Buying wood cost effectively

[Wayno]

Hi all, I was reading a post on oak veneered ply and one of the replies stated they pay £64 quid for 18mm oak veneered birch ply ! Wow, that's almost half the price of regularly advertised prices......wish I had that buying power !
It got me thinking that it's a shame there's not a UKWorkshop forum buying group or similar so members with smaller requirements can group together and harness the price reductions of bulk buying. There's another link on this site for UK and Ireland Timber yards, maybe talking to these timber yards and setting up a "cash account" under UKWorkshop, would be good for everyone, UKWorkshop "approved suppliers" get more trade, and we get more discount.......or is that a pipe dream ?

 

[marcros]

pipe dream. Certainly with the oak veneered ply, it is about buying large quantities and it being delivered once to a single location. Having 50 people all wanting a sheet each delivered somewhere different, or even collected wouldn't achieve the same thing.

 

[MARK.B.]

Would probably be a logistical nightmare and someone would have to be responsible for ordering and paying up front-taking delivery and then making sure that everyone gets their sheet or two and of course pay's for it in a timely manner. It could work well if a group all lived in close proximity to each other but other than that I dont see it working for anything other than small easily and cheaply posted items,even then you still have to find someone willing and able to put in a fair bit of work to get it up and running.

 

[marcros]

we once did a router plate group buy. I bought through it but was not involved in the organisation, but there was a huge amount of time and effort involved by those that were.

 

[MARK.B.]

Been there and done that marcros and when things go awry as they sometimes do The flack and that starts to fly towards the fan at great speed makes me never want to do it again