Tandy Leather Factory.. Has Anyone Noticed That They're Faking Their Loyalty Anymore?

[Studio-N]

Since Ron Morgan retired as Pres, Tandy has gone downhill. Little John Thompson does not care about people only the stock.

In past years, they have made an average of $60 million per years in sales. We were told that the goal was to reach $100 million within the year. And the only way to do that is on your ticket.

They have decided to emphasize strictly Retail. Why? Because there is more money in it. They really don't give a crap about small businesses where they have to dish out the same amount of product at less margin. They want only Big business accounts.Even though it is small margin, the big sales look good on the books and monthly sales announcements. The are replacing all of the managers that have been there are while and have good bonus plans with young inexperienced managers with a smaller bonus plan. In fact the new corporate line is that they don't really care if the people they put in place even know leatherworking, only need to know sales. That's why you get a lot of "I don't know" from the people in place.

If you keep track of the SEC filings, each of the corporate officers have put a 'golden parachute' plan in place if they get ousted. And that is what I personally

belive the plan is. I think they are trying to shore up the stock, in order to sell the company. If/when that happens the officers get to retire rich and the company get torn to bits.

Now, do I still buy from them? Yes they are local and I don't see the logic in paying for shipping and having to wait on a bottle of dye when I can go down the block.

I do however, keep it to a minumum and wait until I have a large enough need then I make a day trip to Springfield leather. As for leather, three of us have gotten

together so we can place orders from Herman Oak and save a little. For the chrome tan leather, Springfield is great. It is worth the trip because the sheer bulk of variety they have is great and what they show on the web site does not do it justice.

[WScott]

This is an interesting comment from Mr Morgan

Mr. Morgan: "We are the largest leather craft business. We have been at it longer than anyone else. We really don't have any true competitors selling the variety of products we sell, domestically or overseas either."

This is from an interview with the Wall Street Transcript

http://www.twst.com/interview/24690

I guess when people become billionaires it warps their senses or something.

You can lose your market share in a heartbeat in this new world economy. It is so easy to find and order products online now....how many of us have started with leather from Tandy and moved to better online quality, support and pricing???

[Glendon]

Well I guess 1 out 3 statements actually being true isn't bad in his book. Tandy is the largest leather retailer around. I will give him that. I would argue Springfield carries a better selction. They have the part of the Tandy line most people care about, plus their own versions of the more hard to find liquids and a much better leather selection. A lot of places are older then Tandy. Even if we take their claimed establishment in 1919 as true (and we all know they have been reincarnated as a company a couple of times), a local leather supplier to me, Waterhouse Leather beats that out at 1897 and that's not even looking very hard. And I'm sure we can all rattle off 4 or 5 small businesses that are one to one compeditors to Tandy.

Yes I know it wasn't nessasary to do, but I enjoyed the little research hunt.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Glendon

[Shadowsbane]

But if you say something on TV or in an interview it must be true...

I like Springfield a fair amount. At the very least they carry kydex, and other things that modern holster makers need. Not stuck in the cowboy reproduction/flintlock era

[mikesmith648]

There are many choices open to you, and being in Amarillo.............have you talked to Panhandle leather??? They are right there in town! Also Not a big distance from Amarillo to SLC either....or call and get it shipped............I have also found that in some instances I can get the same "Tandy" stuff from SLC cheaper than I can buy the identicle and sometimes "Tandy" brand name product from Tandy itself.......ok.........RANT over,.,.....carry on!!

[St8LineGunsmith]

I used to love my local tandy store when Jim was the manager there He held free leather working classes every Saturday morning and did not mind helping you out how ever he could well they fired him supposedly because sales were down and replaced him with some snippity girl who is just fresh out of school and no longer holds clases and pretty much everyone I know no longer wants to do business with the local Tandy store since she has taken over.

I am doing more and more business with SLC since this travesty.

proof positive that tandy is more concerned with their bottom line than keeping a good relationshipwith their regular customers

[Studio-N]

...I have also found that in some instances I can get the same "Tandy" stuff from SLC cheaper than I can buy the identicle and sometimes "Tandy" brand name product from Tandy itself

yeah and they are trying to put a stop to that. They have mandated all stores except the Springfield store NOT to sell tho SLC. So if some store has some

leftovers they are trying to get rid of, they cannot sell it to SLC, they have to eat it first. And they damn sure can't sell to SLC at any type of discount.

Somehow in thier warped mind, they think they are going to put SLC out of business if they don't carry thier crap.

[St8LineGunsmith]

AFIK Tandy dont make their own tools, they buy from a tool manufacturer .I dont know who is making stamps and hand tools for Tandy since Crafttool USA closed up shop they are just using the name crafttool since they were so well known so when you buy a new"crafttool" stamp or other tool that is branded crafttool you may in fact be getting a tool made by Midas and possibly the new pro series tools could be made by Barry King but Tandy has no control over SLC as far as which manufacturer's they buy from nor do I think SLC buys any thing from Tandy and I dont think SLC feels threatened in any way by Tandy.

Here is some info that might shed some light on this

http://pslac.org/iilg/background.htm

I am sure there has been a lot of changes since this was written

Edited June 5, 2013 by St8LineGunsmith

[Glendon]

Yes, that will end up working so well. SLC is already working on their own stamp supplier and are beginning to roll out their own kits. The kits are just wallets right now, but I expect we will see more. So we will see how that goes.

[St8LineGunsmith]

SLC regular pricing has tandy Gold Club member pricing beat

and SLC quality on their leather puts Tandy to shame

even with shipping charges I can come out better dealing with SLC in most cases

and when I buy on line SLC always adjust the shipping cost to benefit me when they charge my account

pretty much the only reason I dealt with The local Tandy store was because they used to have a good manager now that he is no longer there I have very little reason to deal with Tandy except fort when I need something in a pinch.