[biz-engineer]

Over the years, I've seen a lot of cameras models accumulating dust, the models that weren't sold when the next model came out. One day, I saw a truck full of cameras , I won't wonder it those were going to the demolition. What do they do with unsold cameras? Send them back to manufacturer for recycling? Or else, dispose them at a secret place to that nobody knows where to get a brand new camera for free?

[Sidney Porter]

I recently purchased a sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 from KEH. It was sold as like new and it appeared they had multiple copies (it was not removed from the inventory after I purchased).

When I received it it was in the original box, with all paper work except the warranty card. The hood was still in plastic etc. I assume keh purchased new / old stock either from sigma or another dealer.

If you go to sites like overstock they have older versions of cameras. I don't really know the product offerings but they have canon t6 and it appears there was a t7 and the t8 is the latest / greatest

[ehrwien]

It would not surprise me in any way if camera companies would just trash old stock in times where the same happens to food because the price is too low to make a profit with it (while thousands of people don't have enough money to buy food)

But I certainly hope that old stock gets sold with less profit (or at a loss) to someone that thinks they can still sell the cameras for a lower price to people that don't need the latest and greatest. Perhaps in another country on another continent altogether (parts of Africa, Asia, South America?)?

[MikeNArk]

I would think that there would be a good market for new old stock on ebay.

[clackers]

Over the years, I've seen a lot of cameras models accumulating dust, the models that weren't sold when the next model came out. One day, I saw a truck full of cameras , I won't wonder it those were going to the demolition. What do they do with unsold cameras? Send them back to manufacturer for recycling? Or else, dispose them at a secret place to that nobody knows where to get a brand new camera for free?

You're onto the secret, Biz ... I've got cupboards of coloured Qs and K-01s!

[cmohr]

I dunno???

But I can see a story line for a new Pixar animated movie here .........



I think they do eventually get sold off cheap, I bought my K-3ii as "New old stock" at quite a discount over what it had been selling for . And I bought my FA*300/f2.8 as "new" from Japan a few years ago, and it was "New" never been used, absolutely pristine, never had been mounted on a camera, lens and hood still in plastic, all paperwork and warranty card all there, The lens case/bag was pristine, the carry strap was still all packed up, even the little plastic feet on the bottom of the lens case/bag did not have a single mark on them, not a scratch or scuff, I think it had just been sitting in its box on a shelf for a decade.

[clackers]

It does look like Pentax hates inventory ... a small division of course can't simply write off models again and again. They continued to sell the Q long after they stopped developing for it, and perhaps that's true of the 645Z, too. The K-3 has had no successor for a very long time, until the Mk III appears, Pentaxians have made do with the KP as the APS-C flagship.

I think it was member Monochrome who suggested the 645Z was actually an initiative to run down the inventory on medium format glass, which Hoya would have green lit in their new acquisition.

Occasionally some great bargains do appear in returns, though, check out this thread: New items on Ricoh open box/ refurb site - PentaxForums.com

[biz-engineer]

I saw some Doku about the food being disposed at the end of the week when unsold product go past their date. I'd imagine it could be the same for cameras.

[MarkJerling]

Over the years, I've seen a lot of cameras models accumulating dust, the models that weren't sold when the next model came out. One day, I saw a truck full of cameras , I won't wonder it those were going to the demolition. What do they do with unsold cameras? Send them back to manufacturer for recycling? Or else, dispose them at a secret place to that nobody knows where to get a brand new camera for free?

Every so often, someone gets lucky and finds one, like me not long ago. This SFXn sat unsold in the back storeroom of a New Zealand camera shop, now closed.
So, was new in1989 and I got it in July last year. So, the poor thing sat on that shelf for more than 30 years.





Of course, this only works if the shop had to buy the inventory. I believe some camera manufacturers allow shops to hold stock and the shop only pays for it once sold. I would imagine, under those circumstances, the shops would, presumably, simply return the stock they did not sell to their supplier. No idea, of course, how it really works - I'm guessing.

[Jonathan Mac]

One way or another they go back to the supplier or get sold off, the price just gets lowered until someone bites.

I remember seeing here in Spain some years ago an advert from one of the big electronics retailers that they were selling off stock, including cameras, at cost. There was a Nikon DSLR which had been a new model about four years earlier going for a ridiculously high price, presumably the cost price when it was new four years earlier! At the time I remember thinking that the real market price would have been about half that. In Spain they really, really dislike offering genuine discounts.

[clackers]

One way or another they go back to the supplier or get sold off, the price just gets lowered until someone bites.

I remember seeing here in Spain some years ago an advert from one of the big electronics retailers that they were selling off stock, including cameras, at cost. There was a Nikon DSLR which had been a new model about four years earlier going for a ridiculously high price, presumably the cost price when it was new four years earlier! At the time I remember thinking that the real market price would have been about half that. In Spain they really, really dislike offering genuine discounts.

Is there a bartering culture, Jonathan?

I've only been to Spain, you've lived there.

If so, there's no incentive for retailers to offer anything at discount if they know it will get discounted on the shop floor regardless.

[photoptimist]

High-fashion clothing and accessory brands certainly do destroy old stock to ensure no one gets genuine designer fashion label clothing for a super-discounted price. The cachet of owning fancy-brand-X would be lost without the snob appeal of knowing every customer had to pay a lot to be wearing/carrying that designer label item.

But the same logic doesn't seem to hold for cameras especially given the fact that if someone bought a NOS flagship camera that had languished on the shelves for a decade (marked down from $6k to $1k), everyone including the buyer would know they had a decade-old, obsolete camera.

The advancement of technology means that the sales of obsolete NOS don't cannibalize sales of the latest gear. In fact, NOS sales offer a back door for bringing people to the brand. It's just like practice of selling cheap, entry-level cameras (COUGH Canon Rebel COUGH!).

P.S. The only exception might be Leica who would probably rather keep NOS on the shelf with a full-price sticker than admit they have a less-then-perfect camera with less than collector's item demand. They might even hold on to it for decades until the NOS becomes a coveted retro model. LOL!

[hjoseph7]

eBay maybe ?

[ChrisPlatt]

Retired NYC subway cars are turned into artificial reefs:

https://ny.curbed.com/2019/3/18/18271320/new-york-transit-museum-stephen-mallon-redbird-reefs

Chris

[VSTAR]

Years ago I wanted to trade in my Subaru Impreza RS...new design of a sportscar...everypart was a lemon. Saw an ad for a New Beetle Turbo that was fixed up by the dealer and selling new. Wife saw the ad, said lets both go and look. Car was on the showroom floor. I asked what was the story. Sales person said they decided to take a turbo model, put a body kit on it, different style rims, different radio, and a few other things. They thought it would sell...and it just sat. Since it was now 2 years old and would soon be 3 model years old, they threw in a nice size discount and VW threw in another discount since the model year would be 3 years old, and they gave me a great trade in value. Sold.
Same thing happened with a Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible, 5 speed, larger turbo, fully loaded. Saw it on their grass outside the dealership. Went in and asked the price. It was about $10k less than MSRP, less than a used one. Why? Soemone ordered, never picked up, and it sat.

Sometimes old stock just sits in the dealers showroom and you get lucky.

Enjoy the camera, nice!