Prospecting prices in Australia are astronomical!

[Redmanti]

It's volume.

Our guys may sell 20. The Americans may sell 120.

 

[Ryan27]

Yeah it's volume and purchase power the US can buy ally and steel cheaper retail than I can buy at trade prices here. My labour costs for unskilled labour is double.
The cost to run my factory. Well lets say I have to work Sat. Sun. Public holidays. To stay in business. Then if I build a product cheap and nasty. You never hear the end of complaints.
It's pretty hard to get the middle ground.
I would love to supply the prospecting stores an abundance of affordable quality products. However they want the products at a price that is not sustainable. They bang ridiculous margins on the products and make double what I do.
The prospecting industry is one of the toughest markets i have dealt with.

 

[HeadsUp]

I run a small engineering business

the cost of running a business has been kicked in the baubles by the ever increasing costs of insurance , public liability , workers comp , and other operating expenses from where i see it .
profit margins are burnt away due to the cost of government administering itself and those costs being passed down as excessive tax to pay for their innefficiencies ,corruption and rorts.

pardon my whining

I once thought of being a politician but on second thoughts a life of crime just isnt for me

 

[Ryan27]

I hear you loud and clear headsUp. I wish there was an easy answer. The only thing I know how is to work like an SOB to try and keep on top of things.

 

[HeadsUp]

I hear you loud and clear headsUp. I wish there was an easy answer. The only thing I know how is to work like an SOB to try and keep on top of things.

a guy can work hard

or he can work smart


i did the former for 26 years , working 90 - 125 hours a week but in hindsight it wasnt smart and it wasnt worth it

working like a SOB is honourable but there is no point doing something for a living if it kills you . all i did for 26 years was to make other people rich.


If i had my time over again i would try to use people to do the work while i managed the flow but such is life in the big ******.

Seriously i think one key to it is to maintain a smooth flow of activity rather than lots of big mad rushes of stress and energy . that makes us old before our time.

Another is to keep alert and position ourselves in the right place in the market ( in other words with the right customers where value adding for value product is happily accepted )

I would rather have two BHP's than 50 NFI's

In summing up . i dont have the answers but the ones you find by yourself will be better than mine mate.

 

[gadgetman45]

Sometimes the big picture changes the equation....the USA has a population over 300 million...we only have a population of 23 million. USA has a lower average wage compared to Australia. When you sell volume you can sell cheaper. Our shops can't buy a million say "sieves" at a time so cant buy at the rates of the big players overseas....remember we've only got 23 million here. If we all jump on the band wagon and buy everything we can from the states then it won't be long before the country goes broke. Go and check out how most of the local shop keepers are living and how well they're off. I know heaps and most are struggling to stay open. It's only a matter of time till Woolworths and Kmart and the big consortium's with the buying power take over the little fellow and send more to the unemployment lines. Got a lot of respect for guys like **** Smith who can see what's happening to the country...I'll pay a bit more to keep my fellow "Ausie" in a job......only my view ....Cheers Wal.

thats one of the main reasons i refuse to use the self serve checkouts at woolies/safeways, coles, bunnings and masters. These big companies are taking away jobs to maximise profits. If they can save money by not employing as many people, why aren't they offering me a discount to use these self serves. I get a great kick out of seeing the reaction when they suggest that i should use the self serve and i tell them that i would rather keep an aussie employed. It won't be that long untill school kids trying to earn a bit of money (and self respect) after school are a thing of the past. :|

Bisho, my sentiments exactly, I tell them that if I'm not served by a person, then they can keep whatever I was going to buy, & I'll get it at their opposition.

 

[Ryan27]

Hear is some pics of a Two Tiered sluice in action !
This is my personal favourite, it is versatile, portable, and you can prospect in areas where water is not strong enough to run a sluice.

 

[HeadsUp]

Awesome crevicing spot there . Yum yum

Does that crevicing pump feed into that grey hose or is it one fill per pull on the handle ?

 

[Ryan27]

It's a single draw unit. I made a continuous feed crevice sucker a few years ago.
Lent it to a mate, never saw it again. Lol.
He gave me some gold for it. I forgave him.

 

[trashmagnet]

It's a single draw unit. I made a continuous feed crevice sucker a few years ago.
Lent it to a mate, never saw it again. Lol.
He gave me some gold for it. I forgave him.

Hi Ryan
I was looking at one of those blue hand pumps today and was considering buying it and taking the clear bottle of and connecting a short hose and small bucket like those ones from the usa so you can do more before having to empty out,
do you think that would work with that blue pump?
regards trashmagnet

 

[HeadsUp]

It's a single draw unit. I made a continuous feed crevice sucker a few years ago.
Lent it to a mate, never saw it again. Lol.
He gave me some gold for it. I forgave him.

Hope the crevicing pump didn't come between your mate and his missus . They do say love is blind :lol:

 

[Guest]

Hi Ryan
I was looking at one of those blue hand pumps today and was considering buying it and taking the clear bottle of and connecting a short hose and small bucket like those ones from the usa so you can do more before having to empty out,
do you think that would work with that blue pump?
regards trashmagnet

The ones I have seen are the "Bluedog" model from the USA http://goldsucker.com/bluedog.html & these do have a hose/bucket attachment that can be purchased especially for it http://goldsucker.com/sandmanB.html

It would be fairly easy to make either the hose/bucket attachment or whole unit up. Just remember to put some sort of vent system in your bucket lid to allow it to depressurise & release excess water (but not spill too much sand/gravel if it happens to tip over).

 

[thesmithy]

Today i needed to purchase some engineering supplies
Looked on ebay found a price for tap set UNF 3/4 16 tpi 3 tap set $56.00 plus $8.50 freight
4 days min delivery.
Needed for job sat so went to local supplier
Yes i have them in stock......so i ordered with out asking price......he put them on counter then took my card.......made purchase and handed me invoice.......wait for it $142.00 + GST = $156.20
Hey that's a BIT steep i comment......reply i gave you your 15% trade discount
That would have been $178.63
So there goes my profit margin for the job. As i quoted the job on the ebay price.
17.5 clearance drill (machine drill morse taper) $86.00
Same brand on ebay $39.00
Again i had to purchase it.
Those 4 items would have cost me $103.50 from ebay.
Instead i purchased local from local supplier and yes $242.20
Quote for job sat was 350.00
And yes i will still have the 4 items to do other work in the future.
So not a big loss.
This supplier has a massive range of product that is why i use him.

I also purchased a variable speed band saw from him.
$695.00
The same saw on ebay is $699.00 plus $75.00 freight.
So he certainly is not ripping me off.
He is just a battler like the majority of small businesses hear on the coast.
So if i can do my part to keep him in business so be it.
I purchase a lot of gear off ebay for convenience re: delivered to the door.
Able to purchase 24 hrs per day.
These days people have to work smart not hard. Go with the changing world or be swallowed up by the big conglomerates.
Wal is totally correct if we don't continue to purchase local when we can.....we can't complain when all the local businesses have folded and the online businesses have all the sales they will then charge what they like as we will have no we're to go back to.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

 

[froghoppers]

Lots of good points everyone. We too boycott the self serving aisles & we always try to shop locally if we can. We do our research first both on line & locally & if the on line price is better, we then go to the local shop & give them the opportunity to either match it or at least be a bit more competitive. It all depends what the difference is in the first place.

 

[Ryan27]

It's a single draw unit. I made a continuous feed crevice sucker a few years ago.
Lent it to a mate, never saw it again. Lol.
He gave me some gold for it. I forgave him.

Hi Ryan
I was looking at one of those blue hand pumps today and was considering buying it and taking the clear bottle of and connecting a short hose and small bucket like those ones from the usa so you can do more before having to empty out,
do you think that would work with that blue pump?
regards trashmagnet

Hi Trashmagnet,
Good question. The crevice suckers that have a continuous pumping set up have two check valves in them. The material can only enter and exit one direction. The sucker in the photo won't work as a continuos action.
The one I made worked really well. I bought the parts from a local plumbing supplies.
All the parts cost more than you can buy the complete unit from the US. If you can find a Manufacturer here please buy from them, even if it does cost a little bit more. If you can't ? Then do your due diligence on you tube, research and your purchase will be an enjoyable experience .
Cheers Ryan

 

[Ryan27]

It's a single draw unit. I made a continuous feed crevice sucker a few years ago.
Lent it to a mate, never saw it again. Lol.
He gave me some gold for it. I forgave him.

Hope the crevicing pump didn't come between your mate and his missus . They do say love is blind :lol:

No HeadsUp, she is all sweet there.