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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-22-2012, 05:42 AM
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I'm brazenly wielding the "royal we" so don't take this personally (and I'm glad that no one has, for it speaks positively of this forum's user base).
No, I'm not upset. I'm just calling it for what it is. In order for a small or medium sized business to succeed, they need to make a profit off their products. And if they are being undercut by three companies who can afford to struggle over razor thin margins, they aren't going to waste their time, money, and effort into that product line. Simple as that. There are plenty of people all around the world, including in the States, who will pay more to keep their dollars in their neck of the woods.
Unfortunately, the sentiment expressed here is the opposite- decrying the loss of local competition between camera shops while demanding lower prices. Can't have it both ways. Either you will pay more to allow a small business to stock the items you want or you won't. Americans, by and large, have decidedly answered that with "I want the cheapest price even if I have to have it shipped 2000 miles." Welcome to the nation of stores with parking lots as big as the store. No one here can pretend that this doesn't exist.
I also never said that Americans are unique in wanting lower prices. We are, however, unique in how far we have taken our lust for cheap consumer goods at the expense of local businesses. Sorry if it sounded like I was moralizing, but you have to look at the whole picture. The U6 unemployment rate, debt, corruption, incarceration rates, child hunger, etc. all add up to a grim totality. Ignoring it and saying "we are all humans" or "everyone wants a deal" in an attempt to gloss over glaring social problems doesn't cut it.
It isn't Pentax Ricoh's fault that we have systematically destroyed our middle class, rendering an investment of few thousand dollars worth of camera equipment out of reach of the average American Pentaxian. No, our society sold us out for cheap goods on credit. Pentax isn't responsible for the flatlining of wages over the past three decades. Voting age Americans are.
All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be crying about how unfair Pentax Ricoh has been to us. We should be asking why we can't afford the equipment in the first place. The responsibility for that answer comes back to the voters- be they voting with dollars in the economy or with ballots in politics. We made this bed and now we have to lay in it.
Anyway, I've gone way off topic. Moderators can feel free to delete this post if they feel necessary.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-21-2012, 07:41 PM
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so this might have already been addressed. Sorry.
To my fellow Americans: this is the bed we have made. Racing to the bottom on price is the natural outcome of our insatiable demand for products at ever cheaper monetary costs. Just because many of those outside the US value the ability of a local B&M store owner and staff to make a decent living doesn't mean they are suckers for having paid higher costs on Pentax gear.
Crying that there are no B&M stores while still demanding ever decreasing prices is ridiculous. Why do you think that Amazon, Adoroma, and B&H were the major Pentax retailers in the States? Americans decry the loss of local, small and medium sized businesses while still shopping at the chain stores. Why? Because they think they deserve it all, and how dare that local business charge more for the exact same thing I can get over at Wal-Mart? "Look at how much I saved! Look at this deal I got!," they say on their cell phones as they drive down the freeway, bypassing the decaying neighborhoods where children go hungry (and the only meals they get include "vegetables" like processed pizza from school lunch).
The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
Americans that come into my place of business- a big box store- are always complaining about price.* Well maybe if we gave a hoot about our neighbors, we wouldn't have sent all of our manufacturing jobs to China so a few on Wall St. could line their pockets. Maybe if we actually thought that our neighbors were worth something, we would patronize them and keep our dollars within our local economies rather than jumping ship when a major corporation opens up a store whose #1 goal is to run the mom and pops out of business. Don't kid yourself, the big box stores vacuum money out of local economies and send them to absentee shareholders who don't care about you or your locality.
Oh, pre 08 collapse was great wasn't it? Those big boxes with cold air conditioning, Coke vending machines, and built in McDonald's showing up to improve our lives with cheap consumer goods that those greedy local business owners were previously charging you 15% on! Shame on them for not wining and dining the politicians for sweet heart legislation and tax deals. Shame on them for not being successful in cutting the throats of their competitors. They must not know that shareholder value is worth more than anything else in the world.
We've betrayed our communities for decades and when the manufacturer of cameras we have purchased a unit from declares higher prices to bring back street level presence in our country, we jump all over them. How dare they take away our right to half priced goods? How dare they! Its not as if their products were being rated right on up there with Canon and Nikon. Its not as if DSLRs aren't actually a hobby for fairly affluent people, those who live on a budget to enjoy high end products pertaining to their hobby, or professionals who derive an income from the products. You own a $1000 camera. If you want top of the line lenses, you should expect to pay nearly the same amount. It isn't Pentax's fault that we have destroyed our middle class and suddenly think that $1600 is too much to spend on excellent glass. Which for most of us, is a hobby.
Could the price increase have been paired with a FF camera, better warranties, service? Sure. But to say that as Americans we should have everything half off because "we know how to do business" just doesn't hold water. Sorry. Most people around the world value their communities more than they do great "deals" on consumer goods that would force them to sacrifice their communities on the altar of supposed "free market" economics.
And if it is true that there was a threat that B&M stores abroad were losing business to those titans of American commerce- good on Pentax Ricoh for protecting the livelihoods of hard working people.
/end rant
*I'm emigrating from the US in two months and a big box store was the only job in the area with consistent hours and wages that I wouldn't have to lie to about how long my employment would last. I wouldn't be able to lie to a local business and say: "Oh yes, spend all that precious time training me so I can leave the country in three months."
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