Confessions of a mail-order shopper

ByBret Pimentel

I’m not sure I can recall the last time I walked into a music store and bought something.

I hear every so often that I should support local businesses and mom-and-pop shops, and I have to admit that this sounds vaguely like a responsible and virtuous thing to do. But here’s why I don’t—and can’t.

  1. It costs too much. Prices are inevitably higher in local stores. I understand that so-called “full-service” establishments have overhead, but so do I. If they can justify charging higher prices, it seems fair that I can justify shopping around.
  2. They don’t stock what I need. Other than a few scattered specialty shops, local music stores stock what they can sell in volume, and that’s inexpensive instruments and accessories for the beginning band market. I live in a small town, but even in the fairly large cities where I have lived, I have, more frequently than not, been unable to get what I like. A few months ago I made a two-and-a-half hour drive to go saxophone shopping with a student at a large music store in a large city. The store was large enough to have a saxophone specialist on staff. The store regularly stocks one brand of (arguably) professional-quality saxophone (and it’s not Selmer, Yamaha, Yanagisawa, or Keilwerth), and had exactly two major-brand instruments available, used. We also contacted a small saxophone specialty shop that was a little farther away, one that actually has “saxophone” in the store’s name. They had zero pro-line horns in stock.
  3. As far as I can tell, the “superior customer service” factor is largely a myth. I think most woodwind players have experienced the frustration of going into a music store and being “helped” by the heavy-metal guitarist behind the counter. And even in specialty shops, I’ve rarely found a salesperson who can answer serious questions with much more than regurgitated advertising copy or a personal opinion. And, while I don’t doubt that specialty retailers are passionate about what they do, it’s important to keep in mind that they are businesspeople and subject to motivations other than getting you the best possible product for the smallest possible price.

I do not begrudge brick-and-mortar proprietors their profit margins, or salespeople their commissions (or their jobs). And on a neighborly level I hate to see a local shop go out of business. But the loss is a pretty abstract one for me—not much more relevant than the closing of a big-‘n’-tall clothier (I’m neither big nor tall).

Since starting college as a music major, I have made almost all my music-related purchases from warehouse stores, by catalog and phone in the past, and now exclusively via the internet. The behemoth mail-order establishments stock nearly every product I use, charge the lowest prices anywhere, and often provide just as much product information on their websites as I could get in a local shop, plus customer reviews.

One of my favorite online retailers offers a virtually perennial free shipping promotion on orders over a certain, relatively small dollar amount. Since I’m usually in need of reeds in a half-dozen sizes, I don’t have any trouble qualifying.

I’ve tried in the past to offer brick-and-mortar stores the opportunity to match prices with the mail-order giants. This usually proves to be a hassle and often seems a little cruel, asking a small business owner to reduce their razor-thin profit margins to those of a volume dealer. A few have been willing, but most have responded with excuses about overhead. The excuses, presumably, are valid ones. But if they can’t budge on their price requirements, then why must I?

It’s sort of true that in a “real” store I can actually hold the product in my hands before I buy, but even this is a pretty slim advantage. Music stores that cater to intermediate-level students or professionals understand the need for musicians to try out things like mouthpieces before committing, but beginning-band stores or guitar-and-drums shops are less likely to allow this. The major online retailers all offer good trial and return policies, usually allowing you to obtain a number of mouthpieces, barrels, bocals, instruments, etc. for a small deposit, and return the ones you don’t want. If you end up purchasing one or more, most sellers will waive restocking/sterilization fees. The relatively minimal hassle and expense of return-shipping unwanted merchandise have, in my experience, virtually always resulted in a better product and a lower cost than purchasing at a store.

I’ve occasionally heard people extol the post-purchase service and support available from brick-and-mortar stores. This means repair service, which is another thing that I often find unsatisfactory unless I deal with a specialist, usually in a distant location. Many stores offer extended service contracts on purchased instruments, which, make no mistake, are designed to maximize the seller’s bottom line, not yours.

As a side note, I do think that there is one in-person shopping situation that can rival the benefits of online purchases, and that is conferences. A couple of years ago I bought a new oboe at the IDRS conference. I had a blast trying literally over a hundred oboes offered for sale by the vendors in attendance. Because the vendors were packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the exhibit hall, most were offering special “conference pricing” to stay competitive. Some had repair specialists on hand to tweak instruments to potential customers’ preferences. I was also surrounded by conference attendees, many of them professional oboists, most if not all of them happy to offer opinions. When I picked out “the one,” the vendor refused to let me pay for it, instead recommending that I take it home for an extended trial period, and then return it or make the inter-state purchase via credit card, avoiding the local sales tax at the conference location.

If you are lucky enough to be near a great music store with excellent service and knowledgeable staff, then you have my envy. If they offer prices competitive with the warehouse dealers, then enjoy it while you can, because they will soon be a Starbucks (sigh).

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    Well, because it’s tradition, I suppose. But, realistically, in a professional group the pitch standard is likely determined in advance, and the oboist will use an electronic tuner to be sure they are giving precisely the correct pitch, so it could just as well be anyone.

    But the principal oboist is almost always the keeper of the A. It seems like there are a lot of theories floating around as to why, none of which make the slightest bit of sense. I found all of these professed as gospel truth in less than five minutes of Googling:

    • Because the oboe can’t be tuned. Firstly: hogwash. (True, the oboe doesn’t have a built-in tuning slide. But an oboist can “tune” by switching reeds, and can humor individual notes sharper or flatter on the fly, just like any wind player.) Secondly: if we tune to the principal oboe because it can’t be tuned, then what is the second oboist expected to do? Or the harpist? Or the pianist?
    • Because the oboe’s pitch is the most reliable. More reliable than, say, the glockenspiel? Given a high-quality instrument, an excellent reed, a fine oboist, and a 72.0°F room, then yes, the oboe’s pitch ought to be pretty solid. But on a stage full of trained musicians, I can’t see any reason to expect it to be more reliable than anyone else’s.
    • Because the oboe can be heard better through the group, because of its volume or tone or something. If that’s the criteria for selecting a tuning instrument, then I suggest that we consider the trumpet, or perhaps the piccolo. The Wikipedia article on the oboe, incidentally, mentions both stability and “penetrating” tone as reasons for oboe tuning, but cites an online article that no longer exists.
    • Because the oboe warms up to pitch faster than the other winds. This could be true, but how much longer does it really take to warm a flute or clarinet or trombone up to pitch? Hopefully the other musicians aren’t tuning before their instruments are thoroughly warmed.

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    Lately I’ve been on a diet that has a weekly “cheat” day. Six days out of the week, my meals are Spartan, but on cheat day I get to eat whatever I want.

    My guess is that isn’t the ideal way to manage my waistline. I would be better off eating more regimented meals every day. But I would burn out and quit. The cheat day is a compromise. It cedes a little ground to my sweet tooth, but keeps me going back to lentils and broccoli for another six days.

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    photo, Dave Crosby

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    It usually goes well for a few days, and then fizzles out. I tell myself that I’m not getting my routine done because of a deadline. Or a conflict. Or because I just needed to sleep in a little that day. But the truth is that I’m burned out—I’ve given myself a practice routine that I can’t or won’t sustain.

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    A practice routine, like a diet plan, should be good for you and should help you reach your goals, but it should also be something you can sustain and even enjoy.

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    My experience flying with musical instruments as carry-ons has been stressful at best. This passage from an economics textbook rings true to me:

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  • Basic tuplet math

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    A young music student with some basic competencies might be comfortable with these kinds of rhythms:
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    tuplet-math-1 tuplet-math-2

    Divisions of the pulse into twos and threes is simple enough conceptually, but in most cases we really learn those kinds of rhythms better by ear—we just learn what eighth notes or triplet eighths sound like against a quarter note pulse. A division of the pulse into fourths, like sixteenth notes against a quarter note pulse, is something that could ostensibly be derived: you could start from a duple subdivision, then make the mental shift to hearing the subdivided pulse as the new pulse, then subdivide that. But the quadruple subdivision is common enough that I think most of us ultimately learn to play it by ear, too.

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    One approach to this problem is to simply learn the less-familiar subdivision by ear. Music notation software is the perfect tool for this; with a little skill you can usually enter rhythms as complex as you like, and hear them played back with the utmost precision against a pulse of your choice. But here are a couple of other useful tricks.

    Trick #1: Subdivide long-duration triplets

    To play triplets against a duple or quadruple pulse, you can derive them from triplets played against a single pulse. For example, this rhythm…

    tuplet-math-1

    …can be derived in this way:

    tuplet-math-3

    Trick #2: Approximate complex tuplets with duple/triple subdivisions

    “Tuplets” that are prime numbers greater than three can be difficult to audiate on the fly. But in many cases (not all cases) there is some room for complex tuplets to be somewhat less than perfectly even. For example, a composer might write a scalar “run” that contains a certain collection of pitches that doesn’t divide neatly into the number of beats allotted, and use a tuplet to make them fit into the score in a legible way. In such a case, it might be appropriate for the run to accelerate or decelerate a bit. If so, the tuplet can be reimagined as a series of duple, triple, or quadruple subdivisions.

    This, for instance…

    tuplet-math-2…could be approached like this (with a slight acceleration effect on each tuplet)…

    tuplet-math-4…or like this (with a slight deceleration effect on each triplet:

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    ByBret Pimentel

    Most of the time, an average car shopper should consider buying a recent model. Newer cars (ostensibly) have better safety features, better fuel efficiency, and the latest conveniences. Service and parts are likely available and inexpensive.

    Someone in the market for a “classic” car should know what they are getting into. Some older models might be cheaper than newer ones, but a good appraisal requires expertise. Or, some might have prices inflated by cachet, rarity, or “cool” factor. (Those are better suited for collectors or hobbyists than everyday drivers.) Older cars often lack desirable modern features, or need expensive parts.

    6079549609_cf01007244_z_mini
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    Musicians face similar choices when buying instruments. For most players, there are significant advantages to modern instruments. They have (again: ostensibly) improved ergonomics, intonation, and evenness of tone.

    There are “vintage” instruments with outstanding qualities. But often there are tradeoffs with features, condition, and “collector” pricing. That’s not to say that a vintage instrument is necessarily a bad choice, but (like a classic car buyer) you shouldn’t make that choice uninformed. “Cool factor” wears off quickly when you have to stop every few miles to add oil—or when you are wearing yourself out trying to match pitch in the saxophone section.

    If you aren’t sure what you’re doing, a recent-model instrument is usually a smarter bet.

5 Comments

  1. I believe that specialized consumer products of many sorts are best sold, and purchased, on line. In some of my marketing classes I give the example of the choir robes store. In about 1980, I was working on South Market in San Francisco. Nearby, there was a store that specialized in choir robes, and apparently stocked little else. I presumed that they drew customers from a large area, probably all of Northern California. My students agree that there is not enough potential volume in the choir robe market to have a choir robe store in every town.

    A key advantage of selling over the internet is the “death of distance.” It is no longer necessary to have a substantial potential market within a particular geographical area.

    I needed some 18th Century clothing for an event. There is a website that specializes in that. I cannot think of any single metropolitan area that could adequately support a brick and motor establishment dedicated to 18th Century clothing.

    So kudos to Dr. Pimentel for seeing the situation clearly and not succumbing to the implied (or declared) virtue of shopping local if that does not fulfill his needs. By naturally following the evolution of the market, he helps to optimize it.

    Reply

  2. When I moved into my dorm at one of the biggest music schools in the country I was very surprised to find that there was not a music store in town that stocked band or orchestra supplies. A few years later I opened just such a store and found out why.

    -There’s no profit to be made in professional instruments. Once you match the online price, pay your overhead and your payroll, you’re lucky to make anything on the sale.
    -All of the major big-name vendors require significant buy-ins – 30, 40, 50 thousand a year. Multiply that by all of the different manufacturers that customers want you to carry and you’re talking big numbers (especially for a college dropout like myself).
    -The real money to be made is in rentals to beginning students. The rent-to-own plan is a VERY expensive financing option with a lot of profit built in for the dealer.
    -All of that profit is necessary to counteract the folks who skip town with their rental instrument (more than you would think).

    It’s very, very expensive to operate a store with professional level instruments, and with the competition from online stores the margins get thinner every day. I think at this point there simply is not room for more than a few big warehouse stores in the professional market.

    I do see an opportunity, however, for local music stores that service the school band market. School band directors value their road reps who visit regularly, offer rental plans and help new band parents decode the supply list for band class. Often times the local store is a little more expensive than buying online, but the service after the sale is a major issue with middle and high school kids.

    The real advantage to the professional is the “right now” sale. When you need a box of reeds for tonight’s gig, or a spring breaks at rehearsal right before the concert, you need to have a place to go. As more stores disappear those places are becoming harder to find.

    After 6 years in business I closed down my store last year. I’m now working for a different music store in the same area focusing more on the school market (hardly and pro horns here!). We’re opening a new location in a few months with a full repair facility and a cafe/performance venue – online stores can’t compete with that!

    Reply

  3. Thanks Ron (aka Dr. Pimentel, aka “Dad”) and Chris for your unique perspectives.

    @Chris—I would have guessed that pro instruments weren’t profitable for typical music stores, but I would have had no idea that the buy-ins were so expensive!

    I try to stay well enough stocked on reeds and repair supplies that I don’t have “right now”-type emergencies. Are there really a lot of pros coming into music stores who don’t have reeds for tonight’s gig?

    Sorry to hear your store isn’t around anymore. If it’s not profitable running one where you’re located (based on your email address), then I expect there aren’t many places where it is.

    Reply

  4. Chris, if you are who I think you are, I was sad to hear about your store closing last year. It was one of the things I really missed about that town- I could order a box of reeds from you online at 5:00 pm and you would bring them to my dorm room a couple hours later for a $1 delivery fee! It was incredible! Since moving, I have yet to walk into a store and find the reeds that I want. We all bought reeds from you, but I remember being only vaguely aware that you had horns for sale. When it came time to buy a horn, the first place we turned was always the community- someone on campus was always selling a Mark VI or an R13.

    Reply

  5. @Matt – the delivery service was fun, but expensive – originally designed only to build a customer base before opening the store. The horns we had for sale for the most part wouldn’t have interested you anyway as they were almost all beginner or intermediate horns. Pro horns were just way too expensive to keep in stock for the only occasional sales we would’ve gotten.

    @Bret – you’d be surprised at how many professional gigging musicians would run into my store (and you’re correct about the location) on the way to a gig for a box of reeds or bottle of valve oil. There were a few who came in several times a week. How anybody can go through reeds that fast I don’t know, but they were some of my favorite customers. About buy-ins, it’s really a crazy amount of money. Many of the big-name manufacturers are also very hesitant to deal with specialty stores. They don’t so much want to sell you a dozen pro-level saxes, they want you to buy a variety of instruments of all levels.

    What it really comes down to is money, unfortunately. If I had a half-million dollars to put into a new business, I could have a nicely stocked store with pro-level horns and maybe make a decent living at it. Maybe someday.

    Reply

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