Thread: Bunnings sandpaper - hmm no more

A lot of Aussie businesses have purchasing people who are great at screwing down their purchase prices, but have never used the general class of product that they are buying, so they don't know the difference. At the same time, the Chinese suppliers are very adept at cutting costs by reducing material thicknesses, the amount or type of adhesive and the particle volume used, or the labour etc to reduce their overall cost by slightly more than their sell price was slashed by. End result, end user gets shafted once and won't by that product line again from someone who has been their regular supplier for some years, but purchasing officer might get a bonus if they save the company heaps over the year.

Happens across the board with goods sourced from China and some other Asian countries. Used to make metal furniture frames etc locally, a 'new Aussie furniture maker' ordered two sets of 20 different frames from us. Once supplied, one set were sent to China as samples and the other set were fitted to the finished furniture for their showroom. They then did the price squabble with various Chinese suppliers and got the landed price down to around a quarter of local production cost, at the expense of ordering and paying in advance for a container load of each size frame. Used their Chinese frames for all of their production furniture, but continued with our local frames in the showroom, and continued to claim that we were doing all of their frames. Chair and lounge frames started breaking within 3 months because as part of the 'price control proccess', the Chinese had gone from min 1.6mm wall stainless to 0.8mm wall stainless. Not overly obvious to the furniture producer or their retailers or ultimate customers, till they started to return as faulty goods under warranty. First we knew of the issue was the end users coming back at us for supplying faulty frames, after the local furniture maker admitted that they couldn't repair or replace for an extended period (had to repeat the import process from scratch to get more durable frames but still ended up paying almost double what they anticipated for 1.2mm wall frames).

Don't get me wrong, the Chinese can make very good product, provided you give them accurate drawings and specs and accept the price the calculate for the job, and have someone who knows the product and it's use organising QC at factory level. But once you try to screw them on price, they will accept price cuts within reason then work out a way to cut their production cost more.

When dealing with suppliers, overseas or not, it is useful to have clear specifications and to test product received against those specifications. Failure to have good, sound purchasing policy in place will end in tears.

A good rule to follow is, You do not get more for less.

Another is, Pay as much as you can afford for the standard of quality you seek.

Screwing suppliers just screws you at the end if the day.

I used to make fridge slides for a large manufacturer of portable fridges. I got pushed price wise to the point of a few dollars over cost, 100 units every other month. They sent one of mine to China and they made a similar unit, the only problem was the runners were pathetically underrated. On corrugated roads they fell to bits. They were getting them made for the cost of my runners, I was using Hafeles Accuride runners, which I'd found to be the best quality.
Kryn

You get what you pay for. I am only a muggins playing in the shed, but I expect everything to work as advertised.

Now days I use Sia or Abranet abrasives as the cheap stuff doesn't work as well and is IMHO false economy. Save up and buy quality.

China will change fairly fast. Their internals are viciously imploding into a debt black hole. Once this occurs the market will reassert itself. As pointed out, the price must be the price and there is never "cheaper".

A good book to read is The Walmart Effect.

It predicted every outcome discussed here 20 years ago.

What is strange on these examples is that the economics even make sense for the reseller. A few hundred units a month would barely make a difference.... also, as for the chair retailer, this action must be in breach of 50 areas of the Trade Practices Act!

Hi Old Picker, I've found the same thing with bunnings sandpaper, it's crap. I get my sandpaper now from the Sandpaperman, a forum sponsor. It's good quality and cheaper than Bunnings even with delivery.

Peter

I agree with 3 toed sloth...I only source my abrasives from The Sandman as well

I had same experience with super cheap compressor that failed when I questioned how they could be sold so cheap and was told exactly what you said about product being sent to china to be replicated at a cheap price with slight modifications.

Following the trend in fine dining restaurants, I'm half expecting "deconstructed sandpaper" to turn up on the shelves soon. You get a sheet of paper, a bag of sand, and a small tube of PVA glue.....

Originally Posted by old_picker

Last batch of 400 grit white stuff I got there is so thin the little Makita 1/4 sheet sander won't hold it in the jaws for more than a few seconds it just lets go and slides off. It works allright on a block but you really want to be able to put it in the sanding machines right?

Is this a general trend or is Bunnings selling poor quality paper?

I`ve had the same issue, but I just used a small strip of ice cream lid or similar plastic to make up the thickness.I haven`t bought any more from there.

I couldn't find extra fine grit at the local Bunnings, so I gave The Sandpaper Man a shot. Bulk prices were good so it's worth stocking up.

I don't bother buying regular sheet papers, disks, or drum sander rolls from any mainstream stores any more. Just save up your requirements, and fire off an order once in a while to The Sandpaperman for everything you need. Everything I've ever had from him has been of excellent quality, with prompt and efficient service, and I don't think he'd even stock any of the rubbish you find in Bunnies.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

I don't bother buying regular sheet papers, disks, or drum sander rolls from any mainstream stores any more. Just save up your requirements, and fire off an order once in a while to The Sandpaperman for everything you need. Everything I've ever had from him has been of excellent quality, with prompt and efficient service, and I don't think he'd even stock any of the rubbish you find in Bunnies.

I ordered some interface sheets from the Sandpaper man online recently. I got a phone call from him asking how I was going to use them and was told that his remaining stock would not be good enough for what I was doing as it had a few ripples in it. He offered to send the rest of my order straight away and then send out better quality interface pads when the next order came in a week later, at no extra cost to me. That is excellent service.

I told him to hold the whole order and send it at once as there was nothing I wanted urgently. He went out of his way to look after me so I returned the favor. It was nice that he offered though.

Cheers

Doug

Another here on the Sandpaper Man bandwagon. Kerry is a good guy with great product and service to back it up.