| I tried a few times in the past 20 years to promote a dealer Association/Coop with little success. While there seems to be some interest in a few quarters, no one was willing to help with the legwork and organizational skills required. It was strictly "when you get it set up let me know and I may join".
The benefits for such an Organization are widespread , boiled down to one word, Information.
This Industry has more than it's share of Charlatans and products that prey on the uninitiated and hamper the growth of the good dealer. A good dealer network would expose the fly by night colored water and cosmic ray sellers before the honest dealer is forced by marketing hype to stock products that are worthless.
A good dealer network could get manufacturers and the transportation Industry to level the price playing field by Coop buying and negotiating. This would lower prices for the consumer.
A good dealer / breeder network could minimize the threat of diseased fish reaching the consumer by information sharing on a timely basis. To this day, most breeders wait for the dealer to call them, even if they have a known problem. IMNSHO that's bass ackwards.
A dealer association can assign testing of new products to its members and share the results with everyone.
I'm sure there a thousand more pluses and few if any minuses.
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Werner
Pond-On (tm)
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