[Anastigmat]

Sorry for the disorganized writing, I just want to pour this out ASAP...

I heard news from someone who worked for Pentax Canada. I say worked because he quit recently to work for one of the "Big 2." Why quit? Because of Hoya. He is now unsure of the future of Pentax because of what's happening.(Though he says pound for pound the K20D is one of the best cameras out there, he shifted to one of the big 2 because he's unsure of Pentax's future in cameras and lenses). The Hoya people went to the Canada office and started laying off people left and right. (Just last week, 25 people were laid off). Half of their warehouse stock were sold off for a song he says. They still have stocks left but he says it will all soon be gone. He said the lenses were sold BY THE POUND, to Henry's and some other store, I forgot the name, owned by one Ron Silverstein. Anyway, he says the lease for the warehouse won't be renewed, and it seems that the end of Pentax Canada is near. He also said that Pentax is at a loss worldwide, and that Hoya even called Pentax Canada employees as "ineffective." Hoya, according to him, is not at all interested with Pentax Imaging, but only bought Pentax for their medical instruments. He says that the Hoya people seem to be all business (read: cold) and will do anything to cut their losses, even if it means closing out Pentax Imaging altogether.

My take on this? I'm hoping that the plan is to keep Pentax USA to handle the whole of North America, to cut costs. The source seemed pessimistic, but I don't think Hoya can afford to close down Pentax Imaging.

The only good thing coming out of this is, he'll be selling me his FA*80-200/2.8 (he has 2!) for $800 As well as his complete limiteds and pancakes "for a song."

Any Pentaxians from Canada feel this coming?

This story makes no sense. Pentax lenses are in short supply. Even if Pentax Canada were to get rid of them, they don't have to sell them by the pound. Also, the FA* 80-200 f2.8 is selling for $2,000 or more in the used market. So your friend is not very smart with his possessions to say the least.

[leadbelly]

The lenses they were selling by the pound, are mostly primes. Limiteds, old Taks, mostly the ones used for displays, testing, etc... some are brand new. They let them go because Hoya told them to let them go.(As he said, Hoya doesn't care much about Pentax except for its medical equipment). As for the FA*80-200/2.8, they are being sold cheap because he got them for free and he wants to sell his stuff ASAP. He doesn't care about the money (he's filthy rich)... he just wants out of Pentax. He wasn't let go either, he had a feeling things would go awry, and left. Got a bit disillusioned with Pentax I reckon...

[Jonson PL]

Oh I get it. Having been (and to this day) a Sales rep in both the Electronics and furniture industry for about 14 years and a consumer electronics buyer for a large retailer before that. Inventory control is key to success with todays tight margins and overhead. If there is gear more than a few months old in the warehouse, then no one has a clue how to manage the company.



Pentax Canada has to be a very small operation. Closing the offices would not be a big deal. I worked for Samsung for several years as a rep and one day everyone in inside and outside sales/support got a phone call. Now this was a $200 million dollar operation in Canada. CYA, we're closing the doors and doing it all from the USA and Korea via the internet. Service will be handled by the American branch. They now have an office with 2-3 people that simply coordinates the Canadian operations. Look at AU. They are about 22 million (we have 31 million) and they have no branch office.

Samsung did it with a company that is most likely 15-20 times (or more) the size of Pentax Canada. So there is no reason it can't be done with any company. We are small potatoes on the world stage. Other large companies have followed this example. This may all be rumours and in no way gives any picture of the health of the company world wide but it wouldn't surprise me. Don't forget that they are partners with Samsung and that is getting tighter with the CMOS chip. Samsung could teach them a lot about streamlining inefficient branch offices.

Thanks for your insights Peter. Pentax can for sure learn a lot about the practical matters from Samsung and Hoya’s way of dealing in the market. A leaner and more fast paced Pentax, could be the outcome.
Likely, some places in Europe, could need a clean up as well. You don't become as big as Samsung and Hoya, without knowing how to trim and streamline your company, to be ready for the challenges.

There will likely be more commotion, before things have settled in the new order. Whether Hoya should want to keep Pentax as a DSLR company or sell it, they will have to keep a strong division, so as to have a fit company to sell; or have a division geared to the game in the marketplace.
I agree that a head office should not have a bunch of old inventory lying around. This has been a chain around the leg for a lot of companys before.

[creampuff]

If Pentax Canada still has unsold stock of cameras and lenses like the FA*s in their inventory, frankly I'd sack the people in sales and distribution for doing a hopeless job of sales and marketing. Most of the FA series were discontinued quite a few years ago. Skeletons in the closet like these point to lax management and I'm glad Hoya is taking steps to clean house.

[k100d]

i lurk on the other forum, not to start a flame war here, but another perspective from Dan Savoie who works at Pentax
Re: Speaking of Canada: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Forum Pentax SLR Talk
Subject Re: Speaking of Canada
Posted by Dan Savoie [CLICK FOR PROFILE]
Date/Time 7:52:35 PM, Monday, May 05, 2008 (GMT)

Hey Jeffkrol,

Yes, I read that post on Saturday. It's the funniest thing I've read in a long time...
I can assure you that No one was layed off, nothing was sold by the pound, warehouse stock was not sold for a song, No staff got free pickings ( I WISH), Henry's & Visteck did not pick up anything other than their usual stocking purchases/shipments...
Pentax Canada Inc. was number 1 for profit among all Pentax Distributors last year.
All of the posters statements are false. There is nothing to worry about.

The poster himself says that he got a ( 80-200mm ) lens from his source for next to nothing even though his source could have sold the lens for $2000.00 he sold it to him for $400.00 becuase he didn't care about making money because he got the lens for free.
He says his source got 2 (80-200mm) lenses free. If this was true, then why didn't his source just give him one of the lens if he didn't care about money?
He also says that his source was Higher Management and was Layed and received a severence package for 1 1/2 years of his monthly salary. Then on the last page he says that his source was not layed off and that he just decided to leave the company.
Which one is it?

Not a single higher management has been layed off recently and Pentax Canada Inc., does not even have 25 higher management employees ( so that there tells you the credibility of this poster and his makebeleive source).
The post himself is also from the Philippines ( check the two pictures he posted to the forum). They both say while driving home, and the locatoin is the Philippines, yet his best was Higher Management for Pentax Canada Inc. Not that this is impossible, but very strange.. He never tells you that he is from the Philippines but instead the way he writes he tries to make it sound as though he lives in Mississauga.
There is no truth to this and there is no source.

If nothing else it makes for very good hummour...

I've been with Pentax Canada Inc. for over 5 years, trust me if there was even a little truth to any of this, I would not be posting....

Hope this helps,


Info_Man --> Dan



jeffkrol wrote:
> and sorry for the loss BTW..
> But is it true that Pentax Canada is iin the process of shutting down?
> Quote from another forum.......
> The Hoya people went to the Canada office and started laying off
> people left and right. (Just last week, 25 people were laid off).
> Half of their warehouse stock were sold off for a song he says. They
> still have stocks left but he says it will all soon be gone. He said
> the lenses were sold BY THE POUND, to Henry's and some other store, I
> forgot the name, owned by one Ron Silverstein. Anyway, he says the
> lease for the warehouse won't be renewed, and it seems that the end
> of Pentax Canada is near. He also said that Pentax is at a loss
> worldwide, and that Hoya even called Pentax Canada employees as
> "ineffective.".......................................
>
> --
> 360 minutes from the prime meridian. (-5375min, 3.55sec) 1093' above
> sea level.
> 'The exposure meter is calibrated to some clearly defined standards
> and the user needs to adjust his working method and his subject
> matter to these values. It does not help to suppose all kinds of
> assumptions that do not exist.'
> Erwin Puts

--

[Jonson PL]

i lurk on the other forum, not to start a flame war here, but another perspective
Re: Speaking of Canada: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Forum Pentax SLR Talk
Subject Re: Speaking of Canada
Posted by Dan Savoie [CLICK FOR PROFILE]
Date/Time 7:52:35 PM, Monday, May 05, 2008 (GMT)

Hey Jeffkrol,

Yes, I read that post on Saturday. It's the funniest thing I've read in a long time...
I can assure you that No one was layed off, nothing was sold by the pound, warehouse stock was not sold for a song, No staff got free pickings ( I WISH), Henry's & Visteck did not pick up anything other than their usual stocking purchases/shipments...
Pentax Canada Inc. was number 1 for profit among all Pentax Distributors last year.
All of the posters statements are false. There is nothing to worry about.

The poster himself says that he got a ( 80-200mm ) lens from his source for next to nothing even though his source could have sold the lens for $2000.00 he sold it to him for $400.00 becuase he didn't care about making money because he got the lens for free.
He says his source got 2 (80-200mm) lenses free. If this was true, then why didn't his source just give him one of the lens if he didn't care about money?
He also says that his source was Higher Management and was Layed and received a severence package for 1 1/2 years of his monthly salary. Then on the last page he says that his source was not layed off and that he just decided to leave the company.
Which one is it?

Not a single higher management has been layed off recently and Pentax Canada Inc., does not even have 25 higher management employees ( so that there tells you the credibility of this poster and his makebeleive source).
The post himself is also from the Philippines ( check the two pictures he posted to the forum). They both say while driving home, and the locatoin is the Philippines, yet his best was Higher Management for Pentax Canada Inc. Not that this is impossible, but very strange.. He never tells you that he is from the Philippines but instead the way he writes he tries to make it sound as though he lives in Mississauga.
There is no truth to this and there is no source.

If nothing else it makes for very good hummour...

I've been with Pentax Canada Inc. for over 5 years, trust me if there was even a little truth to any of this, I would not be posting....

Hope this helps,


Info_Man --> Dan

--

Thanks for posting this info from Dan. I remember reading from him earlier, and he is a Pentax sales person, and is living in Canada.

This latest info from the OP, on how it was mostly primes, including Tacs, makes it even more hard to believe. Primes are the easiest ones to sell, no reason to go cheap on them. And if they would have so many Tacs, as to needing a bigger sell out, this would make no sense. They are seriously old lenses.

I didn’t know that the OP himself, didn’t even live in Canada.
Sounds like a prank has been played on him, or his trying to play one on us. Well the internet is fast these days… :ugh:

[Peter Zack]

Well Dan, As I said earlier "This may all be rumours and in no way gives any picture of the health of the company world wide but it wouldn't surprise me." Good to put this one to bed.

[nosnoop]

Posted by Dan Savoie:
All of the posters statements are false. There is nothing to worry about. ....
There is no truth to this and there is no source....
I've been with Pentax Canada Inc. for over 5 years, trust me if there was even a little truth to any of this, I would not be posting....

Seriously people, just read again what the OP poster said and you realize how ridiculous it was! And amazingly, people bought it!! Wow!

The OP was playing on most people's fear - and when it remotely sounded like some people's feared nightmares, they bought it right away without questioning.

Lenses sold by the pound? Yeah right! Who would believe that...
Oops, apparently many did!

[k100d]

Seriously people, just read again what the OP poster said and you realize how ridiculous it was! And amazingly, people bought it!! Wow!

The OP was playing on most people's fear - and when it remotely sounded like some people's feared nightmares, they bought it right away without questioning.

Lenses sold by the pound? Yeah right! Who would believe that...
Oops, apparently many did!

it is pretty ridiculous, but at the same time, you can see that everybody here thinks that Pentax should be making significant improvements in marketing, distributing products, providing better service and hopefully they'll pick up on this with Hoya's initiative

[mutley]

Also, the FA* 80-200 f2.8 is selling for $2,000 or more in the used market. So your friend is not very smart with his possessions to say the least.

That's just perpetuated by people who can idiotically spend such stupid amounts, and are rich enough to not even notice the money missing. There seems to be enough of a supply of those in Pentaxland... The ones in the US are also probably baffled why people are so concerned with this "minuscule" rise in gas/oil prices. How can it possibly affect lifestyles?

Nice to see someone not feeding into this stupid exclusivity.

[jeffkrol]

i lurk on the other forum, not to start a flame war here, but another perspective from Dan Savoie who works at Pentax
[URL="http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=27820560"]Re:
........ect.........

--

Thanks for re-linking that. I was curious as to this thread and needed some confirmation one way or another...
If the OP here was correct, it was a very bad sign........ and personally, though some may disagree, I didn't give it a lot of credit.

[leadbelly]

Hmmm, I just relayed what the ex-employee told us... I posted what I heard, here in the RUMORS thread because that's what I considered it. And I didn't say he was layed off, I said he left. From the beginning of my post, that is what I said. I used the term "severance pay" not to imply he was layed off. More like a "last paycheck". Sorry for the misuse of semantics on my part.

Not a single higher management has been layed off recently and Pentax Canada Inc., does not even have 25 higher management employees ( so that there tells you the credibility of this poster and his makebeleive source).
The post himself is also from the Philippines ( check the two pictures he posted to the forum). They both say while driving home, and the locatoin is the Philippines, yet his best was Higher Management for Pentax Canada Inc. Not that this is impossible, but very strange.. He never tells you that he is from the Philippines but instead the way he writes he tries to make it sound as though he lives in Mississauga.
There is no truth to this and there is no source.

I said one of the "higher ups," not higher management. This is to show that he is not one of the rank and file employees but one who held considerable office. Yes, I am from the Philippines, I did not hide that fact, I even posted in some posts that I am from the Philippines. So my "best" isn't because that's all I know, but because I wouldn't want to reveal the identity of the source(who said not to quote him). And what does my being in the Philippines have anything to do with all this? Anyway, I never implied I lived in Mississauga (it's the first time I actually typed this word "Mississauga."), and I never denied I was from the Philippines. People who PM'd me asking about details and such can attest that I told them I am from the Philippines.

If there is no truth to what I posted, then take it as it is, a rumor. (Which I posted under the rumors thread anyway, right? ) As for the source, there is one. Whether he is a source of truth or falsehoods remains to be seen...

Oh, about the lenses by the pound, I was told I'll be given a photograph of it, if there really is a bin full of primes. To add, I was told there are quite a number of 645's as well. About the 80-200, well if he is going to sell it for $800 (not $400. I never said $400. Maybe you misread Dan, and thought it was $800 for both. No such luck for me.) then good for me and whoever gets the second one. He's selling it and not giving it away cause his wife will kill him!(Now this, is an assumption on my part!lol!)

Take it as a rumor, take it as truth, take it as a complex lie I have weaved to gain nothing. In short, I am just sharing what I heard through the grapevine. But I don't think my character should be lambasted just because I am sharing what I hear... especially not because I am from the Philippines eh?

Peace...

[creampuff]

leadbelly sorry but your lame explanation just don't hold any water.

[leadbelly]

Explanation of what? As I said, I am just relaying what I heard creampuff... I stand by what I posted because that is what I heard. I am not saying they're all truths, just relaying what I heard. Hence the word "rumor."

[Jonson PL]

Have you read the actual quote from the quarterly financial report? It seems to me that you are mis-quoting the report. Here is the complete quote:

"Imaging System Business
In the single-lens reflex digital camera field, the "K10D" middle-class digital single-lens reflex camera that was put on sale in November 2006 contributed to the sales as it has been highly valued both at home and abroad and it received Japan and European camera prizes. In the period under review, we started selling the "K100D Super" new standard-class digital single-lens reflex camera, and "K20D" and "K200D". We also introduced several types of new interchangeable lenses on the market, and actively promoted the sales of such new products.

In the field of compact digital cameras, on the contrary, decline of sales volume and unit selling price resulted in the decrease of net sales.

As a result, the net sales of this business as a whole increased slightly year-on-year basis."

The quote can be found on the financial report:
http://www.hoya.co.jp/data/current/briefingsubobj-277-pdffile.pdf

Page 7. Details on actual numbers are further down in the 33 page report. They are however expressed in Yen.

The five subsidiaries of Pentax have been consolidated into a single Pentax business unit under Hoya Corp. All Five divisions of Pentax posted a net loss last year. However in terms of SLR business the company did well and made up market share year to year. The price drops in compact P&S digicams is what caused the overall lackluster performance of Pentax Imaging. Had past price trends kept up they could have made more profit out of the P&S business. However you can see that there were dramatic price drops in that market between Canon, Nikon etc. a few months back.

Looking purely at a business standpoint it would cost Hoya more to shutdown Pentax Imaging in the long run. If anything I can see them taking Pentax Imaging and either letting them spinoff as an independent company or sell them to another company like Samsung who has invested interest in their camera bodies and lens mounts.

Thanks for taking the time going through the report, and providing the info