Pricing Conflicts Undermine Internal Trust
MBS charges higher prices for non-proprietary parts compared to other vendors, creating fundamental tension between MBS's profitability needs and Beacon's budget accountability. The "right hand, left hand" argument — that Beacon profits regardless of which pocket the money lands in — does not resolve practical budget impacts for individual managers. This pricing disconnect has damaged the business relationship, limited parts purchasing to only proprietary Thomas parts, and created lasting trust issues. Beacon increasingly sources from alternative vendors, reducing MBS revenue and collaboration opportunities.
MBS's parts markup makes Beacon entities cheaper to buy externally, driving parts revenue out of the platform. The "right hand, left hand" argument does not survive contact with a budget manager's accountability report — and a trust-damaging pricing incident has made goodwill scarce.
Verbatims
“I can get better pricing other places, right? And I've heard enough about the right-hand pocket. Well, if we make more profitability, yeah, it affects your P&L, but Beacon is still making money because it came from Midwest Bus.”
“So what you do is you lose trust and once you lose trust it's very very difficult to get trust back.”