Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– LETTERS TO THE EDITOR us prices that they have specified in larger projects. These projects have very low margins for the distributor, and I was told by a manufacturer the same: “Just mark up your labor.” As a distributor we don’t provide any labor. Needless to say we are no longer carrying any of those products, and we have told these factories to please just go ahead and sell the end user directly, since we are no longer any value to the factory. If I were a tile contractor, I would definitely be steering my custom- ers away from a distributor that did not have my back. Fortunately, we have very few manufacturers that are doing this, so we have a decent 40% profit built into most of our ceramic/porcelain products and this allows the tile contractor to be the hero and mark down if they want for larger projects. Joe Smiley, sales manager Eagle Tile Fort Wayne, Ind. Ethical distributors and contrac- tors can be good for each other A couple of thoughts: I absolutely agree with James that distribution should never give the architect what the contractor’s price is without the contractor giving permission ahead of time. Giving installation pricing is completely out of the question. As a distributor reading the article, it’s very difficult not to get defensive since a lot of what James is com- plaining about tends to happen with frequency to the distributor. Getting and holding a specifica- tion are extremely difficult and you hope that the contractor is in your corner and not “value engineering” the order with the GC, switching the spec, or purchasing through an online vendor. As a distributor, I believe it’s our job to promote the increase in tile and stone use. It meets our four- TileLetter | November 2016 19