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Re: Subject: Thompson & Morgan's Poor quality seeds

>> In defense of T&M, and as a former seed industry professional, what you and
>> everyone else is seeing is the difficulty in trying to inventory an
>> incredibly wide seedlist at high germination.  It's extremely difficult,
>> especially when the supply of many of these unusual varieties is erratic.
<snip>
>> Seed storage is the only way to offer a broad seed list.  That means that
>> at some point in time, someone must decide that a given seed lot is too
>> weak to sell.  If there are no guidelines for a particular species, that
>> decision point becomes a credibility issue.  For the seedhouse, this is
>> also a economic decision: to get rid of a given seedlot means a net
>> decrease in the value of the company, since it decreases the value of the
>> inventory.  And yes, bad product means bad reputation, and this ultimately
>> decreases the value of the company, too.
<snip>

The above said....all businesses need to decide when to dispose of
inventory when it becomes out of date, out of style, or just too plain old.
This is true in seeds,  fashion, and photography (our business).  This is
just the cost of doing business.....and if one wants to stay in business,
one has to know when to cut one's losses.

If, for example, the germination rates start to decrease, then why not just
offer more of that particular seed (which we do not feel that T&M does)?

If a company like T&M holds on to its seed too long and germination rates
become unacceptable, then the consequences will be a loss of reputation and
lost business.   It seems that T&M is unfortunately entering that state.
We have heard of no other seed companies with the same problem (and it
seems that T&M has earned that reputation).....so we are assuming it's a
T&M problem, not an industry wide conundrum.

Bill & Harvey
SKID  Zone 6  CT  USA
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