Rebuilding a waste of time?

[TrolleyVW]

I didn't actually expect much of a response from this so thank you all for your inputs.

Seems like the consensus is that most people don't think the way my ex boss does.

To address a few things,

She knows most of the product she carries and that's what I started with. She has slowly developed her inventory from ego's and disposables to now carrying the itaste lineup basically along with the iclear 30s/b.
One issue I had with her having these kind of things was, for example, that she would tell people wrong info about wattage, even after explaining to her what it is, because she said it was "too confusing".

I have no problem with someone only wanting to stick to "helping people quit smoking" but adding that "and that's it... Etc" part is where it becomes offensive. We're all here for the same reason, to quit and stay away from smoking, but the closed mindedness,lack of desire to encourage the progression of your own industry, and actually DISCOURAGE it, that's frustrating to say the least.

I think this bias she has towards the cheap, simple stuff is due to the other shops in the area, mainly the 2-3 major stores, one of which is actually a banned name on this forum. For the most part , she respects the large shops and the business they do, yet she's gone on rants as long as 20 minutes about every little thing a customer has said to her about these places and how she disagrees. VG juice? Bad. Smoov and not joyetech? Garbage. They have a $250 mechanical? Stupid. After all of that, I would get an earful about how this shop and that shop owners are buddy buddy in a "good ole' boys club", trying to push her shop out, they push crap product, blah blah blah. Then comes the whole " I never planned to and never will get in to Rebuildables because I don't want to be like 'them'. I'm just here to help people quit and that's all." Yet, she has the audacity to complain every single day about how slow it is but rationalize it by blaming it on this and that.

Excuse the rant but as you can tell, this bothers me.

I'm all for being your own entity, an individual, doing what you think is best, and not wanting to get in to things that you have no knowledge of. But to demean and belittle anybody who's doing something a little beyond your comprehension of something you think you know everything about, then you shouldn't expect much more from anybody else.

I pretty much left this job, aside from the condescending environment I was subject to daily, because I was sick of telling people "no" and "sorry" when asked if I could help them with a build, if we had anything that made more vapor than a protank 1 or iclear, which they were told by the owner that they make "plumes", and also getting ridiculed for trying to help the people interested in learning about what I know.

That's all I'll say about this owner. I'll leave it alone before I just get ridiculous and on her level of rudeness but let me say this one last thing. When we discussed my 2 week notice, with out provocation, I was told that I am "not indispensable and that I make people feel uncomfortable due to my knowledge of more advanced products than what are being sold".

 

[Hypatia]

See, that's her problem. She is claiming those "other" shops are pushing her out of business. She's quite myopic in her business model. I can guarantee that "they" are not pushing her out of business. Her refusal to accept that there is a customer that desires "higher end" stuff and just want nicotine is going to be her demise. I will say that the "other" shops in my town have started carrying vape gear, but I sure as heck will NOT step foot in those places, since my favorite local B&M is smart enough to know its competition, and has upped their product offerings to compete directly with the other places.

It's sad that she cannot comprehend that there is a huge opportunity to gain a customer base by offering rebuildables. And it's not just those that use "that" stuff. Us "nic" heads want the rebuildables, too.

 

[Sucker_dad]

As this industry grows, so to will the need for diversity in products. In my area, all of the shops are very small. None of them have very many options. I am waiting for someone to open a Superstore type of concept. Have a large selection of mechs and regulated mods as well as a huge variety of ego types. Any type of clearo, RDA, RBA Cartos etc or at least access to them. And employees that know what to do with these devices. Also have all the peripheral products for such devices. This will happen eventually and all of the little shops with limited selection will go by the wayside.

 

[Jazzman]

While I agree this shop isn't the best place for the OP because of his love for rebuilding, I think the owner may actually be doing fine the way she is running her shop. I love rebuilding and all hobby aspects of e-cigs. But businesses are constantly dying for failing to build a business on their core knowledge of that business. Branching out into areas of business that the owner/managers have little knowledge of has ruined so many potentially viable business concerns. Businesses that could have survived and perhaps thrived if they had stayed within the concept of sell what you know.

I live in SoCal, and you can hardly swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting a couple of vape stores. And the competition is fairly brutal, but from what I have seen the core of most of the businesses has been new vapers buying lots of gear to get started and consumables like e-juices and heads/tanks. The brutal aspect of the business seems to be in mechs/rebuildables, mostly clones. This where I see the most competition in local shops. Almost all the shops have similar prices on iTaste VV v3 starter kits, tanks, and heads. Some are a very slight bit under list... most are right at list price on these items. I mean within about 10% each other, not enough to differentiate to a beginner. So the owners don't have to play the dickering game like they do the mech crowd saying the shop down the road has that Trident clone for $3.00 cheaper, or I can get it from FT for 30% less. A well informed customer is much harder to make a profit from. And having to carry a fairly large assortment of the newest mechs and rebuildables. Lets face it, order too many and last weeks "Wonder" and you are stuck with them when the new "Wonder" comes out (usually the next week). The owner would be lucky to get back the original investment. Inventory that doesn't move is business capital that's wasted, especially if a business bought that inventor on a line of credit (don't get me started on that, probably the biggest mistake many small businesses make). The mech/rebuildable crowd is pretty fickle and usually wants the newest thing.

So while I might not run my own business that way, I certainly wouldn't say she is doing business "The wrong way". She could be quite successful this way and may ruin her business, given her knowledge level, by going the mech and rebuildable way.

Now her attitude and treatment of employees is a whole 'nother subject, and I get why the OP is frustrated with her. But like I said, that's another discussion.

 

[Foodacris]

Blasphemy!!!!!!

 

[Jazzman]

Blasphemy!!!!!!

LOL, I did say I wouldn't run my business that way!

 

[mbolack]

** cleaning up **

 

[serenity21899]

For me, a good vape shop sells both clearos and heads, for those that want them, and rebuildable stuff for people into that. Both have their place, and we are all different.

I am known at my local shop at the carto tank queen, but that does not make me less of a customer. I also have mechs, RBAs, and a clearo. They are there to help us with whatever we need, from starter kits to high-end mechs.

 

[TrolleyVW]

I need to vent so sorry for bumping a relatively old thread.

An employee/friend of this shop told me some things today about what this owner said. He told me the owner went on a 10 minute rant about how big of a waste of time rebuilding is. She told him that "it's ridiculous that people actually take the time to mess with those things just to see who can blow the biggest plume of vape. Customers do not like a vape shop full of vapor and it's a turn off. People just want to throw a new wick in their clearomizer and be done. Fiddling with Rebuildables is stupid, wasteful, and IMMATURE."

Areyou serious? I will never return to this shop again, ever. Originally, at the beginning of this thread, I accepted the fact that she believes one thing and I believe in another, that more people agree with me, the fact that everyone does their own thing and that rebuilding is progressive and has a large following, and that we just go out separate ways and that's that. But now this owner, being all high and mighty, decides to keep making jabs at, not only my friend, her employee, and I, but a rather large portion of the vaping community.

I'm all for people using vaping to quit and if that's all you do with this and never take to building your own coils then that's perfectly fine. It's cheaper and you won't become as frustrated down the road with all of the potential things that us rebuilders become so frustrated with, but I would hope and pray that those of you don't bash and belittle those who do take part in building.

And immature? REBUILDING IS IMMATURE? I guess I should consider the source. A woman who has never owned or operated or even managed a business but "has family members that have owned business therefore she knows how to run things from the ground up", somebody who yelled at me for trying to give a 10ml bottle of juice to a guy spending $200 in her store, the person who rudely shot down EVERY idea I had to help the customers, the person who, after talking s*** about every customer as soon as they leave, tells me that I'm immature for being enthusiastic about every aspect of rebuilding, saying "something's gotten into you" BECAUSE of that fact?

My god, you all don't even know how badly I want to just say the name of this particular shop so those of you in the area could go see for yourself, but I won't. I won't stoop to the level of the owner, a condescending, rude, unprofessional, bigoted, grandiose, belittling person who's only goal is not to "help people quit smoking", no, but to push her radical opinions and rationalizations on to every person she feels is inferior to herself.

I'm done.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

I need to vent so sorry for bumping a relatively old thread.

An employee/friend of this shop told me some things today about what this owner said. He told me the owner went on a 10 minute rant about how big of a waste of time rebuilding is. She told him that "it's ridiculous that people actually take the time to mess with those things just to see who can blow the biggest plume of vape. Customers do not like a vape shop full of vapor and it's a turn off. People just want to throw a new wick in their clearomizer and be done. Fiddling with Rebuildables is stupid, wasteful, and IMMATURE."

Areyou serious? I will never return to this shop again, ever. Originally, at the beginning of this thread, I accepted the fact that she believes one thing and I believe in another, that more people agree with me, the fact that everyone does their own thing and that rebuilding is progressive and has a large following, and that we just go out separate ways and that's that. But now this owner, being all high and mighty, decides to keep making jabs at, not only my friend, her employee, and I, but a rather large portion of the vaping community.

I'm all for people using vaping to quit and if that's all you do with this and never take to building your own coils then that's perfectly fine. It's cheaper and you won't become as frustrated down the road with all of the potential things that us rebuilders become so frustrated with, but I would hope and pray that those of you don't bash and belittle those who do take part in building.

And immature? REBUILDING IS IMMATURE? I guess I should consider the source. A woman who has never owned or operated or even managed a business but "has family members that have owned business therefore she knows how to run things from the ground up", somebody who yelled at me for trying to give a 10ml bottle of juice to a guy spending $200 in her store, the person who rudely shot down EVERY idea I had to help the customers, the person who, after talking s*** about every customer as soon as they leave, tells me that I'm immature for being enthusiastic about every aspect of rebuilding, saying "something's gotten into you" BECAUSE of that fact?

My god, you all don't even know how badly I want to just say the name of this particular shop so those of you in the area could go see for yourself, but I won't. I won't stoop to the level of the owner, a condescending, rude, unprofessional, bigoted, grandiose, belittling person who's only goal is not to "help people quit smoking", no, but to push her radical opinions and rationalizations on to every person she feels is inferior to herself.

I'm done.

Eventually word will spread that she isn't open to rebuilding and her customer base will consist of only those she deems worthy. In other words, restrictive and small. It won't turn out to be a very good business model I'm sure.


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[TrolleyVW]

I hope that's the case so that she can maybe possibly realize that someone other than she had an idea that may have helped rather than hurt her business.

Some have said "well what if you were in her shoes?"

If I had put tens of thousands of dollars into this kind of business, started from the ground up, and hired someone on that knew more about my products than I did based on real world experience rather than reading online testimonials, and then that hire suddenly started becoming more advanced... I would embrace it and open my mind to new things. Maybe not agree with every single thing to the point of being at a loss for knowledge but at least take in to consideration that maybe, just maybe this person is on to something and do some more research into what it's all about.

Yes a business plan is a business plan but out of all the successful entrepreneurs and proprietors, not one of them has overrode a progressive and potentially successful suggestion in favor of their original plan