Well the worst part is, the customers are also fed bad info at times. For example, they will talk to a local brand rep about an exclusive made for us....and the rep will have no clue what the brand is about. They might say something wrong, or they might just say they have no idea. But the reason they don't know is, because they don't have to. It's not in their portfolio to sell to stores. It's not something they make commission on. We work deals directly with the brand owners and cigar-makers....not the local reps hitting the pavement. So, they're frequently out of the loop, since they do not receive information on the countless number of exclusives made for countless retailers. So they're given this bad information, post about it on a cigar board or blog, and then we pick up the pieces when the calls and questions come in. We're happy to do it, because we want people to know their product, but it happens very often.
We just had bad information passed along about our upcoming CAO price increase. Basically, a blogger - in not so many words - wrote that it wasn't a price increase. It no doubt is a price increase, which all retailers that carry the brands must abide by. The customer doesn't care why or how, they just care what the price is. If the price goes up to the consumer, it's a price increase. Remember, we were the first to lower our prices on CAO, and we've kept them low and will keep them low for as long as possible. When the price increase happens, we will still be at the lowest possible price. It's how we operate. We want to offer the best cigars at the best prices, without hurting the cigar-maker or manufacturer. We receive price increases quite frequently, many of which the customers never see, since we eat the increase. This one, however, we're left with no choice due to MAP.