Okay now I realize that there are costs associated with publishing etc. but why are books not coming down in price for us Canadians? the declining U.S. dollar means we should be getting more for our buck. Problem is publishers are not seeing it that way. I'm using Osprey as an example cause they don't seem to want to respond to my emails on the subject.
I would like to purchase several new titles they have put out or are about ot in the next couple of months. In Canada the price is stated as $24.95 Cdn or $15.95 U.S. on most volumes. now you can't tell me each book is costing them $10.00 plus to ship over the border. I'm in the transport business I know what rates are and also taxes on these things through customs. When I sent my emails to Osprey I simply asked if they were at least going to try and get close to par, but I've received no answer. Not even an acknowledgement of my emails.
it's the same with other publishers as well. No one is returning emails on the subject. So now I just order my books through the internet bypassing local retailers. not fair to them but when you can save over $100.00 onseveral book purchases..it counts.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this. The price on books and magazines has always been over inflated even with a strong U.S. dollar and I'm sort of tired of being raped by these companies. I know it is not the book sellers themselves as they are just selling it for what is printed on the cover, though i know WalMart is selling all books in Canada at the U.S. cover price..Good for them!

I await the flaming
Sean

I completely understand your frustration Sean, but there is a factor you haven't taken into account. Osprey is a British publisher, and therefore calculate prices according to Sterling. At the moment the pound is at an astronomical high against many other currencies so, logically enough, prices are going to be higher...

Agreed Jim if the dollar was doing well.

But the cost of the book should still be less than the American dollar if we go by British Sterling.
Today the currency rates are as follows.
1 British Pound equals .48 cents to the U.S. dollar
1 British pound equals .49 cents to the Canadian dollar

Therefore the book should be cheaper still in Canada or at least equal to the U.S. selling price.

Sean

Sean,

I agree with you on this issue and it even goes so far as the price of kits, pe, etc in Canada. Now I know that our strong dollar is a fairly recent trend, but the stores are always quick to pass on any price increases, so why not a decrease?? The people it hurts are those locally, you either buy from them at the price they ask or you shop elsewhere, which in my case means Lucky Model etc.

Darryl

I agree completely with what your saying, although I'm sure the LHS will blame the disributer. I guess when sales drop they might bother to adjust their prices, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Having said that I do remember when Airconnection had to adjust their price on the "T34 Mystical Weapon" and they gave Canadians a discount, so it worked out that they where about the same with US prices.
When it comes to books right now I'm using Amazon in the States, you'll have to wait around for som titles but they show up in time.
Cheers
Pete

Let me throw a (related) question into the mix. This isn't the first time i've seen justified complaints from Canadian modelers over prices, just what is going wrong with distributors etc.?

Personally I think it's an old mind set they have. The U.S. dollar in the past has always been higher..sometimes almost 50% higher. The distributors seem to get comfortable with the pricing and when the U.S. dollar starts to fall their profits increase. So instead of spreading the wealth to the customer or retailer they keep their prices where they are. Saving for a rainy day I guess.

To be honest it doesn't cost anymore to send models to Canada than it does to the U.S. The models arrive generally in either dozens of boxes or in 20' containers from Asia. Same as in the U.S. The import taxes vary but not that much.
Sometimes the distributor for several lines will be in the U.S. (Dragon, Corgi, Forces of Valor) etc. These distributors are also responsible for sending the product North. Of course they have to mark up the price before they ship it to Canada. Then when it reaches Canada the price will go up again by various parties.

I have the privelage of working at a local hobby shop from time to time and I see the purchase sheets and the emails from distributors.
Some kits like the Dragon Sherman III in 1/35 cost the store around 24-26 dollars. Add another 10-25 by the retailer depending on their local and there you have the price.
I will generally pay 32-40 dollars for a new Dragon kit here north of Toronto if I go that the Canadian route. Go into the city and you will pay 50-60 for the same kit. The new Bronco Humber and Staghound would cost me $50.00 at my local store. Not too bad all in all. In the city they are running at 80.00.

Anyway it all boils down to both the manafacturer, distributor, and the retailer. It seems nobody is willing to cut the price at the lower levels. Everybody wants their blood...err I mean money. That's capitalism....it's also a good reason to not support them. I'll buy most of my paints, magazines and supplies at the local hobby store but any big ticket items will come from overseas. On average I buy about 100.00 in kits a month and I generally save 70.00 and that's after shipping and customs. Too bad really as I generally like going to the hobby store.

Sean

Jim,

I'm not in a position to give you hard examples, I would need to be able to pull some prices, and we all understand that the Canadian dollar has historically been weaker than the US and the Pound. This has served as the justification for higher Canadian store prices. I want and do support my local hobby store, I even try to support hobby stores in Toronto (An hour away). But I model for a hobby, and I have a finite amount of money to spend, and like any consumer I shop around. What I find interesting is that Dragon kits are the same price here in Canada as they are from Lucky Model (when you add shipping)but Tamiya, Trumpter, AFV Club is much cheaper in the Far East as is certain resin and PE items. Now I realize that they are manufactured there, but when I can order two kits plus shipping for the price of one here in Canada, well I think the choice is obvious????

Darryl

OK, I have to weigh in on this.

As some in the thread know, I opened my own hobby shop (being run out of my home), back in February.
The one thing I found out early about Canadian hobby distributors is that they don't want anything to do with you if you DO NOT have a retail store front. IE: a little place downtown where you are paying rent, heat, lights, and possibly a staff, or they don't even want to talk to you. I have even had the pleasure of having one of the Canadian distributors tell me that I am selling "Black Market" kits, because I was a Canadian shop, but I wasn't buying from Canadian Suppliers, I won't name, names.

So....what choice did it leave me, the Canadian supplier wouldn't sell to me, so I had no choice to go to the US suppliers. It was a slow journey, I started out with 2 US suppliers, now I deal with 4 or 5....so if one place doesn't have it, then I can get it some place else usually.

With the Canadian $ going the way is has, no, none of the US cost prices on the kits have changed, however what has changed is the cost of me getting the kit here to my place.

Where as before, if I had a kit that cost $25, and the exchange on the $ was 20% (which is about what it was when I started), then right off the bat it puts the cost of the item at $30, add in the shipping, and such, and you have between $32 and $35 cost. I have always used the same figure for markup, so that has never changed.

However now, with the CDN $ at parity or better, now when I buy that kit, I am paying a true cost of $25, with no exchange, then I can pass that savings on to my customer, but I am still making the same markup on the kit. I suppose in the end, dollar wise, I am actually making less money, as my X amount for markup on a cost of $35 with shipping would be more than the same markup on the same item now that might be costing me $28-$30 with shipping. But I mean how greedy do I have to be.

Then my wife will tell me that I have to realize that even though the CDN $ is at par or better, and yes my prices reflect that, people with the downtown hobby shop, despite the good CDN $, still have the same amounts to pay for their rent, their heat, lights, and a staff. So even though the cost of the kits may have come down, their retail probably hasn't, or hasn't as much, because the cost of their bills haven't come down any, they have remained the same.

So in effect, if the retailer reduces his price because of the good CDN$, he has to sell that much more number of kits and such in order to pay the same amount in bills and overhead for the month.

In that way, I have the advantage by running my shop out of my house. as my overhead whether I have the shop or not, is still the same.....might mean I would have to go get a real job...LOL....but the shop has no impact on our normal everyday bills as they would be here with or without the shop.

Just an example of how the prices have gone. Take for instance the Dragon PZ.IV F2, when it first came out back in late march early April, to buy it, have it shipped here put my markup on it, I was selling the kit for around $49-$50. My price on it now if I was to bring it in, would be about $42. the cost price of the kit from the supplier hasn't changed any, it is the same. But the exchange on the CDN$ has changed, and that is the kind of effect on the end retail price that it can have.

A set of Dragon figures, back in April would have been $14-$15 for a regular repopped set, the Gen 2 figures up towards $17.50.........now you are looking at $10 for a regular set, $12 for a Gen2 set. The cost of the kit has stayed the same, just the exchange is less.

Now because I don't buy from the Canadian suppliers here, I have no idea what they are charging for the kits here in Canada to their dealers, but judging from the retail price of the kits at some shops I saw in Toronto about a month ago, they must be more than what I am paying, and if that is the case, then I will continue to buy the so called "BLACK MARKET" kits from the US suppliers. Not that I have much of a choice!!



PS: Sean....what hobby shop do you occasionally work at??? I was all over the shops in the TO area about a month ago, wonder if I was into the one you work at??? LOL

Scott,

It is always great to hear a store owner's perspective. Thanks

Darryl

Buy from Amazon.ca, They are 16.95 from them (yes, that's canadian bucks..) buy three and get free shipping too.

John

I think it's also important to remember that the price printed on the book itself is mere an SRP (Suggested Retail Price) and not something etched in stone. Obviously if the books are printed with the price on them, and they have thousands ready for distributors and retailers to stock, that they aren't going to re-print new books whenever the exchange rates shift. The real question would be have the retailers seen a large decrease in the cost of the books when buying them for Canadian resale. The normal wholesale discount for hardcover books is 40%. I think the rate for softcover is slightly less.

Just a few thoughts.

Jim

Be thankful we Canucks are still allowed to buy model kits in the USA and have them imported.

It's getting harder and harder to bring in bigger items (ie cars) nowadays die to ridiculous legislation. the latest trick is if the car does not have an engine immobilizer, it can't be imported. Actually, if the mfr delcalers that it does not, even if it does, you still can't import it.

Hopefully the model distributors in Canada don't try a similar game.

I hope not as well, or else I would be out of business!! LOL

Well i do know that Corgi doesn't ship to Canada from the U.S. distributor anymore. The shop I'm at have to use a Post Box address in the U.S. (Lewiston, NY) and go down to collect shipments every three weeks. Luckily it's only a three hour drive and the owner has a son in Niagara to visit anyway. Same goes for a couple of other distributors as well. They say it's too much bother to ship the stuff due to customs forms and cost etc. I don't know why when your orders total several thousand dollars every few weeks you think you could make afew bucks..bu hey who knows the mind set..

As for cars my trucking company has been bringing back sevral of them a month. Both new and used. I'm not sure of the process but we just have them precleared through a broker and have had no problems. I suppose if you are doing it yourself you end up with more hassles at the booth. Perhaps having a broker and using a flat bed trucking company would work bette than trying to do it yourself. Trust me when I say I see hundreads of cars crossing the border either n flatbeds or with dealer plates. There has to be a easier way or they wouldn't be doing it. A broker generally charges a flat fee or a percentage and a trucing company usually goes by the distance the car is hauled and how much room it takes up. If you shop around you can get all kinds of rates. Just make sure you research the trucking company before you choose. they may give a low rate but have a high damage claims report which means your new car may be scratched!

Sean

I agree with the one of the above posts. I buy all my Osprey books from Amazon.CA.- since i discovered this in the spring. None of the local Vancouver shops can beat the price.

Amazon.ca is also a great source to buy the Histoire & Collections books too. The prices are even better than buying from RZM for H&C books. I got Special Forces War on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the USMC equipment & uniforms book from Amazon.ca

[quote ]I'm not sure of the process but we just have them precleared through a broker and have had no problems. I suppose if you are doing it yourself you end up with more hassles at the booth. Sean[/quote]


There is a process, and it took a little bit of reading, but I ended up importing it myself. My gripe is that when our loonie was worth 60 cents US, the Canadian dealers had no problem selling out all their stock to Americans. Now that we have parity, the Canadian dealers are pushing the govt to make it more and more difficult to import a car.

I imported my Subaru in this summer, and saved $13,900 after expenses. I figured we had been gouged enough by the Canadian auto industry. Having the paperwork in order meant 2 mins on the US side and about 10min on the Canada side, and then a 10 min inspection at the local Cdn Tire. Easy Peasy. Even the local car dealers are importing cars, becuse the US retail price is less that what their Cdn distributor charges.

Back in 2001, about 20,000 cars were imported from the USA. For 2007, that number will be around 160,000!!

That won't last long... there have already been cases of certain major US dealers threatened by their respective manufacture that they will lose all sales rights, support, everything, if they catch the dealer selling to any Canadian at all, private or commercial.

Yep, nice how they can completely violate NAFTA when it suits them.

Stormfront and I have a mutual friend that has a Triumph motorcycle.

Closest place he can get parts for his bike is in the US, because alot of the dealers are either not bringing bikes and parts in because they are so much cheaper in the US (even when the CDN $ was only worth 80cents US), or they are closing up shop altogether.

So in the end, its just a big catch 22, people buy the parts or bikes in the US, because its cheaper, which in turn the Canadian Triumph dealers close shop forcing people to go to the US to buy their bikes or parts.


And frankly I don't blame people like Stormfront from doing what he did. I mean if I could save even $5000 after all my expenses on my next car by purchasing it in the US, then I would do it.

From what I was reading though, with alot of the discounts and such now, it doesn't pay you much to go over and get a basic car....your Hyandai Accents, Kia Rios, Chevy Cobalts, etc, etc, yes you will probably save a little, but not at the extent that Stormfront did. Now if you are buying a higher end car, then that is where you save the money, for example almost $14000 after expenses for Stormfront. There was a couple in Montreal that bought a high end Lexus. They had to make 2 trips to the US to get their car, and after all their expenses and trips, paperwork, etc, etc....they saved in the neighborhood of $19000 on their car.

Don't know about you, but like I said, even if I could save as much as $5000, that is $5000 better in my pocket, rather than paying interest on it to a bank for the next 5-8 years!!