I'm on your side, John. I like to see what I'm buying before committing to buy. I guess that's why most of my locomotives start out as common off-the-shelf readily available products. American Models certainly did not have a preorder program for their FP-7, nor do I recall SHS doing the same for their offerings. I don't think "preorder" was even a part of the vocabulary when J.Lionel Cowan and A.C. Gilbert first offered their products.
I'm not saying there isn't a place for preorders, there's always those uncommon off-the-wall offerings that would never see the light of day without at least a minimum guaranteed market, but there's also a need for the common everyday items that make up the majority of model railroads, including track and track products. Maybe I don't hsave a lot of these exotic items that some fell they can't live without, but, you know what? When I'm running my railroad as a miniature version of the prototype, I don't miss them a bit. boB Nicholson --- In [email protected], "John" wrote: > > Hello Everybody; > > Without a LHS or anybody within 150 miles who will, much less can, get S > scale Lionel or MTH I'm probably going to buy even less S scale stuff than I > have in the past. > > My hobby money is what is left after all other necessities are taken care of. > I also have the very bad habit of needing to see what is being offered before > I commit those scarce dollars. Therefore, I'll probably never pre-order > anything expensive without the right of refusal. I've been burned too many > times in the past. > > I once ordered some S Helper Service (SHS) items through a local hobby shop > (LHS)who got their stock from Walthers. This supply chain was so slow that > most anything that I ordered was already sold out before they could get it. > The LHS also didn't live up to our agreement to prominently display these > fine models. They instead kept them in the store room until I picked them up > even though I was paying for them as soon as they came in. > > Regardless of the manufactures' business models, if the number of LHS > purchasing, displaying and supplying those products don't reach critical > mass, those product lines will dry up on the vine. This is the continuing > challenge that not only S scale but all toy/model railroading faces. > > Thanks, > John Oglesby > Georgetown, Texas > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
