Regarding the suggestion that some company should extend a discount to
members of BEE-L, I will offer a distributor's view (and for the record,
I ain't one!).  Discounts are given to VOLUME.  Look at any price list
and you will see that you pay most for single units, less for units
greater than 10, but the real savings don't kick in until you buy in
lots of 100 or more, some companies for some equipment don't offer
discounts until you buy in lots of 1000 (look at queen rearing stuff).
 
Even though there are many members of BEE-L, a company that might corner
the market on subscribers would for the most part still be dealing with
small orders to many buyers rather than a large volume to a single
destination.  The overhead of counting, packing and shipping would still
be on the company with no real benefit for extending a group discount to
a large group of mostly small potatoes beekeepers (apologies in advance
to the big guys).
 
Now, if some member of BEE-L would care to buy volume and offer the
equipment in small lots to subscribers at volume prices, feel free.
But guess what?  You'd be doing a distributor's job gratis!  Volume
discounts for subscribers is a nice idea, but I doubt you'll find a
distributor willing to take on the headache when one distributor or
another is going to get your business anyway.  Discounts for small
orders is a nice idea, but walk a mile in distributors' shoes and it
becomes easy to see why there will be few if any takers.
 
Volume discounts for small orders ARE achievable if you can pool
resources and find someone willing to do the distributors' chores for
no compensation.  This would be a good project for clubs and
associations.  But realistically, don't expect distributors to offer
discounts merely because you subscribe to an electronic forum.  That
would be like expecting A.I. Root to discount their equipment merely
because you subscribe to "Gleanings".  Nice idea, but it ain't a gonna
happen!
 
Aaron Morris - thinking I deserve a discount for defending distributors'
               rights! ;)