ORLANDO — New Jersey retailers of all types have easier access to state contracts now, including automotive.
The state recently signed a purchasing agreement alliance to purchase automotive parts for its fleet of vehicles from the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance. And word of this recently spread around the IWD/Auto Pride Annual Conference.
Ron Brody of All Parts Distributors in Linden, N.J., says he is concerned about what this will mean for the aftermarket. His company has supplied parts through bidding for the last 25 years. The contracts and IWD/Auto Pride are not related.
"Government is getting bigger and big business is getting bigger," he says. "And that leaves the small businesses, the entrepreneur, in a place where things are not good for them at this point. I think that what happened with AutoZone in the state of New Jersey needs to be brought out into the light of day in a transparent way in the same way that we have been bidding for their business for several years."
Brody elaborates that the issue is previously his company and others bid to specified parts, such as a certain brand of brakes, and that the new contract appears to be a blanket agreement. According to releases from the State of New Jersey, the contract will save between $1.5 million and $2 million in fiscal year 2009.
But Brody says this agreement could be picked up in other states. It also is another version of retail business encroaching on WDs and jobbers.
— Tschanen Niederkohr
