On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Graydon <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 >
There's smaller ads all over town. Mostly those parking-lot ads. As to availability, one local retailer I know has essentially given up on selling Pentax because he can't reliably get product. If you aren't Henry's, forget reliable supply around here. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- 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.
