell)
608-788-7951 (home)
megosterby**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com"It's better to be careful 100 times than to be killed once." Mark Twain
Following my recent (successful) hunt for extra wide goggles for one of our students
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