I wish I was experienced(skilled) enough, and had enough to do, to make the cost of purchasing GOOD tools and stamps from someone other than Tandy... BUT, Tandy has put the brakes on my desire for Leathercrafting period, thanks to them becoming Corporate Pigs, instead of a Profitable Company still LOYAL to people in the craft!! I did some leatherwork as a young man.. but once out of High School, Girls and Drinking made it not so cool.. So didn't get back into it until 20 years later.. Found the new store in my city that they opened after the old one had been closed years before. I became a Wholesale Club member (GOLD), as it was a nice way to save some money..
WELL... Tandy "obviously wasn't making enough money this way, so they stopped the initial Wholesale Club, and came up with the "Elite".. Gold Membership was/is $35.00 a year... When they started the "?Elite?" level, they essentially just increased the PRICE of Gold Membership Benefits/Savings and gave it a different name.. charging $150.00 a year for the "SAME" (or sometimes worse) discounts as they had been giving the Original GOLD Members... then, the $35.00 a year Gold Members got shafted, and now had to pay MORE for the same items than they/we had been paying in the past?
I contacted Tandy Corporate numerous times after their change... whenever a new SKIVER came out... asking them why as a GOLD member I was having to pay MORE than in previous years??? At first they told me I wasn't/Gold members weren't paying more... then when I cited examples, they told me that "their" costs had increased.. When I showed them 30 items that had been the same price for 2 years, but now cost Gold members more than it had in the past, and that now, to get 25 of those 30 at or near the price we had been able to, I/We had to pay the $150.00 a year and become an "?Elite?" member?!?!
They took the information I gave them, and this is what they did.. they told me "Sorry, that's how it's going to be.. If you don't like the NEW Wholesale Club Memberships, you can get your Membership Refunded...
Am I the ONLY person that has seen this/been impacted by this??? I guess what makes this worse for me, is I am disabled and unemployed now, and there's a snowballs chance in hell I can afford they regular sales prices, and I can't afford their $150.00 a year so I can get the benefit of pay affordable prices... I've asked if they would/could be willing in offering Military/Veteran or Disabled Membership Discounts, but Local Store Manager sent me to Corporate again, and when I got ahold of Corporate to ask, they chose to NOT return my messages(which were sincere and pleasant).., and on after 3 weeks of calling 1 time only each week, I was told that the decision for something like that was up to the Store manager??? So?? ANY HELPFUL RECOMMENDATIONS/IDEAS???? THEY WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Thanks!! John