Besides the increase in the 4Ti there were 37 other items with price increases
in the OLY fax. All were lenses and the teleconverters. There may be more to
follow. I am going to check with an OLY insider over the weekend and find out
if there are more to come. Here's some examples of increases:
16/3.5 +34.7%
50/1.8 +40.3%
50/1.2 +34.8%
24/2.8 +5.3%
85/2.0 +13.9%
180/2.8 +6.4%
200/4.0 +10.3%
350/2.8 +4.0%
20/2.0Macro +47.0%
50/3.5Macro +42.0%
135/4.5Macro +43.2%
1.4X Tele +46.9%
That should give you some idea of how the increases are being applied! now you
can see why the demand for used pieces is going to escalate and scarcity will
drive the prices up significantly. Remember too that owners are going to also
want more to part with their equipment, adding fuel to the spiral! Paul.
Garth Wood wrote:
> At 04:26 PM 4/8/98 -0400, Tomoko Yamamoto <tomokoy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >I called my local
> >camera store which is an Olympus dealer to find out that they, too, had
> >received a fax from Oly America. I was told that they did not, and they
> >(the buyer-owner of the store) just talked with an Oly Rep on the phone
> >yesterday. The price increase by Olympus has been by a small amount, and
> >if they were making any increases, they would notify dealers normally one
> >month in advance, according to the salesman I talked on the phone.
>
> Tomoko-san:
>
> I will repeat a post I made earlier. This was after a rather lengthy phone
> call (from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to New York State, during the day and on
> my dime) to determine the facts as best I could, at which point some nice Oly
> types gave me the 1-800 number and some names to talk to. Note that the
> following re-post contains names and phone numbers, so anyone who wishes may
> confirm (or not) the price increases.
>
> *** Re-post commences ***
>
> Never wanting to simply spread rumours, I decided to do the logical thing and
> actually phone Olympus America to get the info "straight from the horse's
> mouth."
>
> I talked to Jim de Carlo, Sales Manager for OLY America at 1-800-622-6372,
> ext. 5157 (this number is toll-free anywhere in Continental North America).
> Mr. de Carlo was *very* forthcoming, and said that yes, indeed, prices on
> certain of the Olympus imaging line were going to rise by 20% April 1, 1998,
> and that larger dealers were already buying up quantities of stock in
> anticipation of this.
>
> Mr. de Carlo indicated specifically that the OM-4Ti and the OM lens group
> would rise in wholesale price by 20%, but the wholesale price of the OM-3Ti
> and the OM Accessories line will remain essentially unchanged ("no scheduled
> price increases" was the word).
>
> Mr. de Carlo indicated that extremely low demand was causing this price
> re-vamping. As one example, he noted that the cost to manufacture the
> Telescopic Auto Tube was fairly close to $400.00 U.S., because only a small
> handful were made each year, while the wholesale price on the same item was
> closer to the $200.00 U.S. mark. The entire OM line has been causing Olympus
> to bleed for many years, but they stay in it primarily for the professional
> photographer and imaging specialist (mostly medical) market to keep the line
> alive. Their other lines, such as their digital imaging line, are actually
> scheduled for (or have already seen) price *decreases* at the wholesale end.
>
> Sorry to give everyone bad news, but it appears that yes, OLY equipment's
> gonna get even rarer and more expensive. Get 'em while they're (relatively)
> cheap.
>
> *** Re-post ends ***
>
> So there you have it. Unless Mr. de Carlo has changed his tune in the last
> few weeks, I imagine that PvT is essentially correct. In any case, I suggest
> anyone who's interested phone the above number and have a chat with Mr. de
> Carlo himself. Perhaps that will clear things up.
>
> Garth Wood
> Oly fan (but *not* crazed)
>
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