On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 06:41:56PM -0400, Adam Maas scripsit: > On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 5:47 PM, Graydon <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 05:07:07PM -0400, Adam Maas scripsit: > >> Or Pentax Canada has no understanding of the concept of comparison > >> shopping. As nice as the Pentax bodies are, who's going to pay $775 > >> for a FA 35/2 or the same price for a 17-70, let alone $800 for an > >> AF540FGZ. Right now Pentax is the unarguable value loser in Canada > >> despite the fact that the body prices are finally where they > >> belong. > > > > Last year, I phoned Pentax Canada to ask about the apparent > > continued availability of the A* 400/2.8 on their website. > > > > Turns out that, yes, it *is* still available, in the sense that they > > can get you one from Japan, but it was also going for 13 kCAD. > > (Which was the currency-converted value of its original > > introductory list price.) > > > > So the idea that whoever is setting those prices just doesn't > > believe in the possibility of internet arbitrage does seem > > well-supported. (The other possibility is that they're a serious > > pessimist about the loonie.) > > > The real pisser: > > Toronto is absolutely plastered in Pentax advertising. I think its > possibly the only place Pentax does advertise. If they could get their > pricing and availability issues under control they'd actually move > some kit. There's quite a strong local Pentax community.
I can remember seeing two (2) billboards; I'm not sure that's *plastered*, as such, but then again maybe I don't get out much. Never had a problem with availability as such; once things started shipping one could get them. (I may have missed the original feeding frenzy over the DA 35 Ltd., but still.) This is the sort of thing that makes it very clear that you have to judge your national subsidiaries on a weighted mix of margin and volume, not just one or the other. Though, to be fair, Hoya may have decided it really doesn't care about the North American market as a whole, and they might well have some justification for that. -- Graydon -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
