How much extra would you pay to have your water pumped?

I have a LFS 5 miles from me. I have been in there maybe 5 times in the last 3 yrs and have never spent a dime. The next closet LFS is about 40 miles away with 2 others maybe 45 miles. I have been to these stores altogether probably 150 times. I can call and ask any of them a question and they all know me by name, know what I have in my tank without me even saying who I am over the phone. I know what each LFS has to offer and what, livestock, dry goods, equipment they keep on hand. The one store I visit the most I do not buy fish from due to my own personnel opinion about the health of their fish but have spent thousands on other things. The next store I visit is always having sales and sends me coupons to get me to come in and I typically buy my fish from them due to the fish looking healthy and me having great success with them. The other LFS I visit usually has good prices on their frags and CUC and will typically take an extra 10-15% off of the price and usually will throw in a few extras. Now to my point. IMPO if i bought water I would buy water from anyone of them as long as they would test it for me before I left with it and would have no problem filling up the bucket myself. I would even pay a little extra for them to do it if needed. I understand them needing to make money and do not expect them to loose sales to others because I am to cheap/lazy to fill my own bucket. If you have great customer service and help the consumer make the right decision I dont think 10 cent will make a difference. One thing you could do is raise the price 10 cent a gallon and when people buy other things along with the water you could give them 10 cent a gallon off good customer discount . if they only buy water its normal price. IMPO raise the price, give great customer service and you dont have anything to worry about.

 

^^+1 to that. My LFS is 5 miles from me, I dont even know where the next closest one is (theres a pet store that carries some fish but thats out of the question). Anyways, IMO items are posted a little high, I could save alot of money ordering online but I continue to buy from him because he knows me by name, has great customer service and will never tell you to buy something that isnt right for your tank, in fact, pretty much every time I walk in there and look around I hear him telling someone not to buy it because it wouldnt do good in their tank. I know im rambling but my point being, Im willing to pay a little extra for a good shopping experience with knowledgeable staff.

 

Not really. It doesn't cost money to check tire pressure. All you need is a 75 cent gauge. Testing water is expensive and tests are consumable.

Three of the LFS around that do free testing use the cheapest dip strips you can find. One LFS charges for testing and they use salifert test kits.

 

Agreed that tests are much more expensive than checking tire pressure, but honestly, a gallon of a testing reagent goes MUCH farther than a gallon of salt water lol.

 

If I knew the LFS was charging me any amount of money for having to fill a container I would never go there again. Testing water yes, filling a water container no.

 

Totally agreed.

 

Wow! I won't even sell those dip strips in the store. They are worthless IMO. Testing truly is a big cost to us (in terms of supplies and labor) and I've thought about charging for them too. I go through 3 nitrate test kits at a minimum per week, usually 2 Alkalinity kits. The sign says that Calcium tests cost $1 but it hasn't been charged in years so customers expect it to be free. I go through 2 of these a week. Actually, I have about 30 bottle 1's but only one bottle 2 at a time....unfortunately, you can't only buy a bottle 2...you have to break open a whole new kit. About the only test I charge for (and I don't charge if they buy something) is Phosphates. You know as well as I do how worthless titration/reagent based Phosphate test kits are. Charging $1 per phosphate test will pay off that $800 Hach Spectrophotometer in about 20~25 years. However, at least it gives you a real phosphate number. The maintenance crew goes through a lot of test kits per week too. However, we are being paid as part of a normal service call so that not really a cost.

 

eh....i would look at it as foot traffic coming in the door. this is an impulse buy driven hobby in many respects, (there is no good reason to buy a coral unless it catches your eye etc...so in a sense it is an impulse buy), so I would put the coral tank, or the tank you think will get impulse buys like that next to the water pumping station. So while you stand around and they are there you can have something to look at. Maybe cleaning products and the like would be better there though.... i kind of like water as a loss leader...there are a lot of tack on item opportunities that go with it.

If you want to encourage customers to pump their own water I would put up a sign that says "If you need help operating the faucets just ask, we are here to help!". This lets them know that you still offer the same service you always have, but now they know they are allowed to pump it themselves. Sorry if I missed an earlier post, I see now that there is 7 pages but I had just read the original post and started replying...

the lfs i plan in the future will sell sw mixed with make up supplements to fix deficiencies in the tests...or the tests will recommend the steps needed to rectify the problem. The supplemented make up water would command a higher price etc.. so you get paid for it on the backend because of the added value and convenience for the customer.