But it's not the same price unless you, as a distributor, are willing to make 0 (selling at wholesale which is your cost). Moreover, you're ignoring the soft cost of you, as a distributor, tying up your cash waiting for a sale or freightong it in or warehousing it. So, you would be losing money as a distributor UNLESS you sell above wholesale.
What you intimate is that customers are willing to PAY for convenience. That is the ONLY way their distribution model makes sense.
Personally, I can wait 2 days (what it took for UPS ground for me) in order to save $30 or whatever.
If you want to but one quart, and you need it NOW, then going thru a distributor may make sense. Otherwise, I don't see the point (again unless disctributors buy at significantly less than wholesale which I'm pretty sure they don't or they're offered consignment which I'm also pretty sure they aren't).
My company just hired a guy from Amsoil (the manufacturer) who did uptower wind generator sales/service. I'm thinking of asking him about their distributiom model. To me, it makes no sense at all.
