Jim, thanks for that.  Dead on observation !  Same story here !  Everytime I order a rack from my supplier it's a hit and miss situation, because he has no cores to refurbish so I have to wait while the one I took off has to go in for rebuilding !  Cores are important if we want to continue to have a supply of refurbished parts that are otherwise unavailable !  The power steering hose, pump to mainline, the one with the banjo fitting, that I have refurbished, 9 times out of ten the core never comes back, so I am out of cores and am now asking that the defective one be sent to be refurbished.  I can no longer just send one out, the pile of cores I had rounded up to make this project go smoother for those in need fell apart because even with a $50 core charge the cores did not come home.  I will boost the core charge to $100 if I can find more cores somewhere ?  Good luck with that !  Everybody with a Vanagon is going to have to take some responsibility here if they want to keep on driving these vans.

On 2011-07-28, at 6:18 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> That's the problem these days that many vendors (including my
> employer) have very conservative core deposits, thus not giving much
> incentive to return them to the vendor.  After being this business for
> 35 years this coming October, I learned some interesting things about
> the core business.
> 
> 1.  Some Vendors have a conservative core charge so they can remain
> price competitive to sell the item.
> 
> 2.  Some Vendors have a conservative core charge to reduce the chance
> of a customer to return the core, thus the Vendor makes "free dollars"
> over and above the selling price markup.  This is a very common
> strategy, especially for most (but not all) online/mail order outfits.
> 
> In both cases above, this is usually because cores are plentiful, so
> there's no critical need to get the core back.
> 
> Critical Core items usually have a rather high core charge and for
> good reason.  Stuff like late Vanagon starters have a $45 to $75 core
> charge and are worth returning unless you're outside North America and
> have to buy one here for your ride laid up in South America or where
> ever, then it's not cost effective to ship the core back.
> 
> Some items have such a critical core situation that some places won't
> sell you the item unless the core is received in advance to insure the
> rebuilder (or Vendor) gets a core (some Porsche 911 Alternators are
> that way these days)(In otherwords, item is sold on an exch
> 
> A $100 or $125 core charge on a Vanagon Power Steering Rack is pretty
> much the standard in the industry, but I know from experience that the
> cores are not plentiful these days.  Personally I think the core
> charge should be around $200 to make it worthwhile for the customer to
> return the rack core so that the Vendor can get it rebuilt and put
> back on the shelf for the next customer that needs one.  It can't cost
> that much to ship a PS Rack Core from one coast to the other, USPS,
> UPS, Fedex, can it?
> 
> Recently Ron @ Bus Depot put out a call for good used/core Brake
> Servos I guess because he's not getting the cores back from his sales.
> I know these are highly critical core items, so stuff like this
> shouldn't be tossed in the trash.

Cheers,    

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2011