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Everybody please go re-read AntonioFP45's topic starter (first post this thread). HE IS NOT ADVOCATING BOYCOTTING UP - He has made one of the first realistic suggestions on this topic (which shows up almost every other day as another UP topic, with yet another rant going nowhere) -he is urging each model railroader to contact the various model railroad manufacturers and distributors, NOT to waste your energy on UP. What he's saying is that you may very well have an impact on a manufacturer or distributor of model trains (even Walthers, Horizon, Atlas, Lionel, etc. are tiny relative to a Class 1 rail transportation giant), for the loss of some business to the model railroad company could have considerable significance, especially if it brings them long term loss of 'good will'. and a permanently lost portion of their customer base. What do you think "boycotting UP" would achieve? Would it freak out their shareholders, threaten their management, cause their engineers to run their trains too fast and carelessly, cause shippers to divert their shipments to trucks, clog the yards worse than they are, or bring the UP and their lawyers to their knees, and shut down the railroad. UP doesn't care - it is a faceless corporate giant run by a board of directors loyal to shareholders. As you know, the UP has far more serious matters at hand than this royalty issue, which is in itself, just a piece of the copyright, trademark and intellectual property rights issues that apparantly hadn't been 'managed' to someone's liking and the lawyers have been hauled in to do their usual dastardly deeds. The way I see it , you have quite a few choices - a) - follow Antonio's suggestion that each of us email the model companies expressing your opinion that you will not purchase from them, etc. if they take unfair advantage of the UP mess and misinformation pertaining to the true added cost of the UP royalty payments b) - stop buying UP branded merchandise, strip and redecorate all your UP equipment , and consider freelancing as a hedge against the onslaught of royalties c) - buy all you can of available UP branded stuff in the hopes you'll corner the market, creating an artificial shortage, before the manufacturers and distributors figure out what you're doing, or before they divert all their production to UP branding, creating a shortage for every other roadname d) - wait for c) above to occur, then grab up all the overstocked UP items at clearance and blow out prices e) - check the Forum three times a day in order to not miss the latest "boycott UP" topic, and respond with something totally irrelevant and ineffective f) - model the UP totally in private, run it in the dark, and all by yourself, unless you form a cult wherby all your operating buddies swear an act of allegiance and secrecy g) - do nothing at all, except make up some UP related 'did you hear about the UP attorney that. . .' type jokes to vent your spleens
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