Why Parallax gives 2 FREE servos and distributors don't have they free?
Markus
Posts: 22
Hi,
Why Parallax has Parallax Servo Controllers + 2 FREE servos and distributors don't have the servos free?
Parallax must give servos free to the distributor and distributor must give servos to us!!!
Parallax must be better with the distributors,. ( I think)
thanks,
Why Parallax has Parallax Servo Controllers + 2 FREE servos and distributors don't have the servos free?
Parallax must give servos free to the distributor and distributor must give servos to us!!!
Parallax must be better with the distributors,. ( I think)
thanks,
Comments
Parallax runs different special offers to promote new products and some distributors may do the same at their own discretion.
We don't get the servos for free from Futaba to run this promotion. Parallax absorbs the cost when deciding to run such offer.
Distributors can independently define the promos they run to promote products in their local market.
You can also order directly form Parallax if you want to take advantage of this or any other special offer.
Regards,
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Aristides Alvarez
Education and Technical Support Manager
aalvarez@parallax.com
Parallax, Inc. www.parallax.com
because they are not manufacturers and I am sure that it is impossible for
distributors to run special offers.
Please, go to all your Parallax distributors and you will not find
any promo with a Basic Stamp like Parallax.
Finally, I think that your answer : "You can also order directly form Parallax
if you want to take advantage"
is ridicule (sorry) and it is a not serious answer because all the people
like me that don't live in USA preffer local distributors, and Parallax
could extend the special offers.
Please consider this becuase your answer was not a serius or adult answer.
Thanks again , Markus.
PS: I saw all the distributors and they are not offering promotions, please,
see distributors and let me if I am wrong.
What you are saying isn't standard in other industry- Aristides' answer was very professional in tone and scope. Just because you don't like someone's answer doesn't make it incorrect, or immature.
Consider the definition of distributor:
distributor
n 1: someone who markets merchandise [noparse][[/noparse]syn: distributer] 2: a person with authority to allot or deal out or apportion [noparse][[/noparse]syn: allocator] 3: a company that markets merchandise; "his company is a large distributor of software products" (dictonary.com)
You should be speaking to the distributor in this instance, not with Parallax.
Ryan
Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 6/18/2005 2:58:28 AM GMT
Your distributor can run a similar special. They are all educated in how to go about doing this with Parallax. Just like we do for our business, they'd need to provide us with a marketing plan for the promotion.·If a Parallax distributor desires to run a similar promotion, we'll extend them far greater discounts to offset the marketing. All they have to do is contact their Parallax representative and show us their plan.
They can extend you the "two free servo" deal along with all of their other customers and we'd be glad to support them in such marketing. You need to speak with your distributor. We support them the same way we support all customers.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
It seems that Aristides, P. Baker and Ryan have a narrow form of view.
I think that only Ken undertood me.
For example about the the definition of distributor written by Ryan:
Ryan: Your are right. Your idea of distribution is right, but, sorry,
but your explanation is a technical explanation only.
All the people know about your explanation, but , you could
try to solve the problem instead of writte here about
"distribution definitions" or try not to send us Parallax rights!!
( Please, don't fight)
Ryan: Please, consider that distributors earn a lot of money to Parallax (yes)
because it is a free advertising to Parallax. But people like me
try to use travels (i.e.vacations) of friends to USA to buy Basic stamps, of course
jumping the local distributor
and this is "legal" (sure, is legal) but not good for us and for the distributors.
Parallax must have enough discounts and offers to distributors and distributors must do
the same for us. (but all begins at the manufacturer)
One year ago I think that Parallax reprensentatives were expensive but it seems
the manufacturer is expensive and not distributors.
I saw distributors WWWs and all
are smaller than Parallax but I think that Parallax could have good
discounts with them.
And About Mr. Baker:
Please Mr. Baker, thanks to the distributors I know the Basic stamps.
Ken, if you work at Parallax (I think that you understood me), please tell to the owners there that
basic stamps are good but some distributors can't add offers like Parallax
and could be very good if Parallax helps. Please remember that if Parallax
helps distributors, distributors will help us.
If I am wrong , please let me where.
Thanks, Markus
Please understand I wasn't trying to argue with you, or belittle you. If I offended you then I am sorry.
I understood your point just fine. You will notice that Ken said exactly what I did, that you should be talking to your distributors, not here.
I am sorry if you took offense to anything I said, that was not my intent. It was however evident that the person who offered offense initially was you, to Aristides. He simply tried to answer your question, not berate you. For the boards here to maintain a level of professionalism courtsey needs to be reciprocated.
What project are you working on, maybe we can collaborate together?
Ryan
Post Edited (LostboY) : 6/19/2005 12:47:48 AM GMT
I suspect if Parallax were to take away the 2 free servos for the sake of a monolithic policy, someone would be screaming.
Yes, it cost more to order from the USA if your overseas, so isn't nice that you get something more? Parallax is trying to get into more countries and giving extra product helps.
Local distributors also often have clearance sales whenever they have too much of one item or newer, better products come out. And, many local distributors might sell competitor products [noparse][[/noparse]including cheaper servos] along sit the Parallax products.
Also, I suspect that Parallax [noparse][[/noparse]like many other suppliers in many other businesses] will ship product 'bonuses' to local distributors that are regular buyers. The 'bonuses' are given at no cost, but it is up to the distributor to pass them on at no cost or to decide how to price them.
That is the way promotions often work.
What Parallax is saying is that they are trying to reach the most customers they can with the best value. Often the distributors do it in a different way.
Some products [noparse][[/noparse]like Nike shoes] won't allow their outlets any flexiblity and won't allow other brands to be sold in the same store. But, these products mainly compete on brand name, not on funtional features.
If Markus really wants to understand what is going on, he should study marketing. But, in the end, Parallax has the right to have its own business approach. While at times, I have disagreed with it; I still feel that they really provide a better than average value for the kind of product they are selling.
If you want to kill the price, you can always kill the business. Profit is a necessary part of survial. It may be that your distributor feels that his costs and market require him to be a bit more frugal.
Good business is about mutal respect. Aristidies and Ken are trying to express that they do respect you and that the customer is very important. But, they also have many distributors all over the world that they have to think of. Nike has huge profits, so it can just tell everyone what to do. Parallax is on a much tighter budget and much more specialized market.
Having said all that, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have 'oversea distributor specials' every six months. But, aren't we getting more and more complicated?
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G. Herzog in Taiwan
Ryan
No big deal....I dn't often have a project that has to be done so quickly that I can't wait for a package from Parallax (which doesn't usually take more than a week).
Quite frankly, Parallax does such a great job with the support and their "FREE" software and "FREE TO DOWNLOAD" documents that when they do give away free product or put on sales it's absolutely just icing on the cake!
As with anything you might want to purchase....you shop around for better prices. You have to figure out if this is worth the extra wait or customs charges or shipping charges....
If your distributor doesn't happen to carry a new product....you should talk with them and be sure they can get it if they can't....go directly to the source.
Same goes for the deals....if the distributor doesn't want to pass down the savings to his buyers...then go directly to the source.
I think you're being a little unrealistic in asking Parallax to give away free things to distributors or otherwise.
I'm in no way affiliated with Parallax except that I'm a buyer/hobbyist!
They have a great product for a great price. Anyplace else that has a 'great' product, charge a price that reflects that (big bucks)!
Yes it's unfortunate that those outside the US incur extra cost to get products....I cringe everytime I get a customs broker charge (robbers haha)....but I'm more than willing to go straight to Parallax for my product. I don't really have an local shops near me (can always use digikey or electrosonic but prefer walk-in shops) but have no problem going directly to the folks at Parallax.
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·
Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
Still, I admire the fact that Parallax has spent so much effort on education and feel the trade off is worth it. The competition does have other features that I may need some day, but I have saved a bundle on books by reading from Parallax's web site and this forum.
It really doesn't matter if I buy locally or from the USA. It seems to cost about the same. There is a local distributor, but oddly the Taiwan technical market is slow to show and interest. So we seem to suffer from the same shipping costs and duties. The English language barrier is part of it and many Taiwanese don't understand how easy Basic can be. Also students here are very frugal and seem study to on 8052s which require handling a lot more programing code. The distributor doesn't have much and Taiwanese don't want to pay to duty either. There aren't many choices amongst PICs either.
The international sales can be very fickel and different regions seem to look on the items as being way too expense or quite reasonable. Apparently in Hong Kong and Japan, Parrallax does fine and the customers are happy. It seems that when people really understand the usefulness of the technology, they see how reasonable the value of a little microcontroller that can be reconfigured 10,000 times is. Others just think it is an expensive, one-shot toy.
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G. Herzog in Taiwan
I've been lurking this thread for a while but now I feel I should place a post.
Your name, and the way you argue makes me feel that you are a German (or living in some other European country), like me.
Instead of complaining like
"Why Parallax has Parallax Servo Controllers + 2 FREE servos and distributors don't have the servos free? Parallax must give servos free to the distributor and distributor must give servos to us!!!
Parallax must be better with the distributors,. ( I think)"
Why don't you simply be cool, and post a question like this:
"I noticed that Parallax recently is offering a special deal on Servo controllers with two servos for free in the US. Is there any way for international customers to make a similar deal with their local distributor?"
IMO, this asks the same question but it's a lot more polite (well, I know - we Germans/Europeans are a bit different).
In one of your follow-up posts, you mentioned that Ken seems to be the only person who understood you - just for your information, Ken is one of the owners of Parallax - did you ever meet another company where one of the "Bosses" took care of your complaints?
Maybe, this is a little displaced here but I feel to share this story with ya'all:
A couple of years, I was waiting at JFK Airpot in NY for check-in when suddenly an alarm bell started ringing, making a lot of noise. After about 5 minutes, a very "official-looking" person showed up, opened a cabinet, and turned off the alarm. All people in the room applauded, the "oficial" bowed, and walked away.
When I think of the same situation at a German airport (say Frankfort), it goes like this: After about less than one minute people would begin complaining about that noise. After the "official" would have turned off the alarm, you can be sure that someone would say "why did it take that long to shut down that bell - he could have been a bit faster". Seems as if this has something to do with "glass half-full", and "glass half-empty" mentality.
I also noticed another interesting fact: When Americans talk about a car's gas consumption, they say Miles/Gallon - IOW: Look, my car goes that many Miles "eating" just one Gallon. In Germany/Europe (whith the "Glass-half-empty" mentality) we specify the gas consumption by Liters/km - IOW: "Arghhhh I need so many Liters to move my car just one Kilometer."
Why don't we all think a bot more positive...
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Greetings from Germany,
G
And now I thinks it's time to put this whining silly post to bed.
G'night y'all.
Peter (pjv)
I absolutely agree with you - there are so many positive things we all can enjoy, like a program that runs as expected on the first try
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Greetings from Germany,
G
If someone shows me a glass of water that is only half-full/half-empty I simply see the situation like this:
The glass is twice as big as it needs to be [noparse];)[/noparse]
Ryan
I really like this one - you made me thinking of having the gas tank in my BMW replaced by a smaller one because it is always half full/empty - why? Because I care a damn about the constantly incresing gas prices here and always only buy gas for 20 Euros
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Greetings from Germany,
G
Which is better, ultimate happiness in life, or a ham sandwich?
The Ham sandwich.
Proof:
NOTHING is better than ultimate happiness in life.
A ham sandwich is better than nothing.
Ergo a ham sandwich is better than ultimate happiness in life [noparse];)[/noparse]
Ryan
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz........
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Byte walks into a bar and orders a pint. Bartender asks him "What's wrong?"
Byte says "Parity error." Bartender nods and says "Yeah, I thought you looked a bit off."
That is I expect that I will need to debug..... !!
some days ago I wrote my first SX program in assembly that worked on the first try - no debugging required. I was so proud
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Greetings from Germany,
G
I read with some amusement your 6/20 posting.· I wish I had had the benefit of you prospective a few years ago when designing a worldwide power distribution and control system that was used in a machine that was manufactured in both the US and Germany.· Every time I made a design change or modification I received a slew of e-mail nitpicking at one·facet or another of the change and implying that I was incompetent fool.· Conference calls probably would have resulted in fist fights were it not for the fact that we were separated by the North Atlantic Ocean.· All was forgotten and forgiven when we finally achieved shipping approval.
A year after product launch we again came head to head over a modem interface problem that plagued remote product communications in Europe.· The root cause of the problem was the various telephone line standards that exist in Europe.· After several attempts to resolve the issues during conference calls failed we invited parties from France, England, Germany, and Italy to our headquarters here in the States to resolve the issue once and for all.· Almost immediately after the meeting began cooperation between the European representatives broke down along country lines with each party personally attacking the other.· It was then that I finally realized how history, customs, and communication styles·separate us.
Thank you for addressing these differences in a humorous and constructive way.
·
I agree with you, there are obviously differences in thinking "technically", in how to approach a problem and solve it, and generally in culture between the various areas of the world. Naturally, this also includes the US, Germany, and other European countries. But you can easily extend this to countries in Far East, or elsewhere in the world. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure, you will find a lot of people here, thinking the "American Way", and you may also find people in your country thinking "European", or "German".
Nevertheless, I must admit that these are minorities (at least among the people, I have met here). I've been working in software development and distribution for many years. When one of the programs had a bug, the typical German would ask for an immediate bug fix, where a typical American might be happy with a "workaround" allowing him to continue his work. Or, on comments like "The documentation states that the program behaves like this but actually the program behaves differently - this must be changed". My typical counter-question was: "What must be changed - the documentation or the software?"
You described a meeting in your headquarters where the cooperation between the European representatives broke down, and the parties begun attacking each other. I think this is a typical self-protection behavior. "It can't be my fault - someone else must have made a mistake".
I'm glad that modern ways of communications, like the Internet, eMail, Forums, etc. can bring together people all over the world much easier than it was possible in earlier days. I hope this helps people to better understand each other - let's work on it!
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Greetings from Germany,
G