Wow. We have been having the exact same problem. I just had a creepily similar conversation with a BD rep myself. Unfortunately, that is the only brand our stockroom carries, and we have to pay a 50% overhead on outside orders. We have all been trying to get the stockroom to change, but they are too lazy/stubborn to care, and now they are insist "well they are going to fix them anyway, so why should we bother?" Ummm... because I don't want to wait until October? And who knows if they will really be "fixed" or made even worse?
Pity about the overhead. Seriously, your stockroom sucks: 50-80% contamination for another five months? How is that okay? The rep I talked to claimed they were actually going back to how they were, but yeah, who knows. I've gone over to Fisher; I'll let you know how it turns out, if you want.
Yeah, we are currently trying to decide which is worse- lots of contamination, or paying ridiculous sums for plates. The overhead fees our Uni charges didn't used to be quite as bad (I think it was closer to 35%?) but "budget issues" made them raise it. It is really crippling labs that are tight on money anyway and have to order a lot of outside materials - which is most everyone, really. The same overhead charges apply to grad student salaries and tuition, causing more grad students to need TA positions, which we are actually short of right now. Not fun.
Snooty U takes 68% (no, I am not kidding) overhead on all grants. So they pretty much just hit us on the front end. Why yes, it is a private school!
Think it depends what % of plates are contaminated; we were getting about half. Plus the new ones are actually cheaper. Go figure.
68%?!?!? Owwwww.....
Commenting by HaloScan
