SALE EXTENDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND! EVERYTHING (STILL) MUST GO!
SALE EXTENDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND! EVERYTHING (STILL) MUST GO!

SALE EXTENDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND! EVERYTHING (STILL) MUST GO!

Hello again, Hello! The last post on The Ruggist caused quite a stir and though it elicited several responses, most disappointingly as of yet, is that there are none from anyone who was offended. Then again, how can you offend the offensive? But I digress.
I was really inspired by the aforementioned rugnews.com editorial and the associated comments. As such The Ruggist has some new rules, but before we get to those, I’d like to share the following email I received before I decided on, and implemented, the new rules. I’ve asked the author for permission to post it, so, here you go:

Hi Michael, 

I enjoyed your last post. As a retailer we deal with the low-budget rug auction all the time. There are two auction houses in Houston that do a similar business to the auction that you discussed. Additionally we contend with scores of no-rent dealers who partner with furniture stores in town and literally sell out of a truck the most dreadful rugs that you can imagine. For years I reassured myself that they were not selling to “my customer” as “my customer” was far too sophisticated to buy a rug from the van-man, until I got a call from a designer (“my customer”) who advised her client to buy one of these rugs. It was a new Turkish piece, sold as an “antique Oushak” and the knots were falling out of it. The pile was completely unstable and the rug could not be repaired for less than what was paid for it and so I advised her to take it back for a refund or exchange. But of course she could not take it back because the van-man had long since gone. 

As furious as I am with the van-man, I do agree that he has a right to conduct business and I do not think that dealers like him damage the industry for the rest of us. I thoroughly believe that the market will correct for people like the van-man and even though bottom feeding dealers like him may take some business in the short run, in the end you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Bad business moves by such dealers eventually create opportunities for an honest dealer that stands behind the product that he/she sells. 

All the best,
Ryan [Reitmeyer]
Carol Piper Rugs

I think Ryan makes some very positive and constructive points, especially about knowing, or not, your customer, and about looking for and capitalizing on opportunities found. Thanks Ryan.
And now for those new (pesky) Ruggist rules as of November 1, 2010.
1) No Anonymous comment posting. If you post a comment it MUST be attributed or it will not be accepted. (I already moderate comments to avoid spam.) If you would like to have your thoughts shared and remain anonymous, you must email me directly and request to remain anonymous. You must request anonymity to receive it.
2) The Ruggist now reserves the right to publish the content and/or author/sender of any email directed to any and all email addresses under the domain “theruggist.com”, unless, as per rule one (1), anonymity is requested.
3) Don’t swear too much in your comments.
4) Don’t take life to seriously. We’ve got but one to live (according to my beliefs) and in the end it might as well have been fun. No regrets and the like.
**End Rules**
As always, thanks for reading!