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Tony,I'm not being a wise guy, just curious if you really think EXR was being deliberately dishonest when they decided to go the dealer route?I mean sitting around a table one day and coming up with that type of marketing scheme to generate leads seems a bit... over the top.It's been several years since I've been in the hobby-shop business, but I view it as simply them attempting to go that route, i.e. dealer network and determining that it wasn't going to work for their particular situation.But maybe you're right.
Climbing on the Soap Box....Larry, It wouldn't bother me a bit if they started out direct sales only and stayed that way. If they did that from the start, I would be buying a half dozzen of the waffles in CSX and Southern variations. Where I draw the line is how they used the LHS to promote and give people a hands on of their product, then yanked the rug out from under them once they got a following.Stepping down now.
The way they pushed hard for us to become a dealer from the start, I fully think it was intentional. It was easy to become a dealer and they were farming for as many as they could get. I lost count of how many times the shop received mail touting how great it was to become an Exactrail dealer. I threw away more dealer signup forms than I can count. I just glad I threw them away instead of filling them out. If they really valued their dealer network, they would have worked with margins and pricing to make it amicable for all. As it is, they increased their profit margin by about 40% minus the free shipping and screwed a lot of people that worked hard to get them where they are.
...duplicitous and cunning.
I am not knowledgeable on LHS agreements and when one is signed what commitments are give by the manufacturer with whom it is signed, but I am very familiar with sales driven by market forces and cost, and the dog eat dog world that exists in business..If running a dealer network would result in pricing my self out of the market place then I would regrettably shut down my dealer network and sell direct. It is understandable the dealers I had would not be happy if they felt they had helped to establish my business but from the other side of the fence my dealers had had the advantage of being able to earn income and attract customers from the fine models I had produced. From a modelers perspective I would rather have high standard model available at a reasonable price than have a model that has a price that I can not find justification to purchase, with end result being another manufacturer being lost to us. From a manufacturers perspective it is simple, self preservation, hard times call for hard decisions.