[RC] Beware - overinflated corn prices! - SpottedracerHere's a letter I've just sent to the TN Farmer's Co-op website, concerning significant overinflation of corn prices that I've discovered going on at my county's Co-op...It's truly disheartening that in this time of severe drought, massive hay shortages, and many beef producers having to do massive culling - just to survive; that our county co-op has decided to significantly overinflate the price of a staple item: Cracked Corn. True, as consumers, we can understand the need for a profit to be made on each bag of feed sold. But, when we learn that Co-ops in the more affluent counties of Rutherford and Williamson are selling the same product for $6.25, Co-ops in Ashland City, Springfield and Springhill are selling the same product in the mid-$6 range; and our local Purina dealer; TSC, is selling it for $6.60.. We must wonder what the reasoning is behind the Dickson Co-op to price it at $8.20 - and apparently this is 'down' from $10! When I learned that the Co-op I have been very loyal too - had overinflated the price of this product, so high that I couldn't even afford it. I went back and talked with the manager-on-Duty 'Rob'. He neither seemed to care about the customer's concerns nor the fact that his store was significantly overinflating the identicle product, from the same Laverne source - as compared with surrounding county Co-ops. He made the statement: "no one's ever had a problem with our pricing before." Maybe no one's bothered to go to management to ask why? Maybe they just got irritated and went to TSC just down the road? Maybe they're like myself - and reside about equal distance from three different Co-ops in different counties - and change their shopping patterns to purchase from one of these other Co-ops? Although I truly enjoy shopping and talking with the personnel at the Dickson Co-op, like most farmers, I cannot afford to pay inflated feed prices. Added up over the course of 12 months, this would add several hundred to my overhead - and that's only if ONE of the staple feed items I purchase monthly is overinflated. Unfortunantly, Dickson Co-op has forced me to change my shopping patterns, because of their business practices and apparent lack of commitment to their loyal customers. - Laura P Dickson, TN
|