B&H No Longer Shipping Chemistry

[Drew Wiley]

Henry must have a lot more patience than me. I know thousands of customers on a first name basis, and quite a few of them have become lifelong personal friends. Then there are those few.... But at the moment, I'm opening two boxes which just arrived from B&H precisely on time, and am totally unrepentant about spending money with them. I would have spent a lot more were it not for the fact I'm starting an expensive remodel next month.

[Duolab123]

you misunderstood me. I am sorry if i was obscure. A customer who orders ten rolls of tri-x and one envelope of developer per year is not among the bottom 10%. The customer who orders ten rolls of tri-x and one envelope of developer per year and then sends a dozen emails, telephones 7 times and posts complaints in twitter and yelp because we didn't drop everything and ship his order immediately upon receiving it is something else altogether.

Some customers, frequent or rare, are problem-free; others, frequent or rare, make themselves so expensive to service it is impossible to make a profit from the relationship. This is by no means exclusive to b&h or to the camera/photo industry in general. My brother wholesales high-end giftware and he has stories from his customers that easily equal my own.

Similarly i've found there are people in various forums who are easy to engage with, whether we agree or disagree, and others so argumentative that i begin to overlook their comments and questions. Ymmv

high five!

[denverjims]

Aahhh. Stoically. Here's a little true story. Once upon a time I was offered a computer microphone and a talk-to-type program because I had a little carpal tunnel issue. When I declined I was asked why. I replied that from time to time while I was stoically typing (hopefully) courteous, polite, reasonable replies I was mumbling stuff under my breath that would have made Hannibal Lecter duck and run. Stoically indeed. :-)

HenryP,

A couple of truisms that might apply and have helped me (when I can remember them):

There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict. Walk away. The battle they are fighting isn't typically situational, it's within their nature and you can't possibly 'win'. - Unknown

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig. - Robert Heinlein

Regards, Jim

[faberryman]

Here is another truism that might apply and has helped me:

"Honesty is the best policy."

It would explain why B&H shipped darkroom chemicals for decades before 11/22/2016, stopped shipping chemicals on 11/22/2016 claiming repeatedly that governmental regulations arising out of the 1996 ValueJet crash prohibited it from doing so, and then resumed shipping many of those same chemicals a week later. Since, as B&H management spokesperson Henry Posner has twice stated "we don't overlook anything" (emphasis his), it's a real head scratcher.

[scm]

[Drew Wiley]

Once again, how many of you have experience running a complex sales operation involving thousands of customers and a huge selection of inventory? I do. No
matter how ethical, hardworking, and experienced you are, you simply cannot be everything to everyone; and things do go wrong. It's called Murphy's Law. I've
had the rug pulled out from under me by manufacturers themselves so many times that it hurts. And as for people at the top, they're not God; they can't know
every detail of every department or specific product. The business I currently work for, and from which I shall retire in exactly one week after forty years, is itself 75 years old now. I've seen many competitors come and go, many manufacturers go bust for "I told you so" reasons. But long ago I helped tailor product selection and service to a specific kind of clientele who mean business themselves. I have nothing against tire-kickers personally, but just can't afford their distraction from those who spend real money. Any successful business needs to know who their real clientele are. But if you think you can do a better job, go
ahead, try. It ain't that easy.

[Kirk Gittings]

And it doesn't have to be a big business either. I pride myself on long term relationships-some lasting 30 years. But sometimes things happen no matter how diligent I am about planning and prep and in the end it's on me, period.

[denverjims]

FOFL !!!!

Glad to see another Munroe fan out there! I'm sure he would appreciate the context...

[denverjims]

And it doesn't have to be a big business either. I pride myself on long term relationships-some lasting 30 years. But sometimes things happen no matter how diligent I am about planning and prep and in the end it's on me, period.

To err is human, to forgive... apparently, not so much.

[Sal Santamaura]

If anyone gave up on B&H for darkroom chemicals, it might be worthwhile to revisit that decision. According to Henry Posner today, the company "...redoubled our effort to get more darkroom products added to the "okay to ship" roster."

Many of the items, both liquid and powder, that had been moved to 'store pickup only' status are again eligible for shipping.