Rising Prices

[Anonymous]

Are the rising costs of our models discouraging new commers from partaking in our hobby? What say you?

[Anonymous]

Outside of starter sets I think pricing is too high to attract newbies. How many parents can you see buying their kids a loco for a $100 plus not to mention spending the money on all the other stuff. Unless you are on fire for the hobby and have some cash, I don't see someone getting interested or sticking with it.

What can be done? Maybe more variety of starter sets or specailized packaged offerings with pricing to match.

[Anonymous]

A loco for $100 plus...how about 300 plus. I used to get an engine or starter set each christmas. Now granted the sets and engines I received probably 5-8 years ago are not even close to the the quality available today, specifically the sound systems.

But in the past few years prices have skyrocketed. I mean average prices for most engines is probably $300-500. And then car sets, such as 5 car passenger car sets or 6 car freight sets are around $300. For anyone starting in this hobby, that is quite a lot of money. Not to mention just to get the new MTH DCC system is $250-300 by itself, add engine's and cars and the price is already through the roof.

Look at Lionel's Amtrak superliner cars. I mean it's bad enough not that many people want Amtrak in O scale but for just 2 cars it's $270. Now i know many retailers sell them for less, but come on 270?

I've moved onto looking on ebay for the second hand market.

[Anonymous]

It's very difficult these days to attract new participants to the hobby unless they're already motivated to become participants in the hobby by some attraction other than price. There's no question that taking that first step can be a bit too costly for the average off-the-street consumer, especially those who don't know (and not through any fault of their own), where or how to shop for a good bargain in a starter set. For example, we here all know--or at least I hope we do--that a starter set selling for $250 or more MSRP can often be found for well under $200 if you just know where to shop. And a savvy consumer could, for example, even buy a K-Line Porter, several cars, some track, and a transformer--all brand new--for less than $200 to make up a custom-selected set.

[mpzpw3]

I don't see how a newcomer could come into this hobby with the average income, and lack of exposure that O-gauge trains have. The exposure that they do have is not exactly great either. Pick up your latest Lionel or MTH catalog. Maybe 10 pages of starter sets, at least 2 to a page with rather vague images of what the actual item looks like. Go past the starter set pages, and the next 50 pages are for the high priced scale stuff that sure would turn me off to the hobby right there. Whatever happened to the traditional and collector catalog, or beginner and and advanced catalog. At least a hobby shop owner wouldn't have to worry about scaring off the customer right after handing them a catalog.
Now let's just say the customer is not turned off by the cost in the catalog, and is determined to buy an item. It would probably go something like this:
Potential hobbyist: "Yes, I would like to buy this item on page 53 of the XYZ catalog."
Owner: "Umm, ya... Let me look at my computer...Looks like it should ship in about 3 months."
Potential hobbyist: "What???"
Owner: "Ya, the catalog is showing items that will be made, not allready made."
Potential hobbyist (if this hasn't ended the purchase allready): "Okay, I'll order it!"
Three months go by, still no item, four months, five months, Christmas, and in the middle of January a call from the hobby shop comes in: "Hey, your item finally arrived!"
Potential hobbyist: You fill in the blank...
Two strikes allready, in my opinion.
1. Catalog that offers very little for beginners
2. Items in catalog aren't available at the same time as the catalog.
Now, strike 3, the subject of this thread, rising prices.
The variables that You and I take for granted in this hobby aren't well known with new comers. We know MSRP is not what we will buy the item for. We know about Williams, Beeps, MPC, and what to look for on e-bay, but the newcomer doesn't.
The only hope the newcomer really has is to be able to talk to one of us, either on a forum or personally, and now we sometimes have to say things like, "Ya, you should have bought the one that came out 3 years ago, it was a lot cheaper then."
I'm not trying to be all gloom and doom, there are many great people in this hobby who would love to help, but the manufacturer's and distributor's aren't really helping us.
Idon't think the hobby is going to die, but I am at a loss on how to help it grow, and the rising prices are definety not helping.

[daan]

Let's not forget Williams or the cheaper K-line's, they are not that expensive and also very good running items. They don't have all the sounds and etched parts, but they are well usable and not that expensive.. My guess is that the big manufacturers will eventually have to drop prices or make cheaper itmes (using the molds from the expensive ones, but without all the bells and whistles)..
No manufacturer will let himself bleed to death by not offering cheaper items when that's going to save him..

[Anonymous]

One good move MTH apparently has made was to separate their RailKing starter sets and accessories catalog from their "regular" RailKing/Premier line catalog. At least that sort of structure helps to shield newcomers from the shock of seeing $1,000+ locomotives and cars that sell for $100-$200 or more, each.

This hobby does not have to be terribly expensive. The problem is that most new entrants to the hobby, or those wishing to become involved, often don't see any of the lower-cost alternatives because they have no way of easily becoming exposed to them.

[laz 57]

I wonder what the REAL cost is to produce one engine from LIONEL or MTH?
Bet it would turn some heads?
laz57