[quote=""CME & Bottlewasher"":1jlodkq7]Hi Guys :wave:
I have just had a quick look on the
Tower Models website here on the interweb and they have just announced that San Cheng are to increase their prices by 30% by the 1st Jan 2011, that with the VAT increase will be 32.5% (so let's call it a 1/3rd then
).
Whilst I wasnt planning - unless the lottery came up - to buy one of those nice San Cheng RTR locos, I was wondering if such increases are the sign of things to come
As a little aside I saw a very nice Black 5 - all lined out by the master Alan B - for sale on fleabay recently and that would have been bargain when compared to the pending price hike.
I had heard that brass was going up in price a couple of years back as the developing economies were buying up raw material stocks etc. and was set to overheat the market, yet I took such with a pinch of salt.
The question is will brass be going up in price by such an amount in general or is it that San Cheng have increased labour costs too?
I have endeavoured to future proof myself as much as possible against the VAT rise and I have chosen to focus on what is in hand in terms of models to be made - as much as possible - yet one can only buy what one can afford at the time and I wouldnt want to - even if I could - stock-pile kits just so as to beat a price increase.
My other thought is that if brass is set to go up in price, I wonder if lost wax brass castings etc. will do the same, making detailing of models costly too?!
I have recently purchased some for my 7mm NG locos and some for SG locos and whilst they are superb when they arrive you look at em and think there aint a lot there for ?15! - dont tell or show SWMBO (bless them, IMHO the fairer sex never understand such qaulity and the price thereof, yet they always seem to know the market price of diamonds, gold, white gold, silver etc and measure ones love for them by such
:laugh: :lol: :twisted:
). I hasten to add that I am very lucky in this regard (I was told to say that, I am so glad that I wear the trousers in this house it gives me a real feeling of wellbeing
:lol: )
If the aforementioned price hike/magnitude of such (33%) is true then
at the start of next year, our beloved 7mm/O gauge will become even more challenging to those of us on a tight budget :scratch:
Of course my other - long term - theory may be coming to the fore at the worst possible time (recession), yet I have some doubts, in that the Chinese, as did the Japanese before them, have aquired knowledge, technologies and good market share which now = control for them. In terms of our beloved models, so much of the market is manufactured by China, that the lever of power may have finally swung in their favour and they now feel that they can call the shots in terms of price and availability - yet any market place will only bear so much, and if my theory/scenario is true, then it will be intresting to see if the UK market will tolerate such a price increase (that depends on the desire/will and means/ability of 7mm modellers to pay for such models).
I feel for the likes of Tower as they are now in an awkward position.
The question to my mind is; who controls this particualr supply/value-chain, who is in the driving seat?
Business mode OFF now :lol:
Sorry to be the bringer of - possibly - bad news!
Comments please.....
Cheers,
CME :wave: