Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Dave Cook on February 28, 2018, 07:35:41 am
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Just heard on the news Maplin are on the brink of closure . they will be really missed :(( :(( :((
Dave
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They are not gone just yet, there's still hope. But their troubles are familiar, another victim of internet shopping and the general decline of practical hobbies. {:-{
Greg
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
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Agree with the sentiment buy local but Maplin are very much like W.H.Smiths were at one time out pricing themselves why buy from anywhere in the local shops when you can sometimes get a better deal on line at a much better price granted you will have to wait for the postie to bring it, a lot of the time its down to the location of the shops and the rents the company have to pay so yes they have bigger overheads and more staff to pay a lot of gear that Maplin sell is available on line at a much cheaper price and as the majority of us are not millionaires we will shop where we can afford, its not as simple as you put it Atlantic Mouldings, " STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them." no matter how much we get off our bums and go down the shops, the landlords every year put rents up which has to be covered by prices going up, don`t know your company but how would you survive without the internet??? can people get off there bums and go down to your shop?
only my point of view and take on Maplin on the brink
Mark
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
Some of us are supporting local retailers, I spent 50 quid in Maplins last Saturday but I, like a lot of other people, am not made of money. Online purchasing can offer real savings and that's helpful in this day and age.
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A 40 mile round trip to visit Maplin store. Go on line to check if the bits you want are in stock. Drive to said shop, traffic jams, time, put up with not very informative staff.
Or click on internet, visit the on line shop you want, click 'buy now'.......postie drops it off in a day or 2.......most of the time a lot, lot cheaper than the likes of Maplin.
Harsh, sad, reality, but shops cannot compete with the rise of internet shopping.
Until, local councils lower business rates, parking charges etc etc and landlords lower their rents........all down to money and how much people can make out of the paying public, or how much the paying public are willing to spend of their hard earned.
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Maplin started off being mostly mail order, then becoming an engineering hobby shop chain with each shop covering a wide area. Later, they opened a lot of local branches, but to support each branch having a smaller catchment area, had to expand the range of goods on offer into domestic goods and toys. Effectively, they followed the "Toys R Us" model. It appears that they followed it too closely.
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I used to love the old Maplin catalogue & mail order service.
Any business with thousands of different product lines that have to fully stock hundreds of shops is at risk from the internet.
They are paying multiple business rates, staff costings, massive admin, internal transport issues and customer parking problems in pedestrianised town centres.
They have all their cash tied up in dead stock - every shop has loads of 10k resistors but only sells a couple every now & then. Same with all their small parts.
As this all contributes to their outrageous pricing, I'm surprised Maplin have lasted this long.
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Unfortunately ..... “It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”
(http://modelboatmayhemimages.co.uk/images/2018/02/28/canute1.jpg) (http://modelboatmayhemimages.co.uk/image/B3SOn)
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Look at Amazon.........their buying power, their overall competitive edge in the world of on line shopping, next day delivery (prime membership). On line retailers using Amazon as a selling platform......how on earth can the smaller retailer, Maplins, compete?
I visited the new Amazon hub at Doncaster the other week........HUGE........and this was the 'larger parcel hub'. It took nearly 1 minute to drive the length of the hub at 30 mph! There are 2 other hubs just as large for 'smaller parcels' on the same estate and they are expanding! This and nearly 40 hubs across the country.
I can see Argos going the same way as Maplin and Toys R us.
It needs a massive cultural and political change which is never going to happen as they are all in the payroll of multi billionaires.......money money money! The day of the high street retailer is over and now it seems so it is for the retail park outlets!
Just my opinion and do not want to start a political debate......... %)
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When the first Maplin store opened in Leeds it was like breath of fresh air. You could and buy electronic components and everything you needed to make your own circuit board's. The build you own projects proved to be very popular and I still have 2 E S C that came in kit form from them. Sadly with more rules been applied they were all withdrawn from sale. The component side of things was sadly scaled down many years ago and with the internet offering things a much lower price it was obvious that customers would seek the best deal. I hope this well known name does not disappear from the high street and I feel for the staff who may lose there jobs. :(( :(( :(( :(( :((
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Maplins have gone! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43223175
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And Toy 'r Us! (UK) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43225248
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Shame.
Back in the day, just when I was earning enough to afford kits from their E&MM synth range (the Spectrum & 3600 & 4800), they dropped them.
Always wanted the Powertran music kits too. I remember the Trancendent 2000 kit being £165.
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Sad. I was in my local branch only yesterday to get a special power lead and soldering iron tips.
Online may be convenient, but popping in to your local shop is even more so.
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Just heard on the news Maplin are on the brink of closure . they will be really missed :(( :(( :((
Dave
not for their prices they won't be missed.................last time I went in to the Blackpool store for a replacement battery 12v 4amp/hr for the Jupiter Ferry that I built, they wanted £27.50 for one.............I bought two and got a third free from Howes for £14.99......£7.50 each or a fiver each if you take all 3 into account...............so why does a large company like Maplins have to charge such a ridiculously exorbitant price..............after all, the stuff all comes from the same source.............just greed. >>:-( <*<
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At one time you could get practically any electrical component, lately this has decreased to almost nothing and just silly toys, Not long ago I went in and asked for a drive belt The member of staff did not know what one was !!, luckily an older staff member did.
And as others have said heavily overpriced..
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They are or were the only place you could nip out to and get mechanical and electrical components 7 days a week as i have said many times before you sometimes need to see things in the flesh to be sure it will do the job ,it really is a shame , and as Stan says i feel for the staff . <:( <:( <:(
Dave
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I'm just glad I didn't fork out for the extended warranty.
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
Would love to but, you can't buck the market. If trader A sells at one price then the rest have to follow no matter the wholesale price; and as has already been said the cost of rent, council tax, rubbish collection, light and power and the cost of employing people has to be covered one way or another.
For instance I needed bonnet struts for the Jag so I enquired at my local motor factors, one didn't stock the type I needed and the other quoted £64 each plus vat, each. I bought on line in the end from a company in Berlin for £57 the pair inc delivery. The only problem was that they took 7 days to get here, not good admittedly.
LB
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I can see Argos going the same way as Maplin and Toys R us.
Bfgstew, as Argos is now owned by Sainsbury's, there'll be lots of baby Argos' opening up in the biggest Sainsbury's stores over the next few years. They'll do the electrical/homeware sort of stuff, and will exist as a collection point for online orders for those wanting to pick things up.
The Sainsbury's distribution organisation is huge and likely to handle this well, while the joint company saves money by having two outlets under one roof - Argos is therefore going to be around for a while.
We'll see how well it works in practice!
Andy
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T'is already happening Andy, I purchased my sister's 2016 Christmas present at an in store Argos at Sainsburys.
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so why does a large company like Maplin have to charge such a ridiculously exorbitant price..............after all, the stuff all comes from the same source.............just greed. >>:-( <*<
Maybe not entirely greed Neil, as others have pointed out shops have high overheads such as staff, sick leave, long service leave, rates etc, and some of that high price is needed to cover these expenses. We had a similar situation here with a company called Dick Smith Electronics, which was started to cater for hobbyists, and was a fabulous source of all types of electronic components. It expanded to a point where just about every decent sized town had one. Eventually, its founder, Dick Smith, sold the business for a lot of money, and the new owners decided it should become another chain selling TVs etc, and let the electronics section disappear. Unfortunately, so did a large number of their customers, with the result it finally ceased trading several years ago. I don't think that the internet contributed much to DSE's demise.
As a footnote, Dick Smith has become a philanthropist contributing large amounts of money to many worthy causes. As he is reported to have said, "why do I need more than a million dollars when the money is surplus to my requirements, and could do so much good?"
Peter.
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I'm a massive supporter of buying from local shops and I'm quite proud to say I go out my way to pay quite a bit more for something in a shop rather than order on-line for cheaper. I also point blank refuse to buy cheap foreign imports which are offered at a fraction of the price. I just tend to order a little bit less, or end up paying a bit more, but I feel it gives me more right to argue to keep the shops going.
BUT I HAVE NO SYMPATHY WITH MAPLIN. Over the past 5-6 years they have become impossible to buy from either because they carry no stock of anything or I have found them anything up to 500% more for exactly the same product from pretty much any other retailer (not comparing with EBay).
They have never been the cheapest but I was always happy buying from them. But this price-hiking over the past few years has been laughable. I went for a phone line socket with built in filter -Maplins price £24 when EXACTLY the same product was available anywhere else for between £4-8. I went for batteries recently £24.99 from Maplins when virtually everywhere else was selling the equivalent for just under £6.
The other thing is the almost zero stock policy. I often need 2 or 3 components the same. Maplins almost never have anything more than 1 in stock. Sorry -but if I have to order the other 1 or 2 in, then I'll just place the complete order elsewhere for cheaper. Also, the expertise available in my local shop has steadily reduced to zero. It pains me to listen to some of the absolute "guff" I've heard explained to other customers. Sorry Maplin, I feel sorry for your staff but I feel this is your own creation. I can't say you'll be missed much in my house -you made it just too hard to be able to buy anything from you!
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Hi Peter, re Dick Smith, I think was last year that they had a big sell off and I bought rechargeables as they were so cheap and brought them back to the UK. Gone now as you say just got Jaycar left for electronics which is a lot better than the UK.
regards Roy
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last time i went to maplins for an sla battery. just 12v 12ah battery for my friends sons scooter. they wanted £35 for the battery. so i went to a motorcycle shop, got the same spec battery for £19. to then top it off , when i went to pay for it, they said there was a sale on these and the second one would be half price. of course i bought it, charged my friend the £19 for the original battery and a bacon roll for installing it.
unfortunately his son went iver a jump a week later and broke the scooter in half.....so i got the other battery as well!
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I think part of the problem with Maplin was that a lot of their stock was sourced in China, which in itself wasn't bad - buy it cheap and put a markup on it so that you make a profit.
The problem came with the likes of Ebay and Aliexpress, Banggood etc. People realised they could buy the same stuff that Maplin was selling but at a much cheaper price, albeit with a couple weeks waiting for delivery. For instance I wanted a mosfet a couple weeks back, for the price of just 1 in Maplin, I got a bag of 5 from Banggood, with a 3 week delivery time. OK so I end up with more than I need, but they get filed away for possible future use. Similarly a bag (10) of resistors from Maplin cost more than a bag of 200 from Aliexpress and that bag of 200 was subdivided into 20's so I had a range of resistances.
Certainly online shopping is the death of shops like Maplin, just the same way it has affected the model shops.
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Went to John Lewis a couple of weeks back to buy some Hooks for our new bathroom..... they didn't have them in stock and the assistant or Associate as they seem to call them these days, ordered them online for me. Basically these stores are turning into showrooms .
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Hi Guys
Shame to see the end of Maplins but stuff was over priced at least we still have component shop at the shows.
Does anyone remember Tandy that used to sell radio shack parts ? that was a great shop.
Derek
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After all of the big name high street chains that have vanished over the last few years, I wonder who will be next? Often, there is a view that "we are too big to fail", but this does get disproved with great regularity.
Maybe start a sweep? How are Halfords doing?
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Never see more than about three other
customers in Halfords when I visit.
Not the range of car accessories that
were on the shelves a few years back
Ned
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Does anyone remember Tandy that used to sell radio shack parts ? that was a great shop.
Derek
I sure do. My first computer was a Tandy TRS80 Model III. Cost about the same as good spec desktop does today.
For around £900 extra you could get a 187Kb floppy drive, "unlimited storage" that was then.
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Used Tandy a lot when I was a member
of the Radio Society of Good Buddies 8)
(Radio Amateur)
Ned
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After all of the big name high street chains that have vanished over the last few years, I wonder who will be next? Often, there is a view that "we are too big to fail", but this does get disproved with great regularity.
Maybe start a sweep? How are Halfords doing?
W.H.Smith??? _._
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W.H.Smith??? _._
Left Grimsby last year.
Ned
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After all of the big name high street chains that have vanished over the last few years, I wonder who will be next? Often, there is a view that "we are too big to fail", but this does get disproved with great regularity.
Maybe start a sweep? How are Halfords doing?
they're as bad pricewise Malcolm..........a 4 kilo tin of polyester filler at crabright in bispham........£11.99 inc vat.............same tin, same make at Halfords at the airport..........£29.99 ex vat..........as for inline spade fuse holders........don#t ask..........need to remortgae for those piddly items..........far rather use the small shops.
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they're as bad pricewise Malcolm..........a 4 kilo tin of polyester filler at crabright in bispham........£11.99 inc vat.............same tin, same make at Halfords at the airport..........£29.99 ex vat..........as for inline spade fuse holders........don#t ask..........need to remortgae for those piddly items..........far rather use the small shops.
Chatham Halfords is always packed. Also open 7 days a week all day which is good. I have a trade card which makes them competitive as well. £54 battery conditioner charger was £40 with trade card.
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they were handy for bits needed on a weekend or same day, but couldn't under stand there policy of only holding 2 of each item.
went in to buy a load of caps for motor supression and got told they only hold 3 of each part. ended up buying of a local shop here for about 100 of them for the price they whey were selling for two .
but saying that, i have in the past got stuff from there that i now use every day.
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I wonder if they are going to start selling off there stuff cheap i've got £150 of vouchers to spend
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Hi Peter, re Dick Smith, I think was last year that they had a big sell off and I bought rechargeables as they were so cheap and brought them back to the UK. Gone now as you say just got Jaycar left for electronics which is a lot better than the UK.
regards Roy
Yes Roy, the Dick Smith name was bought by Kogan, and are still operating on line, but I don't know whether they sell electronic components. Jaycar are a good source, and we have a store in the town near us, which is quite handy. However it's hard for them to compete with on-line Chinese sellers, for example, I needed some miniature on/off toggle switches for my railway layout, $3.75 each at Jaycar, under $7 for a packet 10 on-line, including postage. As far as I could tell they were identical.
Peter.
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they're as bad pricewise Malcolm..........a 4 kilo tin of polyester filler at crabright in bispham........£11.99 inc vat.............same tin, same make at Halfords at the airport..........£29.99 ex vat..........as for inline spade fuse holders........don#t ask..........need to remortgae for those piddly items..........far rather use the small shops.
Yeah, I wouldn't be too sad to see the back of Halfrauds. Although having said that, they do make good tools. Or rather, they rebrand good tools as their Halfords Advanced range. And they're generally pretty good with warranty.
However, when for example I can buy bulbs over the counter at somewhere like Euro Car Parts for less than half the price Halfrauds charge, it's the least they can do!
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Halfords. Here is a trick my brother used, I am not sure it can still be done.
If you buy tyres, go do Halfords on line, buy your tyres there. This is cheaper than the instore price. You go to the store to get the tyres fitted. Same tyre, same stock, but cheaper. It might also work for other items that need to be fitted.
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The way to get tyres nowadays Tiger is to use Blackcircles website. Very easy to do and they deliver to a local tyrefitter of your choice and book you an appointment time as well. All you do is turn up at the allotted time, drive in, have them fitted and drive away. Couldn't be simpler.
Last time I got some the tyre fitter told me they get paid for fitting without the hassle of sourcing the tyres and Blackcircles can supply them on average £15 per tyre cheaper than he could.
This to me is the way forward, a symbiotic relationship between online and the traditional high st.
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That is good to know :-))
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Halfords. Here is a trick my brother used, I am not sure it can still be done.
If you buy tyres, go do Halfords on line, buy your tyres there. This is cheaper than the instore price. You go to the store to get the tyres fitted. Same tyre, same stock, but cheaper. It might also work for other items that need to be fitted.
Same with Kwik Fit
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something went wrong here sorry probably PEBCAK...
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Halfords. Here is a trick my brother used, I am not sure it can still be done.
If you buy tyres, go do Halfords on line, buy your tyres there. This is cheaper than the instore price. You go to the store to get the tyres fitted. Same tyre, same stock, but cheaper. It might also work for other items that need to be fitted.
you're asking a lot...........lol..
the staff at my local Halfords wouldn't know how to change a pedal cycle tyre, never mind a car tyre, {-) %% %%
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
:o :o Mate it is a bit of a walk for me >>:-( >>:-(
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Even to Float a Boat in Melbourne! %%
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It is not always possible to shop local. A lot of people on here live in rural areas, out of town. Someone posted above about a 40 mile round trip. The cost of a special trip would be a gallon of gas, plus parking (sometimes) plus half a day of time, maybe lunch or a coffee. Not everyone goes into town every week for shopping either. It is often not a case of being lazy.
I also remember a time, not so long ago, when people were blaming the likes of Maplin, Tandy, Comet, etc. for putting small high-street shops out of business. But the world keeps turning.
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the small high street shops couldnt afford the rent, so went online with no premises, found they could undercut those bigger retailers that priced them out of the high street, and are now getting their own back.
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
That's not always easy to do, especially when the nearest shop is several hours' drive away. >:-o
Peter.
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"Yeah, I wouldn't be too sad to see the back of Halfrauds. Although having said that, they do make good tools. Or rather, they rebrand good tools as their Halfords Advanced range. And they're generally pretty good with warranty.
However, when for example I can buy bulbs over the counter at somewhere like Euro Car Parts for less than half the price Halfrauds charge, it's the least they can do!"
If Halfords closes around here, it's goodbye to any supplies or paint and primer in spray cans. DIY stores do some but it's a very limited range. As for car bulbs and wipers, they will become a dealer parts as nowhere within 30 miles sells them, and I'm not in a rural location.
I bought some mirrors for my VW from Eurocarparts - they had rust on them straight from the box! I complained and was sent replacements but I had to post them back at my expense first! I guess you get what you pay for...
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Just a thought. If Toy'r'us may be having clearance sales, there are items that can be of interest to modelers. Action figures, military models, and for those with a wider interest, other items.
It might be worth keeping an eye on your local store, if you have one.
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Called at the Leeds Maplins store yesterday. The sale seems to be in full swing some good discounts on some products. Discounts vary from 20% to 50 %. Gell cell batteries are still very highly priced even with a discount
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Simple answer to the shops closing.
STOP BUYING ON LINE !!! Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them.
as few of us on here have said we are not millionaires, why buy stuff that are over priced when you can get it cheaper, i brought 2x ESC with fans on £15 from china that included the postage, so i think your bit cheap there saying (Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them) you might be a millionaire but most of us on this forum are not and most on here also have family's
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Hi all, I bought a headband type magnifying glasses (6 sets of magnifyers that could also be used in pairs) with an adjustable light all for less than £9.00. I have used them a lot but I would hesitate to pay the UK price of £50 or so. may not be Maplins but difficult to resist.
regards Roy
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Bought a set of small tools as I was caught short away from home last week. Closing down sale in the windows of the local store. 50% off! yet -I paid full price for all my stuff and virtually everything in the store was no discount!!!!! Nothing useful was discounted, just the usual dross which always is. I did wish the staff in there well though -nobody likes to see folk out of work.
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as few of us on here have said we are not millionaires, why buy stuff that are over priced when you can get it cheaper, i brought 2x ESC with fans on £15 from china that included the postage, so i think your bit cheap there saying (Stop being lazy get off your a'#'# and go down and support your local shops and buy from them) you might be a millionaire but most of us on this forum are not and most on here also have family's
That's fine, but don't complain when all the shops are gone from your local, or any other high street. Or that your family can't get a job because both manufacturing and retail are all in China. Or that you are paying a fortune in tax to cover the social security costs of all those people who can't find a job because all the manufacturing and retail are in China.
I get why people buy direct, but there are consequences of us all doing that. We ALL (not just one person) just need to decide if the benfits outweigh the downside.
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That's fine, but don't complain when all the shops are gone from your local, or any other high street. Or that your family can't get a job because both manufacturing and retail are all in China. Or that you are paying a fortune in tax to cover the social security costs of all those people who can't find a job because all the manufacturing and retail are in China.
I get why people buy direct, but there are consequences of us all doing that. We ALL (not just one person) just need to decide if the benfits outweigh the downside.
in this moment in time buying from china does out weight the downside, its the government that allowing this to happen, i bet they get hefty payout by china
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in this moment in time buying from china does out weight the downside, its the government that allowing this to happen, i bet they get hefty payout by china
And how would you react if the government said you couldn't buy from China?
More to the point, how could they stop anyone?
Sorry, this is OUR decision. Nanny state can't always be there to protect us from ourselves. Chinese stuff is cheap because it's cheaper to employ people in China. You wouldn't be happy if your kids suddenly found the only job they could get paid £3 an hour in a factory where the conditions would do them harm. We could support UK manufacture, but we don't.
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Support your local store, or buy it online?
Just been announced that Carpetright could be going into administration.
Try buying a fitted carpet from E-Bay !!!!
Postage from China or Hong Kong could be prohibitive.
Our local hardware store in Windsor shut down at Christmas. Places like B&Q only sell lines that move in thousands of units per day, unlike our hardware store who always seemed to have everything you needed.
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up our wages then simple, if not that is why we go cheap stuff sadly the cheap stuff is not in our great country and maplins why go there for batterys etc when you can go to howes models of oxford or component shop and get them cheaper, you wanna go and pay over price then that is your choice, my choice is £15 including postage or lot more with postage on top of that, so go on were would you go,
same with Morrisons asda aldi and lidl and co op
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same with Morrisons asda aldi and lidl and co op
But the sandwiches are MUCH nicer in Waitrose. :-)
Colin
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up our wages then simple, if not that is why we go cheap stuff sadly the cheap stuff is not in our great country and maplins why go there for batterys etc when you can go to howes models of oxford or component shop and get them cheaper, you wanna go and pay over price then that is your choice, my choice is £15 including postage or lot more with postage on top of that, so go on were would you go,
same with Morrisons asda aldi and lidl and co op
And if you up our wages, what happens to the price of anything made in the UK?
As I said, if we all buy from China then we can't complain when all the shops and factories in the UK close and people are thrown out of work. Of course, then China know they can up their prices because we have nothing to compete with. It's an unsolvable problem really.
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It's an effect of globalisation and the 'protectionism' being touted in the USA isn't the answer as they will still end up poorer. The only real solution is for the more developed countries to move upmarket so they are producing goods and services that the developing nations can't undertake although China is confounding this in many respects by being well ahead of the rest of the world in some areas.
Thus the latest RN Auxiliary tankers were constructed in South Korea as actually building the ships is now cheaper abroad but the technological fitout has been done in the UK. Some European shipyards continue to flourish but only by building complex or specialist ships which require a lot more than just metal bashing. The UK has largely missed its chance in this particular area as we only have pockets of excellence such as naval shipbuilding and even these are economically shaky.
This of course does mean that it is difficult to find work for unskilled and semi skilled workers in the UK as only the skilled workers (including plumbers and tradesmen of course) can produce a positive economic return.
Donald Trump has complained about the influx of German cars into the US but, as one of the German manufacturers pointed out, the US needs to build better cars. I have hired cars in North America and technically and generally they are well behind equivalent European and Japanese designs. They have lots of bolt on gizmos but the basic technology is just not up to scratch and they are not much fun to drive or economical to run.
Generally speaking, globalisation means a tendency to levelling between countries so the traditional first world nations will level down and become relatively poorer which is why there are financial pressures on public spending on the NHS, Defence, Social Care etc. etc. Relatively speaking the UK is a good deal poorer than it used to be although it affects different parts of our society to different degrees.
Managing these sort of changes seems to be beyond the competencies of our politicians but I think I'd better stop there!
Colin
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but why can china charge such low prices then the UK, why cant we charge cheaper prices, i know they gotta make a profit but if china can make profit why cant us
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Because their workers are paid a fraction of the rate that ours are. If we paid our people £1.50 an hour then we would make a profit too but our workers wouldn't be able to live on their wages.
Colin
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true
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One of the major problems for retailers is the cost of their premises.
Many retailers, including some of the larger groups, owned their premises but this was often not beneficial to the shareholders once they expanded, so sale and lease back deals came to the fore and this meant that the banks were in control of one of their major costs. The rent went into external, albeit sometimes associated, companies. The result...................................... <*<
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some banks like RBS were there to help but infact on purpose kinda shut them down
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Hi all, the lessons are there, in the 1930's cheap toys from Germany were boycotted that did not work, the 'Made in England' mark was an earlier response. If you make a good product at a reasonable price people will pay for it. I have just bought and returned an item from a company calling itself eglobalcentralUK. I did deal with them on the expectation that they traded in the UK. Not the case, I had to send the return item to Hong Kong. I had to pay the postage and a fee for 'restocking'.
The China end of the transaction could be a guy in his bedroom to a large company we just do not know.
The problem arises from removing the traditional wholesaler and retailer and so reducing the overheads dramatically.
But even in this country about 20 odd years ago I was in a toy / model shop and said I could make model yachts like that for £50. The shop man said well actually you would have to make them for £25 including materials, packaging and transport and advertising. The balance is my mark up and VAT. The government wants the tax and the shop knows the market.
It is the size of the market and advertising that is hitting us. I do not see any solutions but find the 'buy in Brittain' only, a difficult concept now. Should I with my fixed income support a man / family in a shop where I can now only buy in a limited way owing to his prices.
Perhaps we should expect to pay VAT on all our buys from retailers on ebay?
Then as Tiger T has let us know that free p&p sponsored by the Chinese government is another area that should be considered as unfair trading.
Regards Roy
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I can only now buy on line be it Cornwell models or others or flea-bay as my local model shop is a 70 mile round trip and they sell next to now't about model boat modelling so what do I do may was lucky that years ago I made myself a squirrel store so have lots I can work with same as hulls think I'll have all I'll need and still leave some for the grandson just remember lads not all of us model makers live in City's or are lucky enough to have a model shop in our town on the plus side I now make a lot of the parts I need more then I used to so in a way am going back to model making.
Regards Howard.
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I think a bit availability proofing is not a bad idea. The last two scratch built boats were a 'shed contents only' apart from paint and glue, but I have a lot of that now. I have quite a lot of boat plans that have appealed at one time or another. Still got enough wood for a couple more boats plus a few boaty facelifts.
regards Roy
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The China end of the transaction could be a guy in his bedroom to a large company we just do not know.
There are work arounds for this, if you are willing to put in the work.
First look for larger volumes of sales (you will only see your market on ebay).
They using translate.google.com work from English to Chinese and back. You may need to be creative, as some things get lost in translation. For example a router tool, translates as moulding tool, and clamps translate as cramps.
Then search for your item on Taobao.com. If your seller only sells a few of the item in China, they are some guy in his bedroom, often buying from a bigger supplier but taking a punt and will buy to order to sell on, one reason for long delays.
Or, search for the item, look for large sales volumes, try to find the flagship store and see if they ship to UK, they often do and international postage here is cheap.
Alternative, there is also cheap stuff on Amazon US, and they also ship internationally.
Just some hints and tricks that I have used.
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Personally I prefer to support the established UK based suppliers. Much of their stuff may still be sourced from China but you can be more confident of the quality control, availability and after sales service. OK, it costs a bit more but removes the uncertainty and gives peace of mind. I want to spend my time building models rather than researching oriental business practices.
As far as local model shops in the UK are concerned, they are essentially dead ducks unless they have an online business supporting them and even then will struggle to compete given their overheads of rent and business rates. There are simply not enough modellers these days to support local retail operations as was the case up until the early 80s or so.
Colin
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most small shops in Canterbury struggle to pay the rents, as it is the church that owns a vast amount of the properties, they demand high rents for them.
we have a couple of wargaming shops and a couple of art / crafts shops, but thats as close as it get to model shops.
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model shop near me but he mainly deals in model railways mostly pre owned and airfix kits etc but main business is model railway, one that did boats planes and trains closed few years back due to ill health no one took over the shop
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Personally I prefer to support the established UK based suppliers. Much of their stuff may still be sourced from China but you can be more confident of the quality control, availability and after sales service. OK, it costs a bit more but removes the uncertainty and gives peace of mind. I want to spend my time building models rather than researching oriental business practices.
As far as local model shops in the UK are concerned, they are essentially dead ducks unless they have an online business supporting them and even then will struggle to compete given their overheads of rent and business rates. There are simply not enough modellers these days to support local retail operations as was the case up until the early 80s or so.
Colin
Here, here Colin. I think this discussion is like religion, politics and football. There are those of us who support our "trade", others who don't. There's no explaining between the two as long as those who DON'T support it don't start complaining when we have nothing local left to offer when they start looking.
Rich
Proud Supporter of UK business and keeping our hobby shops open
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Hi reference to reply 61 Carpetright. This maybe a family feud!
Son has fallen out with daddy and set up a rival company called Tapi, possibly tempting staff away and undercutting him.
regards Roy
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Support your local store ...
Just been announced that Carpetright could be going into administration.
I am not a fan of Carpetright, or any of these big chains, and here is why.
Some years ago, when I lived in the UK, I wanted some cheap bathroom carpet. I went to Carpetright. I didn't like the price but knew no better and would have bought on the spot, assuming that they must be cheap as it was a big discount sale item from a big volume outlet, but there was 3 or more weeks delivery.
I checked the yellow pages and there was a local backstreet carpet warehouse. They had the identical carpet for less than half the price, and all of their carpets were in stock in the warehouse ready to buy. The fitting was also less than half the price and was done in less than a week.
I said it before, we forget that only a decade or so ago, these stores (Carpetright, Maplin, Toys'rÚs, MyHobbies, etc.)we think of as local probably are not. These stores put a lot of small local traders out of business, and often we falsely perceived that the products the high street/mall/retail park places sold were better or cheaper. Often they were not. The only things these companies were much better at were range of goods, lost leaders, marketing, and selling extended warantees.
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Because their workers are paid a fraction of the rate that ours are. If we paid our people £1.50 an hour then we would make a profit too but our workers wouldn't be able to live on their wages.
Colin
What about relativity.
What do the Chinese pay for their cars proportional to salary??????
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What about relativity.
What do the Chinese pay for their cars proportional to salary??????
Most Chinese don't own cars for a start (watch any film of the country and see lots of bikes and mopeds) and are a long way from our standard of living - although they are aspiring to this.
However, the ONLY relativity that matters is Chinese vs UK wages and therefore manufacturing costs. £1.50ph vs £7.50ph. Until there is parity, Chinese products will always be cheaper in the UK than those manufacturered in Britian. This means jobs will be exported to low wage countries unless we are willing to pay a premium for locally sourced items.
Or, we can compete by paying UK workers £1.50ph - and either let them starve or make up the difference from state benefits (taxation).
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Car ownership in China went over 300 million last year, that is almost 1 car per household. Where I live it is mostly 2 and 3 car families. Because the population density of Chinese cities is 3 x that of most European cities, the congestion on urban roads is incredible. It is also worth noting that the urban road infrastructure in China is better than in a lot of UK cities. Almost every road outside of a housing estate is dual carriageway, most main roads are 3 or 4 lanes each way, and still we get traffic worse than London.
As for wages, the minimum wage has risen to about 1.50, causing many Chinese companies to off-shore, and foreign companies to quit China in favour of lower cost labor markets. But there are also other costs associated with manufacturing overseas, which is why some UK companies are now re-shoring production to the UK.
Additional costs include:
Shipping
Loss of goods through theft and damage in a longer supply chain.
Quantity of product in the supply chain. Both raw materials and finished product.
Longer lead times make JIT replenishment impossible. Requiring larger inventory and loss through theft and damage.
Chinese workers are less efficient and don't do multitasking well, requiring a larger workforce.
Money tied up in the supply chain is cash tied up, that could be used to earn money elsewhere (yes even companies put their cash to work on the stock market etc.)
The long distances also mean that operations are further from the boardroom, coupled with the lead time issues, this affects flexibility to deal with sudden changes in the market.
It is also getting more complex with other things that affecting global supply chains in the global markets right now.