Symphony Piano Sale

Avery Todd avery@ev1.net
Tue, 05 Mar 2002 20:06:29 -0600


Hi David,

Hmm! I've never thought of this. The ****** dealership is having a sale
this weekend at the school. They have 4 of the "automatic" type of players
they furnish! Everything else, they bring in!

The other sale we have because of our 9 lease pianos, happens later in the
year!

Maybe I should mention this to the Director of our department! But one
question. Why exactly would it affect the tax exempt status? I admit, I
don't know much about this type of thing.

Avery

At 05:48 PM 03/05/02 -0600, you wrote:
>Wim:
>
>The university sale for SMU is always held at the dealership.  Our legal 
>department would not let this commercial event take place on campus for 
>fear of losing our tax-exempt status.  I'm a little surprised that this 
>hasn't caught some other universities.
>
>dave
>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
>On 3/5/02 at 11:04 AM Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:
>>List, et al
>>
>>The piano store that has been supplying the university (Alabama) for the 
>>last 10 years has just informed us he is pulling out at the end of the 
>>school year. We have 12 pianos in use now. I don't know what we are going 
>>to do to replace those 12, as all of them are in critical positions. We 
>>do have some options, but it will no doubt cost us some money, money that 
>>should be used in other areas.
>>
>> From what I have been told, the university sale last year resulted in 
>> only 11 pianos being sold. The dealer didn't even have the sale at the 
>> university. It was held in his store. That kind of sale was also being 
>> done in St. Louis, before I left. The store announced, "A sale so huge, 
>> it can only happen at our store." Meaning, it was not worth it to the 
>> store to move all those pianos to the school.
>>
>>University/symphony sales have been going on for almost 15 years now. 
>>Although the store sponsoring these sales do sell more pianos in one or 
>>two weekends than the store usually sells in a month or two, I think it 
>>is getting to the saturation point. I also think the word has gotten out 
>>that the "deals" at these sales aren't any better than what the consumer 
>>can get at the store. It is ashamed that some of the sales tactics have 
>>been less than desirable. It has given the entire industry a bad name. As 
>>far as servicing these pianos, again, if you have a problem with the 
>>dealer, I believe that the dealers that sponsored the sales are no worse 
>>or better in providing service than what you get for a piano that was 
>>sold out of the store.
>>
>>Although, like some of you, I was against them at first, I have come to 
>>realize that the impact these sales have on the community, in the way of 
>>getting more pianos in homes, is worth the occasional bad apple, so to 
>>speak. Therefore, as I said in my first post, as technicians I think we 
>>should support these sales. It means more business for us in the long 
>>run. If you have a complaint about a certain dealer, then report that to 
>>the "proper authorities."
>>
>>Wim
>>
>>
>
>_____________________________
>David M. Porritt
>dporritt@mail.smu.edu
>Meadows School of the Arts
>Southern Methodist University
>Dallas, TX 75275
>_____________________________




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