Tips and Tricks
1. Buy locally and support the club sponsors first. However, if the local shop does not carry your product or there is a substantial price difference, then who can blame you? Currently, local outfitters that give 10% discount are Adventure Carolinas, The BackPacker, Half Moon Outfitters, Nantahala, and Sunrift Adventures. Others tend to give all paddler clubs a discount with a valid club card, so ask! Please note that River Runners on Gervais Street in Columbia has stopped giving the discount. Stop in and show him how much this costs his business, then buy where out business is wanted.
2. Use you Palmetto Paddler card! Ask other shops if they will give discounts to you with the card. You might be surprised! When more people ask, the shops see what an impact we can make and they might offer to accept the card. Many out of area shops just do not know about the Palmetto Paddlers, but they routinely give paddling clubs discounts, so ask!
3. See if any of your service businesses offer discount agreements. Second Wind Heating and Air Conditioning, for example, gives me a card which is valid for discounts at three pages of stores around town.
4. Check with fellow paddlers. We all keep garages full lot stuff we thought we would use, but don't. Post messages to the Paddler's message board, or send it to me (webmaster) and I can post it on the discussion page. Of course, you could always come to the meetings and ask!
Yakima Racks - Check Agee's Bicycle Shop online. Many dealership agreements state that dealers may not give discounts unless coordinated with the manufacturer to prevent price wars and protect territories. However, many times, a store will give away free merchandise based upon purchases of other items. Agee's does this with Yakima racks, and pays the shipping too. Here is what the Agee site says:
Select the Yakima Rack goods you need.
Calculate the dollar amount of your Yakima Rack order
Get 20% of the total dollar amount of your Yakima Racks order value for the purchase of eligible free goods category which is any Yakima Rack product that has a Yakima MSRP of $59.99 or less.