Re: Pre-orders, pro or con.
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Jim Mischke
Sometimes the manufacturer gets stuck. I've been on the other side of this.
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For a year, I operated a partnership with two friends called Keyser Car Shops to produce custom lettered B&O freight equipment, possibly much later to grow into tooled B&O car designs. We had about 12 major product ideas, and envisioned cranking out two or three a year. We never got past the first project, a Red Caboose B&O M-26b in "Time-Saver" slogan bright red paint. We took no pre-orders and only announced when the boxcars arrived. For all the other faults in our business plan (small marketing footprint, no paid advertising, web-based only sales, risking market saturation from the same freight car product in other B&O lettering) and unforseen obstacles (high retail price, mainly due to Chinese inflation and dishonesty), the insurmountable problem was fundamental lack of demand. Previous yahoo list clamor for a particular car appearance means about twenty sales, not 400. We sold 200 and remaindered 200 for a net loss. It was not going to get any better than this. When in a hole, stop digging. We disbanded. As a consumer, I detest the preorders-only business model, where a new product is gone in two weeks before I can even look at one. On the other hand, a garage full of unsold slow-selling boxcars is a killer. Bills are paid with seed corn, not sales proceeds. Never mind funding the next project. I cannot imagine a larger company making payroll risking this inventory condition. The main challenge of capitalism is sizing the business. Like kids staffing a neighborhood lemonade stand, they lose their little shirts if it rains (much unsold paid-for lemonade on hand), or leave money on the table (thirsty potential customers walking away unslaked) if they are underprepared when the sun shines. While we tire-kickers are fed up with sold-out preordered releases, the economic realities for the producers are stark.
--- In STMFC@..., SUVCWORR@... wrote:
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