Rear struts available on roc

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Picked four up today

[handmedownreatta]

thats a little better price than the other guy.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

6 minutes ago, handmedownreatta said:

thats a little better price than the other guy.

Get them fast, it appears they are the only national retailer to get them. 

I checked O'Reilly's, AutoZone and advanced, none have them.

[alec2538]

I ordered a pair as SOON as I read the news FB. If these are the real deal, I'm going to be thrilled.

[DAVES89]

Rock Auto no longer shows a listing for rear struts. Hopefully the damage to Marck isn't to severe. 

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

Mine said they shipped today. 

I hope that is correct, but honestly if mark was dealing with Monro and they screwed him, I will probably try to make things right on my end. 

Mark has most of the rear sway bar bushings I had produced (he has a better platform for selling them).

So I 100% know the investment cost to get thing made.

BTW if you need rear sway bar bushings but them. The company I had making them is no longer in business.

[Ronnie]

I'm a big fan of Monroe products but if they have screwed Marck like it appears they have I will probably start looking at other brands when I need suspension parts in the future. 

[Y-JobFan]

Nothing better for the Reatta community than honest competition, bought 4 

 

[DAVES89]

7 hours ago, Y-JobFan said:

Nothing better for the Reatta community than honest competition, bought 4 

 

That is a foolish statement as it is not honest competition when one supplier [Marck] makes a commitment to buy enough for Monroe to make a number of struts and then watch Monroe sell the overrun to another distributer. Monroe should have offered Marck the overrun so something like this wouldn't happen. 

The struts that a few of us were able to take advantage of were made available only because of Marck's commitment to us.

 I am sure Marck will sell out what he has, but at a longer time period then what he anticipated. It also makes him look like he was "price gouging" which he is not because once again he laid out the money and is sitting on inventory. And I am also sure that this will probably limit the commitment of Marck or anyone else to ever do a large buy again.

 For a limited production car we have been very fortunate to have Marck and Jim be able to keep our cars running.

I would advise everyone to consider buying front struts as well. They are also being discontinued.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[Barney Eaton]

I would like to know the whole story.

Somewhere Marck said he was having them made exclusively.    If the shocks are made by Monroe they already have the tooling. 

Maybe Marck contacted them and agreed to purchase XXX number.........  I have had an order with JEG'S for a year and they keep saying 

the vendor cannot keep up with demand (a canned statement)    

In reality Monroe was probably waiting on enough orders to make a run....... who know what that number is but there is tooling setup.  If you are going to make parts, 

there is a point (numbers wise) that makes sense.

Example it may take 1 to 2 hours to put a blanking die in the press and run a few pieces, have them inspected 

and then BOOM BOOM BOOM the press can stamp out a part every 3-4 seconds,  that is 15 part per minute and 900 part per hour.  

This tells you that those 900 pieces cost 2 hours of set up time and 1 hour of press time.... lets say that is $150/hr so each part cost $0.50 just for one stamping. 

but if they run the press for another hour ,  the piece price drops to $0.33.. doesn't seem like a lot of $$ but it is a 34% savings...the longer you run the press the set up time lowers the cost 

The point,  If Monroe was going to set up and run rear struts for someone,  they would also fill all back orders at the same time.    
 

[Barney Eaton]

If anyone has an old rear strut that they will ship to me I will pay the shipping and start looking into 

options.   

 

PS it appears front struts are still available in a few places...... get your spares now.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

29 minutes ago, Barney Eaton said:

I would like to know the whole story.

Somewhere Marck said he was having them made exclusively.    If the shocks are made by Monroe they already have the tooling. 

Maybe Marck contacted them and agreed to purchase XXX number.........  I have had an order with JEG'S for a year and they keep saying 

the vendor cannot keep up with demand (a canned statement)    

In reality Monroe was probably waiting on enough orders to make a run....... who know what that number is but there is tooling setup.  If you are going to make parts, 

there is a point (numbers wise) that makes sense.

Example it may take 1 to 2 hours to put a blanking die in the press and run a few pieces, have them inspected 

and then BOOM BOOM BOOM the press can stamp out a part every 3-4 seconds,  that is 15 part per minute and 900 part per hour.  

This tells you that those 900 pieces cost 2 hours of set up time and 1 hour of press time.... lets say that is $150/hr so each part cost $0.50 just for one stamping. 

but if they run the press for another hour ,  the piece price drops to $0.33.. doesn't seem like a lot of $$ but it is a 34% savings...the longer you run the press the set up time lowers the cost 

The point,  If Monroe was going to set up and run rear struts for someone,  they would also fill all back orders at the same time.    
 

I think your logic is mostly correct except that because a number of us had made a number of calls to Monroe we found out that more then one car used that strut [although with different mounts depending on the vehicle requirements]. However the demand was so low and because these were low production vehicles [Allante, Reatta, Trofero, later Regals] and over 25 years old that they were discontinued, but they had what I'll call "blanks" [ struts without brackets] sitting in inventory.

So Marck comes along and says to Monroe "How many struts do I have to buy so you will make a run of Reatta rear struts for me"? They check there inventory and see they have lets say 220-230 blanks and say "Buy 200 and we'll make them". They can't sell them all of their blanks to Marck because there may be "shrinkage" due to an improper stamp, or a strut that has lost it's seal, etc. 

 So Marck gets his 200 and Monroe says "He has his order and we still have 24 made up Reatta rear struts to get rid of. Let's contact Rock Auto and make them available to them". Rock Auto then lists them for sale at the prior selling price [$61.79] which makes Marck looks like he's gouging us which he is not because if he doesn't place his order Monroe makes no more of them at all.

 Rock Auto never had the inventory as everyone on Ronnie's site that placed their order from Rock Auto is getting them direct from Monroe. 

[Barney Eaton]

In todays environment it is unlikely Monroe or any company their size has parts inventory sitting on the shelf. 

I retired 25 years ago and "Just in time"  was already in affect at large companies.

Local government taxes companies on inventory,  so they keep it as low as possible. 

The movement today is  "Logistics" companies.    They have warehouses close to the big companies and 

deliver parts daily because the thinking is why inventory parts (and have a warehouse to store them) if we can get 

someone to store and deliver (cheaper)

We may never know the true story. 

PS  Several years back I had reproduction floor mats made.   It was not worth the effort,  I went thru 3 different vendors 

from start to finish .... paid all 3 for digitizing the "R" logo.   Thing would start fine then they would want you to order more

Yet they were unwilling to find the grey and blue colors our cars use.    To save $$ they would ship directly to the customer, 

then they started wanting a fee for shipping to the customer,  yet they would ship to me for free.    I have stories..... 

There were the convertible visor clips,  and the headlight bellcranks, I paid the supplier of the blanks $2400 set up fee 

to use their tooling.   The piece price was fair but If I only purchased 100, their part would cost me $24 each 

[DAVES89]

Barney I believe your logic is correct however let's go with the assumption that Monroe has two divisions ( they probably have more but humor me) one for production and one for aftermarket. 

 The production division does it exactly as you explained, however the aftermarket division is different. Monroe sells to the parts houses ( Napa, Auto Zone, Advance, etc). When the warehouse places their order Monroe has to be ready with inventory. Now when the purchase level gets so low, those warehouses won't carry parts for a very small demand. They are not going to tell Monroe they aren't going to order more, they just stop ordering.

 This builds unsold inventory for Monroe but that's almost okay because these struts are still blanks and can be made for the Buick Reatta platform  and the 1996 Buick Regal platform so if an order comes in for 200 ( Thanks Marck) they can take that order and fill his order and then sell through Rock Auto what's left over.

 There is no way Monroe, a multimillion dollar sales company is going to take a 200 strut order, make the struts (because they have no inventory in your scenerio), put on the correct brackets and sell them for what listed at Rock Auto for $61.79.

They had to have blanks ready to get brackets already in inventory.

As I said before Monroe wanted the last of those blanks gone so much Rock Auto didn't even handle them, they were shipped directly from Monroe to us that bought them from Rock Auto.

And the proof is in the Fed ex shipping updates.

[Barney Eaton]

This is starting to feel like I am in a product meeting. 

If we don't know the facts we are just debating possible scenarios.   

[DAVES89]

I remember about 15 years ago the big scare them was the 88/89 inverters for the switch backlights. I offered a group buy and bought about 30 of their existing inventory of about 50 that was sitting 15 years after the last Reatta rolled off the assembly line. 

 About 2-3 years later they contacted me again to see if I wanted what was left. I didn't so then they destroyed them. 

 Point I'm trying to make is companies carry inventory a lot longer then one would think.

 Another case in point I bought 3 Riviera rear struts just last year from a Buick dealer. And this is GM with all their financial worries not liquidating inventory 30 years after production.

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[Y-JobFan]

18 hours ago, DAVES89 said:

That is a foolish statement as it is not honest competition when one supplier [Marck] makes a commitment to buy enough for Monroe to make a number of struts and then watch Monroe sell the overrun to another distributer. Monroe should have offered Marck the overrun so something like this wouldn't happen. 

The struts that a few of us were able to take advantage of were made available only because of Marck's commitment to us.

 I am sure Marck will sell out what he has, but at a longer time period then what he anticipated. It also makes him look like he was "price gouging" which he is not because once again he laid out the money and is sitting on inventory. And I am also sure that this will probably limit the commitment of Marck or anyone else to ever do a large buy again.

 For a limited production car we have been very fortunate to have Marck and Jim be able to keep our cars running.

I would advise everyone to consider buying front struts as well. They are also being discontinued.

 

So you know the exact story of where these "extra" struts came form?  You know these are part of that run that Marck ordered? There are always options and that is what free enterprise is all about.  The more sites offering a part the better and will keep Marck from his typical price gouging. 

 

[DAVES89]

4 hours ago, Y-JobFan said:

So you know the exact story of where these "extra" struts came form?  You know these are part of that run that Marck ordered? There are always options and that is what free enterprise is all about.  The more sites offering a part the better and will keep Marck from his typical price gouging. 

 

For some months I have been on a list at Rock Auto for any rear struts that become available [they offer a service to notify you when out of stock items become available]for the Reatta as well as for the Riviera [same strut only with an air strut feature]. So I know they didn't develop inventory on their own.

As a matter of fact you can either thank me or blame me because it was I who received a notice from Rock Auto that suspension parts had just become available. I checked it out and couldn't believe there were some rear struts available. I know there was more then two available as I keyed in 4 struts and it took the order. But I backed my order down to two each as that was all I needed for myself and then I foolishly posted that I had found some at Rock Auto and this fiasco started.

 In the past I have contacted Monroe on at least 4 occasions in regards to any struts being made available, specifications on the Reatta strut comparing to specifications to struts for other cars, does any other warehouse [the various parts stores and close out places] have inventory. Every time received a "no" on inventory, but not on assistance with specifications. there were none available anywhere. I did buy three Riviera air struts through my local Buick dealer at a price comparable to what Marck's asking for his struts but hey I thought I had to have them. I also found in a salvage yard a brand new Monroe Reatta strut laying in a trunk, cost $25.00. This gave me four so I was pretty much set.

 Through the efforts of guys over on Ronnie's site we came up with the 1996 Buick Regal having a strut that physically matched the Reatta strut. I then called Monroe and they confirmed that not only physically a match but internally, it was the same strut. 

 But they were also being discontinued, no more being made. So a number of us bought that Monroe strut from Rock Auto [at a price of about $30.00 each, once again same strut as the Reatta]. But the mounting bracketing was different, so we had to cut off the Regal bracket and find a mounting bracket from another vendor that would allow us to use the Regal strut on the Reatta. 

 We were successful.

 We actually have a guy [also on Ronnie's site] that as a service would buy the Regal struts, cut off the brackets, repaint the strut, supply the other vendor mounting bracket for the Reatta and ship it for $275.00 a pair. His cost was less then $130 a pair.

 Is that price gouging? 

So it's a small leap to determine that no more Reatta platform struts, no more Regal platform struts we are out of business. Marck sees a need and steps up and contacts Monroe to see what it would take to get struts made for the Reatta. Monroe looks at their inventory, sees they have a number of "blanks" and says lets burn up the last of our inventory. Marck buys what he wants, needs, can afford, and Monroe stamps out the rest and offers them through Rock Auto.

Rock Auto never stocked these last struts. When you receive your order you will see they were shipped by Fed ex from Monroe. Rock Auto took the sale and never touched them.

Marck is a small business owner. This is his lively hood, how he makes his living. The quality of the items he sells are always the best, otherwise he doesn't sell them. If you don't like his pricing, continue your search elsewhere [as we were doing with the Regal strut on Ronnie's site], but don't knock him for what he does or how he goes about his business.  

So to answer your question, no I don't know the exact story, but I was pretty far into it and except for how Monroe treated Marck I believe I am pretty close to being correct.

Edited June 23, 2023 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[alec2538]

The struts are back in stock on RA, albeit with a "2-day delay". Act fast people.

[NCReatta]

We’ve been receiving messages and emails from a lot of you regarding our rear shock project. I owe you all some correspondence, so here’s what I know so far.

 

Firstly, this info may change as I haven’t been able to get up with our sales rep at Monroe all week. They have gone radio silent all week.

 

Secondly, we had to place an order for a minimum 1000 rear shocks in order for Monroe to produce the 71966 shock for us. We committed to that back in April. We were told Monroe would tool up and make them for us with that minimum order and only that minimum would be made. They assured us they had zero interest in holding inventory for what they referred to as an “obsolete part number” for them. They would produce them, but we had to buy them all.

 

However, it appears that Monroe has been selling OUR order off the top of our pallets in their facility to everyone at well below our wholesale price without requiring the minimum order that they required from us. Essentially destroying this project for us.

 

Our order was even shorted with only 976 units or less reportedly coming

 

If you ordered shocks from anyone and the packing list says 71966-ST, you can thank us for that. That was our special part number for the order. Monroe has been stealing out units off our order and selling direct for well under our wholesale pricing.

 

Monroe has continuously lied straight to our faces saying “we don’t fulfill direct for any retailers”, and that they’ve shipped our order.

We still have yet to receive our order despite reportedly shipping from Monroe on Monday.

 

Please bear with us while we try to get to the bottom of this. We have thousands of dollars tied up in this project and are committed to finding a resolution.

 

Our intention is to renegotiate price with Monroe on what is left of our order (given how they’ve screwed us) and still fulfill all orders and offer folks a refund or store credit for the difference.

 

Please stay tuned for more info, and we sincerely appreciate your patience in this matter. We are a small, family-run business who has been screwed by corporate America big time on this project and we are working to do our best for our loyal customers.

[DAVES89]

1 hour ago, alec2538 said:

The struts are back in stock on RA, albeit with a "2-day delay". Act fast people.

Glad to see Rock Auto pulled their listing.

[handmedownreatta]

first of all i always thought marcks prices were too high.his site was always a great place to get something if you needed it and couldn't find it elsewhere.i suggested more than once marck should be the one to make a bulk purchase to woo a strut manufacturer to make more struts.im glad he did though my reattas totalled.two thoughts....i don't know how much marck is paying for these struts that rockauto is selling for 61 dollars.and two.the rockauto struts may just be some old stock found in a ware house somewhere.

[NCReatta]

1 hour ago, handmedownreatta said:

first of all i always thought marcks prices were too high.his site was always a great place to get something if you needed it and couldn't find it elsewhere.i suggested more than once marck should be the one to make a bulk purchase to woo a strut manufacturer to make more struts.im glad he did though my reattas totalled.two thoughts....i don't know how much marck is paying for these struts that rockauto is selling for 61 dollars.and two.the rockauto struts may just be some old stock found in a ware house somewhere.

No, they were ours as evidenced by the fact we are getting over 100 less now than we were supposed to get at the start of the week. 

 

You can complain about my prices all you want, but who else do you think would invest over $100,000 in this project? I don't see anyone else spending anywhere near that kind of money to support these cars. Sorry I don't have $5 parts for your $10 car. 

[DAVES89]

I just don't understand the animosity towards Marck. He joined up a dozen years ago by buying and selling Reattas and then got into parts. He ultimately decided this was going to be his life's work, got involved with the BCA and Reatta Division, he has held and continues to hold offices, and seems to do a great job in those capacities. Shows up at every event he can with extra parts, helps people with mechanical issues [from what I have seen at little or no charge for his labor at the events], and then gets to have guys with virtually no investment in their cars or the Reatta division treat him like a rented mule.

If you don't like it, just leave the forum we don't need you. If you won't leave then shut the hell up. We all don't need to hear your complaining. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[2seater]

A little story, related to pricing. I purchased all my tires for three vehicles from a local shop for more than three decades. I had a clunking noise in the front end, a Subaru in this case. At 190k miles I figured it needed struts at the very least. I asked the shop for a quote on struts, mounts, ball joints, sway bar links and frame mounts. The quote seemed way high as I had already considered doing the work myself and sourcing the parts from RA. I considered the shop owner a friend so I asked him why the huge parts price discrepancy for the exact same part number, KYB in this case. He got on speaker phone with his parts jobber to answer that question, while I stood there. According to them, my price from RA was less than the jobber could get them for himself. It doesn't make sense, but I do believe there are substantial differences which seem inexplicable. Take it for what it is worth🙃

[Barney Eaton]

The internet has changed the way things are sold.    Example,  if you find something on Ebay or Amazon you like and want, you can probably buy it cheaper there than locally and somehow they 

are able to deliver (sometimes) the next day.   If you or I sell something and the buyer wanted it the next day, there is no way the buyer or seller could justify the cost of next day shipping. 

How do they do that?  It would probably take a book to explain.   Marketing and sales has completely change in the last few years with the internet and delivery services. 

I was a distributor for Covercraft car covers.   I started in 1982 and would stop and have lunch with the founder when I was in California.   At one time I probably sold more Corvair covers than any other

single source.   I had a relationship with the company and had many new custom fit patterns made.   They did not charge for a new pattern, it just added to their library of patterns.  

Bob the owner was ready to retire, he had 3 sons and none really wanted anything to do with the business, but one son did take it over.   Little changed under the son's leadership,  maybe because 

dad was still alive.   When the son is looking at retirement,  his children are not interested, they are doctors, lawyer and such.   The son takes on a partner,  a company that has "modern" ideals and thinks they

can do a better job.    

I could buy covers at a pre-determined "distributor" price,  and Covercraft dictated the lowest price I could sell for.   This apparently was to keep all distributors on a level playing field. 

The new owners now are sell cover from the company web site online at prices that I can make no money.   They also offer free shipping.   They basically put me and others out of business. 

I am not really complaining as this was a "side" job and I had a chance to interact with old car guys and make some money.    This is a small example of what is happening in marketing and sales. 

There is an old (probably obsolete) guide that said everyone that handled a part doubled the price.    That is something of interest to me as I spent 38 years in manufacturing and have a pretty good 

idea of what it cost to make a part...... so when I see a part they are asking $5.50 for and I'm thinking you can make it for $0.40 cents,  who is making all the profit. 

Another interesting thing, take anything that goes on sale,  from tires to tools,  when they cut the price by 1/3 on sale,  who is taking the loss.

Manufacturers that are selling online, are cutting out one or two middlemen.       You probably noticed many of the items you buy online come directly from the manufacturer.   

That reduces shipping the part to several places,  less handling and storage. 

 

[Barney Eaton]

2seater.... I experienced that many years back.   I was out for lunch and discovered one of my headlights was out. 

Stopped at Walmart and purchased a new one.   I was very near a shop run by a fellow club member and I stopped and

ask if I could borrow a screwdriver to install the headlight.     He ask why I didn't come to him first and he could have

saved me money,  so I ask what was his price?   The price he quoted was what he paid, with discount from one of the 

auto parts stores,  and it was more than I paid at Walmart.    It made me wonder how smart of business men these people

are if the assume they are getting a good deal because the parts store is giving them a discount.  

[DAVES89]

Please let us know how it turns out Marck. I hope they are reasonable, and realize the damage they did. There reputation is at play here as well.

[handmedownreatta]

On 6/22/2023 at 12:12 PM, Barney Eaton said:

If anyone has an old rear strut that they will ship to me I will pay the shipping and start looking into 

options.   

if you are serious i have one from a 1989.