This is the reality The efforts of recycling helps but the source from forests are hurting. And when I say it,,, pretty sure you can hear. WE are all ON line
The issue is that while they aren't as bad as some, the search function isn't great. That's why google has become a behemoth, it has spent the money and effort to provide results that match queries, at least until they monetized it and shoved ads in place of legit info. Example, I was looking for the stuff to convert a SBC from long WP to short WP. Pulleys, alt brackets, WP plus bolts and a fan. It took many searches, and most results were not right. It never came up with the pair shown as 91603035 on the 1st page in this thread. This can be seen when you look at the filters on the left side. They will have 2-4 different selections that are the same thing but worded differently. Even if you select small block, you get big block stuff. This is due to behind the scenes editing, and not having a standardized format. I will give them credit for not refusing to provide results without Year, Make Model, which is what the parts store counter person is faced with.
Here are some tips: https://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175963&p=1158594 https://loxo.co/blog/boolean-operators/ Boolean search operators and search modifiers can be your best friends!
Hard copy, print catalogs have worked since the beginning of time. Now, when it starts to cut into the profit margins, fuck it, no more catalogs, let the customer fight with a shitty website instead! Makes perfect sense to me... W.T.F.! They'll have you believe that they're losing money doing it, when in reality, they're just not making as much as they want! It's ALL Bullshit!
As an outside the US customer, Speedway has it's advantages the main one being you can source almost everything in one place, you don't have to deal with multiple accounts, multiple shipping and the prices on most of the stuff is cheaper than anywhere else. Once we receive the parts here they end up costing between 50% to 100% more than the US when you take into account shipping, taxes and import fees. Personaly I don't source everything from them because they can be a huge pain to deal with and part quality isn't always there and I use a shipping forwarder to help slash on the cost of shipping and import. Their website ain't the best to find the stuff you're looking for, but if you spend enough time you get the handle of it.
When my suppliers tell me they've cut out catalogs (a fantastic sales tool) to save trees, that is total bullshit. It's cost saving, to hell with customer service, and if you're lucky and persistent, you'll be able to do their job before you give them your money.
Reality is print is expensive. In 15 years what was in print - 85-90% of people now buy on line. That's huge, and in time Summit and others will rid of print. Yellow pages are about history. For those who like catalogs, I know you have a computer as you post here. Cheapest price....race to the bottom in pretty much most everything you buy. You live and learn when you bought the cheapest price was not necessarily the best value, as it didn't last long or just inferior quality. Throw away's. Price Value Service What order do you put those in ? In everything you buy.
Where I live the local speed shop is dead so everything has to be ordered in speedway is a day or two shipped but I find myself using summit more and more fast shipping and easier website more products to choose from I hate Jegs won't shop there.
Print catalogs are for those long poops when you have an idea swirling around in your head and need to do a little homework and comparison. Then you go on the internet and buy the stuff you made the decision to buy when you were on the john. Summit Racing and Rock Auto websites are the best out there for pinpointing specific parts. Jegs and Speedway are ok, but not great.
I always looked forward to the day the National Geographic showed up especially when they did a spread on African village life
the elimination of catalogs is strictly a cost measure and modernization of information flow, the cost of postage has risen, the post office a lot slower so you would be lucky to get the catalog in 3 weeks, which does not make sense when customer want there stuff now, also the web sites can take orders 24 hours a day with out having a store open all nite, but the big advantage of a web site is the ability to add more information with out the need for a 10,000 page catalog, example more photos of the parts, tech photos , installation instructions, videos, all this can not be done in a catalog it is modernization so all you " old skool guys" remember: we upgraded to electric wipers, auto trans, wire welders, plasma cutters cordless tools, 2 & 4 post lifts in your garage, we all complain about the old days, but are happy to get the new cool stuff and then tell our friends what we got. the ems guy
Quote: "it is modernization so all you " old skill guys" remember: electric wipers, auto trans, wire welders, plasma cutters cordless tools, 2 & 4 post lifts in your garage, we all complain about the old days, but are happy to get the new cool stuff and then tell our friends what we got." Get off my lawn! (You're absolutely right)
Having created a lot of catalogs for the speed equipment industry before the advent of online ordering, the cost of printing catalogs went up every year as did the shipping and postage. There's a lot of ignorance on this board as to how the speed equipment industry works. We tried printing catalogs in Hong Kong for a while, but air freight cut into the print savings. Price of ink, paper and labor in the US went bonkers. I have an old iPad I keep on the work bench that seems to be able to find the part numbers, illustrations as well as You Tube videos I need to source. If, and that's a big IF, the companies take the money that they saved dropping print catalogs and invest that into a couple more sharp telephone sales people, it's a win win.
I think most of us understand the costs associated with catalogs and you are correct a person can find most anything they want on the WWW. That being said most of us miss the old school catalogs and talking on the phone with a vendor that has a great amount of knowledge on said vendors products. Almost all businesses have difficulty hiring and maintaining a good work force hence automated systems - not all bad, just different - There is something different about printed catalogs and hot rod magazines that doesn’t carry over onto the electronic medium, at least for me and it sucks that something I enjoyed is going the way of the Dodo! Us on this site must enjoy the electronic social media of this site I know I do! The HAMB wouldn’t work well in a printed version, although the Jalopy Journal would, I love the articles on JJ Dan
Some seem to feel entitled to get catalogs. There have been times you would pay for a catalog, and once you actually bought something, the cost would be subtracted from your order...kept the daydreaming flakes away. These are businesses, the sole purpose is to make money, cost reduction is all part of that plan, once the price of a form of advertising exceeds the benefit it is useless. No catalogs to clutter up the shitter; just take your smart phone and scroll to your heart's delight!
I will say their website is pretty damn good (some of you disagree). Much better than Eklers or Classic Industries. Hope you guys have kept spares of the rag over the years. The part numbers will still be the same that you can search them on the site. The nice thing that I will miss is the magazine you can just flip through and see what exists, which is helpful if your trying to do something custom that you will have to modify. IDK. I'm just glad they still have a counter i can walk up to.
Kinda like Walmart. Is it self check out if the cashier has to help you? I bought a big window unit and the cash register wanted the serial number. Lots of numbers on the box, none labelled ---Serial number-
Dang I sure miss the days of filling out a form, mailing off the form with a check, waiting for the check to clear and getting parts 3 to 6 weeks later. those were the good ole days.
The big issue is it costs too much to print catalogs now. I don't mind paying for one that I actually want and have a few for faster reference than trying to search out something on line. Sometimes it is easier to Google something especially if you have the part number than it is to search through some online catalogs then scroll down and order it from who you planned to in the first place.
Isnt it a bit hypocritical to complain *on-line* about the demise of paper catalogs? If paper is so much better, why not write a letter and snail-mail it to Speedway?
Jeez Grandpa! Its not that hard! Go into settings... select wi-fi... Select it... tap it with your finger...OMG, any finger!!
Brings to mind two HUGE marketing fails. First is the famous Xerox PARC story. They hired the worlds nerdiest electronics guys, put them together in the Palo Alto Research Center and they developed virtually the entire PC technology in the 80s. CRT, hard drive, dot matrix printer, laser printer, mouse, DOS operating system, the whole shebang. Then they looked at what they had invented and decided to stick with the paper office and basically gave away their inventions, PC to IBM, DOS to Bill Gates, etc. Then there is the Sears catalog. From my youth to mid 30s, my family lived out of the Sears catalog. Just about everything we got was out of there. You could buy cars there and was a time in the 40s - 50s when you could even buy a home out of the book! Then as the electronic age emerged, Sears decided brick and mortar was the future so they built a ton of stores and discontinued the catalog. Amazon scooped up that mail-order-everything business model and converted it to digital instead of paper and the rest is history. Amazon is now the Sears catalog.
The Jalopy Journal
