I just wrote a very simple Request For Quote (RFQ) to buy and install a new pump controller for an underground irrigation system.
I intend to snail mail the RFQ to vendors in my local area.
Using Internet search engines I found perhaps a half dozen potential candidates.
When I looked at the Web sites, only two - right, 2 - included physical addresses.
Granted, several vendors provided Web forms to complete and submit, and all provided phone numbers; those that lacked inquiry forms included email options.
But I want a physical address.
For today's exercise, I would have reluctantly "settled" for a post office box - someplace to mail a piece of paper.
I want responses to the RFQ to arrive between two specific dates. Not before; not after.
It's my experience that people fail to really read and understand fill-in forms and emails. Besides, I want actual pieces of paper responses, not email and not telephone calls. Paper.
I want to know that the vendor is in my area; I don't want someone to travel 50 miles to do a job with very little Return On Investment (ROI). Locally, regular gasoline is averaging just under $3.60/gallon. If a vendor has to travel any significant distance, the price to me must, if the vendor is any type business person, be high enough to cover the travel expenses (time, fuel, wear and tear on the vehicle).
I also would like to see the vendor's facility.
If you take your car to be repaired, you normally have a higher level of confidence if the repair shop is clean and the mechanic's tools are organized. Or maybe that's just me.
I can understand why a private individual such as myself might be hesitant to release a home address - I don't need uninvited visitors or spam in my mailbox - but I find it strange that a commercial operation hides its physical address, unless, of course, the organization has been targeted by people who have something against the organization.
Give me an address. A phone number is nice; likewise email and Web forms, but I still want to know where to find the HQ when I need it.
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