I understand your points, and agree that you should cut your local dealer some slack, but at the same time, there's a difference between cutting a "nice dealer" some slack and throwing your money away.
I have always been willing to pay a premium to those located close to me for products and services, but there's a point to where this becomes unreasonable. In my recent quest to buy a tractor, the dealers close to me were running $2000 - $2400 higher than one that was about 5 times the distance. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif (below list, but still much higher than the lowest quote I found)
I entered into negotiations with the "local" dealers, and although they were all very nice, they were unwilling to match (much less beat) the price I was offered elsewhere. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I even offered $900 more than the lowest quote to the local dealers - and they still were unable to meet the higher price /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif.
Am I mad at them? No. Were they mad at me? No. (one even told me directly that he completely understood the economics of it).
Why did this happen? As alluded to by Obi1, the "Wal-Mart" model - e.g. the business of high volume/low margin vs. low volume/high margin. Both business models have their place, but let's be honest - any type of business has to choose where they fit in this continuum and adjust as necessary.
If a dealer's afraid that the "Internet will hurt my business" - then get on the Internet! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif Web-site hosting is not that expensive and even if you don't post your prices on your web-site, responding to e-mail is pretty darn easy.
The further you live from metroplex type areas, it follows the harder it would be to get volume business, but, there is no reason for a dealer to stick their head in the sand and not take advantage of low cost marketing tools (such as the Internet).
By doing so, there is the very real chance that the sales volume will increase because of price competition, especially if they look at following a JIT business model for certain brands/models of tractor (e.g. have a "demo" on the lot and only order when a sale is made and $$$ in hand - not for every model, but for those that it makes sense). /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif
The beauty of the JIT model is that cost is incurred only after the sale - so a lot of the OH to stay in business simply doesn't apply. Additionally I bet a lot of customers would be willing to wait a week or 2 for a shiny new tractor "straight from the distributor" instead of taking possession of a "new" tractor that has sat on the lot for months exposed to elements/novice drivers/etc. On top of that, the more tractors sold, the more revenue can be generated from parts/supplies/accessories from the enlarged customer base.
I guess my point is that yes, I want the local small-time/good relationship dealer to be around tomorrow, and I'm even willing to pay a premium for this proximity to service to a degree.
Margins may be thin for the dealer (regardless of business model), but at the same time, margins are awful thin on the other side of the equation (e.g. for farmers/ranchers). Personally, I am unwilling to subsidize a failing business model for those dealers who refuse to adjust their approach because "that's the way we always did it". Selling tractors (or cars, or trucks or <insert item here>) is a business, and business owners have to adjust their approach to stay in business - like it or not.
I'm really not trying to get preachy or "dealer bash" by any means, I'm simply trying to point out that while times may be "lean" for dealers, times are "lean" for consumers as well and it may be necessary for the dealer to change their approach to ensure they can stay in business.