Is coach hire the only purchase in the world where bulk buying costs more?

Can I have a coach please? Certainly £1500 each
Can I have 100 coaches please? Certainly £5000 each

Imagine that at tesco, buy one get one twice the price.

 

Probably depends on how many coaches the company trying to fulfil the order has. I would imagine they end up having to hire them in themselves so therefore bang a bit more on top so they are still making something.

 

In that situation wouldn't you simply order the maximum amount that company A has available and then go yourself to company B and order the remaining?

Or going back to tesco, if I want 100 Easter eggs but tesco only has 70 in stock I wouldn't expect them to purchase 30 from Asda and charge me a premium, ID go to asda myself and buy the remaining 30.

It seems though that this is exactly what happens with coaches for some reason, the club says it happens and if I read correctly various groups say it happens too. I just fbd it bizarre

 

Alternatively the coach company is tying its entire fleet up on one job which stops it taking other more possibly lucrative work that weekend, so it prices accordingly.

I have zero knowledge of the coach hire market btw.

 

The club possibly play's ball with the coach company in rare occasion's (for us) like this in exchange for cheaper deals on other trips.

 

It is simply driven by supply and demand. If the South Yorkshire economy requires 100 coaches per weekend for holiday trips, excursions, away travel for football fans etc the supply will reflect that. If a coach company runs 10 coaches they may have 1 spare stood in the yard for beak downs and such like. On Wembley weekend the demand could quite easily double. The local coach companies then have to start ringing around other areas to fulfill that demand. These other areas will also have very little spare capacity so the price goes. B.F.C. have a regular coach provider who will give them competitive rates because they know that through out the year they have a regular source of business. If B.F.C. approach a different coach company that company will charge a higher rate because they know it is a one off job. A brand new coach can cost in the region of £300,000, you don't have that stood idle hoping a local team will get to Wembley. It is purely driven by market forces

 

In other words they've both decided to go into 'fleece mode' to take advantage of lots of fans who don't know any better. I'm still surprised that over a thousand people aren't savvy enough to find alternatives.

 

Aren't the bus companies having to pull buses in from outside the area?

And if they're anything like Tates, they'll proabably have to do some emergency maintenance on some to make sure they can make the 350 miles round trip. Not a biggie breaking down around town, but imagine a bus full being stranded on the A1 / M1 half way to Wembley.

 

Are you travelling by coach to Wembley, Supertyke?

 

They've always had to order coaches from further afield for these occasions. This is the first time the price hasn't been reasonable.

 

We've had such occasions actually falling on a bank holiday weekend before and not felt ripped off by the price. We've always had to book coaches from further afield in these circumstances. They usually say something like 'On hire to Gordons' on the front.

 

Maths doesn't seem to be the club's strong point, so I'll take their figures with a pinch of salt

 

I'm not a coach traveller. Went on one club bus about 20 years aho and that was more than enough.

I take both yours and the clubs points but it seems a little strange that they couldn't find cheaper alternatives. From the outside looking in it does seem expensive ( the club coaches are always daft prices so to be fair maybe it's just more of the same) and it looks like there's been a failure to see if there is alternatives that could be cheaper. This is perhaps an unfair impression but with all the focus on fans being ripped off in the media it is not the best time to look like you aren't doing everything possible to keep costs down.

 

Don't most things increase in price when the demand is high

 

Yes but before you can put a sign at the front saying "On Hire To Gordon's" said coach company must first source a vehicle and driver. At the moment coach drivers are like rocking horse dodo. Gally's post reminded me of another small detail. 2008 was the beginning of the recession, due to the slowing economy there possibly were more coaches available. For example 1 small operator ran 3 coaches in 2008 he now runs 1, 1 big local operator who sent coaches to Wembley in 2008 as closed down altogether thus making the pool of coaches available smaller. For 1 weekend out of 52 demand will far out strip supply, hence it becomes a seller's market.

 

On the other hand, 2000 and 2006 were Bank Holiday's.

 

I can fully understand why people are questioning the price the club are charging considering there are buses doing the same journey for 22 pounds. Indeed having a look round i'd say the average is around 26 pound.