Christian Vendors
We had a rather negative experience with a vendor recently that I thought I should share. I wish I could say this kind of thing is extremely rare but I have heard similar experiences from many others. We ordered a piece of hardware and it was expensive but we have used this company many times and we needed this item. After it arrived the instructions they sent were for the wrong product. This was not a big deal as we understand how these things can happen. We did get the equipment
working and were very happy with it and we decided we would order more. One of my co-workers, being the good steward that she is, decided to check prices for the same model with some of our other “non-Christian” vendors. She came running into my office saying her very first search was $250, which was exactly half of what we paid! She spent some more time and found a vendor and found an even better price. She was very discouraged and it was a wake-up call for us.
Please don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of great Christian vendors out there that charge fair prices. This vendor I am talking about has given us great service in the past and we are not going to stop doing business with them, probably not hardware anymore though. Really they have the right to charge whatever they want.
I think in churches there is a real desire to do business with Christian businesses. In a perfect world we could do that and all would be well. I even think some of us would be willing to pay a few percent over the price we could get elsewhere, but 100% mark up is not something we need to do.
I love seeing vendors who profess to be Christians and would like to do business with them. However, I still need to be a good steward of the resources He has provided. I have many great experiences with Christian business and I have had great experiences with non-Christian businesses. When we do business we should always be honest and straight dealing. Shouldn’t our vendors do the same? Here is what Paul had to say about it: Galatians 6:10 Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters. (NLT)
on June 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Agree. Good stewardship works both way! Galatians 6:10 shows the Bible was relevant then, and still relevant now.
on July 13th, 2007 at 6:07 am
I agree on stewardship, of course! But I’m wondering if Christian businesses can compete … on volume. Lower priced solutions are often available to large companies due to volume agreements, ability to carry large receivables and inventory costs, capital to invest in high-quality e-commerce and shipping solutions …. etc. Sometimes small businesses do not quality for the same cost of equipment, and perhaps the markup isn’t 100% to them. But from a member perspective, I agree that I want every dollar treated as precious … but I also want fellowship, encouragement, factored into the buying decisions.
on July 13th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Vickie, I agree with you. Some of the small Christian businesses can’t compete on volume, so I don’t mind seeing a higher price here and there. Where I buy CDs is a good example: I pay almost $2 more than I would if I went to a bigger store. Of course the bigger store is not going to have the selection of Christian music. I want to support Christian businesses for sure, but I would not pay $30 for the same CD. The vendor I mentioned above is actually a big company. I will continue to give preference and use vendors that say they are Christian owed and I don’t mind paying a small percent more, but if someone says they are a follow they should do honest business with everyone. Otherwise all of our reputatutions as Christians suffer could suffer. I don’t have any Christian symbols on my car because I don’t want the way I drive to reflect badly on my faith, even though I try and be a courteous driver at all times. I don’t want someone to have a bad experience with me and all they remember is the fish symbol on my car. I had a guy recently give a very rude gesture to me and he had a bumber sticket that said “Christ’s love”, this bothered me more than his gesture or the fact he had almost ran me over.
thanks for adding to the discussion! BarryB