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I have TRIED to keep my mouth shut, but here goes.As a customer I feel cheated that these enormous retail prices for PCM or BLI products are getting SO low direct. I see this as a problem because now no one will expect to carry BLI or PCM products in ANY store at current prices.I consider BLI and PCM very GOOD manufactors with decent equiptment, first class service etc etc. But... I fear they just created a massive glut of products that now wont sell and will hit thier outlet or sit for weeks unsold at invoice prices.I support One Track Mind's comments and I know that there are several stores that will no longer carry BLI or PCM simply because of pricing. There is literally no more profit to be had at the Factory Direct Prices.What I dont understand is this: BLI created PCM. BLI and PCM are one and same as far as I am concerned. Suppose they took thier website "Outlet Direct" one step further and created a Distribution network aimed directly at the customer bypassing the Hobbyshop and Distributors??Is that possible in the Corperate world?I already have several BLI products on back order from the last twelve months and already wrote one of them off as never to be run again out of the factory. I fear that future BLI or PCM engines may in fact be in jepoardy because no one will make them availible at the prices currently being advertised... example, the PCM HO scale Heavy I-1 Decapod 2-10-0 That thing has been on the PCM's website at about 400 dollars with a short tender with a second run forcast with a possible coast to coast tender. I will not be ordering this engine via the LHS even with the very NICE discount that I enjoyed in the past. Why? because Factory Direct will have pricing that might make it worth my while to BUY TWO of these engines for 400 dollars.What happens 5 years from now when QSI and other sound equippted engines completely collaspe the market nationwide and they become a sort of a non-profitable item because they cannot be sold at a good price to feed anyone involved in making, shipping, marketing, distribution etc etc etc ...More importantly what happens now that the OTHER MAJOR DISTRIBUTORS are forced to slash pricing to dump the suddenly idle inventory onto the LHS's? It will be a castrophe. And if it is severe enough, it could lead to a total stoppage of the current HO scale model engines as we know it today.Taking it one step further, what happens after a period of time the LHS's actually close becuase all they sell is paint, kaydees and a few structures and nothing else? NOT GOOD.One other thing to consider. I think pricing to LHS's just got revealed very close to what it costs for one of these thanks to Factory Direct and now there will be a flood of customers waving the ad in a printout at the LHS counter saying why can I not get X engine for half this cost?I suspect BLI/PCM overstepped themselves and shot thier foot trying to generate volume. Is it possible that enough product rotted on the shelf these last... 18 months enough to hurt them and motivate them to actually take these drastic steps and get rid of the old product? Several engines have already "Vanished" in the last 12 months.I say this. They are getting too greedy for volume sales. As tempted as I am at these pricing, I feel sad now that most people will understand what the new pricing is and no one will ever see 400 dollar pricing anymore.I am motivated by the feeling that Manufactors will take a stack of orders to a factory, have them produced for that number plus a few more and once X dollars profit comes in, they are finished with that model and work on introducing a new model to keep up the "Money Train" (Bad pun intended) This is in direct contrast to several decent manufactors that have dared to maintain production or availiblity of engines in HO scale for years or decades. Slow and steady wins the race I say.We are either going to have a new resurgence of BLI via these direct sales that re-starts the engine on the product line and allows BLI to do more business with a wider line of products in the future....Or we will see BLI collaspe like a Nuetron star that has burned up all it's fuel trying to illumate more of space too quickly.
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