shops that cut deals??

[AaronG]

Wow, guess I opened up a can o' worms with my "pro deal" comment. Yes, I admit that Pro Deals are for snow professionals that spend time on the hill. I do know that the mfrs give discounts for goods to the snow professionals who teach the impressionable general public. Helps promote sells of their particular gear, when I worked in a ski shop that was one of the perks to working there.

Realize also that the "pro deal" is one of the most abused ways to get equipment for a good price. I don't think that young 18 year old kid who just held back the lift chair nor the kid who scans my ticket in the lift line nor that cute girl who just charged me 5.00 for a water and a banana are professionals but if you talk to them, I have, they all know what a pro deal is and who to talk to, to get a form. If he can't get a form directly, he/she knows who to talk to have someone order their equipment using a pro form.

Do you think they are just working there for the free skiing?? I think not!! Just look in the local mtn classifieds at the beginning and the end of the year when the kids are blowing out their one year old equipment to make room for the new stuff they will order on the pro form for the next season.

I admit, that a person should not go to a local retailer and try everything on, take the employees time away from other, potential buyers just to go home and order it on proform.

I know you are in the retail business up in Canada, and yes, for a person who is not a snow professional to order equipment using one is taking a sale away from you or any other retailer hurts financially, I don't agree with it but it does happen. Have you given any of your buddies that you carve with a proform??

[Neil Gendzwill]

I figure that's most probably because the Canadian retailers and distributors sell less than the U.S. ones, so they end up buying less from Honda which means they don't get as good a price. At least, that's the way I see it. :)

I'm sure it's all tied in to speculation on exchange rates - it wasn't so long ago that our dollar was quite weak after all. A couple of years ago when it was weak, it was cheaper to buy some stuff here than the US, such as electronics and clothes.

[D.T.]

The Walmart mentality sure has its place but not in the specialty area.

Ding ding ding ding ding. We have a winner!

[Rob Stevens]

Oldvolvosrule;

As a big fan of "Better Off Dead" the correct quote for your signature line would be...

"It's a shame when people be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that."

I hope I've been of assistance to you.

[RDY_2_Carve]

It is easier to believe that everything SAC sells are seconds or crap when bought at a discount. Not True.

Yeah to me it looks like SAC sells first items that are hard sellers. Like XS and XXXL helmets for example. It's basically the stuff that REI can't seem to sell since the demand isn't that high. Amazing how they can sell it for 50% off or more and still make a profit. It makes you wonder how much they are marking this stuff up when they sell it at MSRP!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Why would a car sold in the US and legally imported to Canada be inferior to the US car sold and licensed in the US - SAME CAR! and it is still made in Canada.

There are some slight differences in the same car made for US and Canadian markets. Daytime running lights, for example.

[bobdea]

don't get proforms, generally if they do it's not from the manufacturer, it's usually from their employer that gives them a 15 to 30% discount because the resorts also own retail shops OR in the case of Boeri pretty much all ASC employees were getting helmets at 50% not sure if this is still the case but this was really cool of both ASC and Boeri

That said being a liftie and knowing the right rep or knowing who to call does help, Bomber sent me some bindings on the cheap when I was working at steamboat, saved my ass too, I would have been riding some busted up Blax bindings that year had they not of hooked it up.

What I do resent though is people who are outside the industry trying to get on the proform bus, as it is some people in the industry are in the grey area as for what is considered a on snow professional and it can be hard to get ahold of what we need within our budgets.

Our(liftie's) asses work for about $8(in the east closer to 6.75) a hour and don't always get a discount on our stuff, half of the time the shops that are part of where we work don't even carry what we need.

Many of us live the lifestyle for a considerable amount of sacrifice in other parts of our lives, when some weekend warrior comes out and bitches that he can't get the same deal as people who decide to dedicate their lifestyle to a sport and forgo things like cars, phones, dentists and can't aford eating anything other than ramen noodle or rice is ****ing lame dude.

I bet you make a hell of alot more than I do dive bomber and OVR, why are some of you afluent guys such ****ing cheapskates sometimes

damn, this is irritating

I now am out of working in the snowsports industry and I could be considered a weekend warrior as well but I have walked the walk.....

[Rob Stevens]

I was a poor rider for a long time.

Now, I'm not.

I really enjoy going to the shops that supported me when I had nothing. I try to give them full price and they won't hear of it. Just my willingness to do so has gotten me some of the best pricing I've ever received.

It sounds like I'm employing reverse-psychology, but that's not how I wanted it to work out... it just happened that way.

The best part about being able to afford full retail is that you get EXACTLY what you want, when you want it. For me, saving time not having to look around fits my personality because I hate shopping.

[D.T.]

The best part about being able to afford full retail is that you get EXACTLY what you want, when you want it. For me, saving time not having to look around fits my personality because I hate shopping.

Exactly!

[ak_rider]

as a former shop employee as well as a former shop manager please just dont gointo the shop and say you found the item for less somewhere else and want that shop to match it. This was probably the most popular thing for people to do at my old shop and eventually i ended up telling each one that they found a good deal and should take it because i couldnt match it. For super smokin deals try the big box stores. the little guy has to seel for more because he doesnt do the volume that the bigger ones do. it's like paying twice as much for gas in valdez, ak when you can see the pipeline from the gas station

[ak_rider]

Wow, guess I opened up a can o' worms with my "pro deal" comment. Yes, I admit that Pro Deals are for snow professionals that spend time on the hill. I do know that the mfrs give discounts for goods to the snow professionals who teach the impressionable general public. Helps promote sells of their particular gear, when I worked in a ski shop that was one of the perks to working there.

Realize also that the "pro deal" is one of the most abused ways to get equipment for a good price. I don't think that young 18 year old kid who just held back the lift chair nor the kid who scans my ticket in the lift line nor that cute girl who just charged me 5.00 for a water and a banana are professionals but if you talk to them, I have, they all know what a pro deal is and who to talk to, to get a form. If he can't get a form directly, he/she knows who to talk to have someone order their equipment using a pro form.

Do you think they are just working there for the free skiing?? I think not!! Just look in the local mtn classifieds at the beginning and the end of the year when the kids are blowing out their one year old equipment to make room for the new stuff they will order on the pro form for the next season.

QUOTE]

my 2 cents on this is while true the lifties and others at the mountain can have access to pro deals , they definately dont get the hook-up that a highly certified instructor gets. although it does piss me off to a certain degree when the liftie making minimum wage who can barely side slip has nicer gear than me, but in my mind it's the skill not the fashion that counts. and being a canadina cert instructor, i get proform on carving gear too, since we still see value in hardbooting in CASI.

[willywhit]

actually now that i think about it, I could probably pull some pro deals my self, just can be a bit of a hassle

this is one of those "don't ask, don't tell" scenarios.

Is it wrong to stop by your favorite ski shop (after hours) to tune your board yourself on thier fancy machine for the price of a 12 pack of Long Trail ? I think not.

Should you brag about the killer deal you got (through your buddy) on a new board when the guy sitting next to you on the chair just paid twice as much for a new board ? I think not.

There are many ways to get deals on stuff, some more legit than others.

New Dakine bag on SAC for 68% off-sweet deal.....versus....

New HDTV from Best Buy for employee cost (half price)- kinda sketchy.

If you can find a new pair of $800 ski boots for $100 because the store is going out of business, more power to ya...but if you're abusing a pro form program that could jeopardize people getting thier gear for cheap, that's not cool.