[CAUT] Yamaha Exchange program; pros, cons

[Shelley]

Thanks to all for your comments.  Some of which we had thought of and some
of which we had not!

Our dealer has P22¹s to send right away.  What do you who have experience
with them think of them?
Which grands would you recommend?  Don¹t know if we can get any C5¹s.  I
have a few in my client list and generally love them!
We have plans to buy one of the loaners per year.

Shelley




On 6/7/12 3:20 PM, "Paul Williams" <pwilliams4 at unl.edu> wrote:

> And you all know that "new" pianos will need lots of tuning, regulations,
> voicing, etcŠ.a bit more than the usual inventory, (unless you have old
> junkers).  Tuning will take up a lot more timeŠŠthen you get them squared away
> and somewhat stable.  Then there they go sold off and start all over again.  I
> don't think I would go for it.  I've seen it happen at some community colleges
> back the Seattle area with similar programs with other brands/dealers I used
> to deal with. 
> 
> Also; when it comes time for the annual "sale" of these instruments, the piano
> dealer (from my experience) will set it up as a huge "tent" sale with hundreds
> of their own stuffs they didn't sell that year or years before.  It's a big
> hassle!! Maybe Yamaha doesn't do that, but others do. Just be careful, or
> state some solid ground rules before getting into it.
> 
> Good Luck!
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> From: Zeno Wood <zeno.wood at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org>
> Date: Thursday, June 7, 2012 2:44 PM
> To: "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Yamaha Exchange program; pros, cons
> 
> Having all new pianos is nice, but the problem with everything being the same
> age is that they'll all need replacing at the same time, creating a big budget
> problem.  Unless of course you're putting something aside every year just
> waiting for that day, but that's not the nature of any music department.
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Paul Milesi <paul at pmpiano.com> wrote:
>> I strongly agree with the point James Schmitt makes regarding dependency.
>> We, too, are involved in a Yamaha loan program that was put in place just
>> before I came on board.  I immediately saw the inclination to ignore
>> maintenance of our own inventory, which would ultimately be to our great
>> detriment and leave us without an escape route.  I pointed this out to
>> faculty and chair, and we began actively pursuing (meaning I am being
>> supported in) re-hammering, reconditioning, rebuilding, and routine
>> maintenance of our own, older inventory, such as it is.
>> 
>> Good thing, too, because our dealership was sold, the terms of our agreement
>> changed, and, yes, we lost literally 1/2 the loaner inventory in one fell
>> swoop at the end of Fall 2011 semester!  We were not quite as well positioned
>> as I would have liked, but at least attitudes towards working on our own
>> inventory were already adjusted and some work was underway.
>> 
>> BTW, I feel the same way about the All S&S thing, or any other manufacturer's
>> program.  How could a school ever afford to put enough of its own (ignored)
>> inventory in place after one of these agreements  has gone on for 10 years or
>> so?  Loaner programs can be a tremendous help in a pinch, but dependency is a
>> bad thing, IMHO.
>> 
>> On 6/7/12 11:42 AM, "James Schmitt" <pianotenor at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> I agree with Joe.  We had the Yamaha exchange program and things worked real
>>> well for us when the profit share program with the local dealer was helping
>>> our school get some new pianos but needed to be stopped when the flooring
>>> fees for keeping the pianos at the school where not supported by  sales when
>>> the economy went sideways.   The dealer is and was a good dealer but times
>>> being what they are, kept the original deal from working.   The thing that I
>>> find so hard about the piano exchange programs to start out with is that
>>> they tend to leave the school dependent  on the program without a way out.
>>> The deal we had allowed the school to purchase some pianos via a school
>>> sales profit  share that payed the flooring fees but also made way for the
>>> school to purchase pianos without using school funds. The goal was to work
>>> our way out of the program with an ongoing way of upgrading as time went on.
>>> When folks where buying pianos it worked real well.
>>> James Schmitt BM, RPT
>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jun 7, 2012, at 6:37 AM, Shelley wrote:
>>> 
>>>>> Hello All, 
>>>>> I work at a small University where they are considering doing the Yamaha
>>>>> piano exchange program.
>>>>> I would greatly appreciate any pros and cons that you could offer.
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Shelley
>>>> Shelley Byrd Anderson
>>>> Registered Piano Technician
>>>> All Piano Services
>>>> Chicago, IL.  60645
>>>> 
> 
> 

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