January 2009 Newsletter
Anyone involved with shipping
stuff for a living knows that, despite all possible precautions,
sometimes the goods will arrive damaged. (Sometimes they never
arrive at all, but that's another matter!) When this
happens we accept them back, send out new stuff hoping for a
better result, and stick the damaged items in
storage.
The 2-week holiday break has given
me the time to inspect the returns, and also to dig out some
items left over from stuff we no longer sell. If all the big
stores can have January stocktake sales, we can too! With REAL
bargains instead of junk brought in just for the sale. SO, we
have:
2 only Lelit Combi Espresso
Machines with minor cosmetic body damage, at $550.00
each.
1 only Rancilio Rocky doser
grinder, small stress crack in base of bean hopper,
$330.00.
2 only Bregant Junior doser
grinders, adjustable dosers, new in box, $250.00 each. (Didn't
sell well because even though they grind as well as Rocky,
they're a bit ugly.)
1 only Mokita Combi Espresso
machine with a Euro Plug (can be altered to Aust. Plug if
required), $660.00. All the "sale" items have been tested to
ensure perfect operation and come with a full 12 month warranty,
but are sold on a "non-returnable" basis. Freight is
extra.
Then we have: 7 only new Lelit
Combi Espresso machines at the current price of $759.00. Why are
these a bargain? Because the latest shipment will cost 16% more
when they arrive, due entirely to currency variation. This, as
the saying goes, sucks rocks, but is simply unavoidable, and
once this stock is sold the price WILL rise.
After much begging and pleading
from a lot of people who DIDN'T buy their machines from me, and
with the cooperation of Lelit, I've started selling 57mm group
gaskets in packs of 2 for $18.20 including GST & postage.
This gasket would have to be the single item most
requested by non-customers, as it suits Quaha, Imat, Nemox and
Lelit machines. The 57mm blind filter for backflushing solenoid
machines is also available to the general public.
The coffee special from December,
Sulawesi Toraja Sapan-Minanga, is still on sale, but there's
only a little bit left. The praise for this coffee has been
spectacular, equalled only by the response to the Costa Rica
Tarrazu Miel earlier in the year. I've put a bid in for more of
the Costa Rica later this year, but won't know if I'm getting
any for a few months.
Finally, a comment on the online
coffee forums. Coffeegeek, HomeBarista and alt.coffee are
fabulous resources for coffee information, but in the last
couple of years I've noticed the rise of the "infomercials."
These are basically posts by people who want to sell you stuff,
but have to be subtle about it due to the forum rules against
commercial posting. They push viewpoints favourable to the
particular machines they sell, at the same time as they
disparage competitive equipment.
Most of the time I ignore them,
since I'm not selling anything in their USA-centric markets
anyway, but occasionally they'll come up with something that is
just so wrong that I feel forced to respond. One of these guys,
who exists online under a multiplicity of names, sends me
insulting emails whenever I call him on his mistakes. All I can
say is that DaveB, aka xdavez, is still a blivet! (Look it
up!)
Until next month
Alan.
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