Pentrex Video Closeout Specials

[Anonymous]

http.//www.pentrex.com/closeouts.html

[Anonymous]

only vhs tapes. no dvd's.

[Anonymous]

For the right person it looks like there are some real deals there.

[AggroJones]

From their closeouts I obtained a tight 20 minute video about NYC's Hudsons for $4.95. Some stuff is pretty good.

[Anonymous]

I have quite a few of their closeouts, my current favorite is the video about Japanese monorails.

[Anonymous]

Pentrex has alot of good items for sale. The one thing that i'm glad to have is the issues of Pacific Rail News and their spin-off,Rail News. I recommend that anyone wanting any info in the WC,BNSF,CNW,SP,and the other raillines,get them while you can as these magazines are no longer being published,and my vast collection of them,has quite alot of articles on the railroads mentioned above,most inmportant there were about 7 issues that covered the operations of the WC,and the FRV/GBW that the WC bought.

[CBQ_Guy]

The one thing that irritates me about Pentrex is that they seem to have something on sale EVERY WEEK! This actually gets irritating. The first time I realized it, I had just ordered some sale items. A few day later, here comes another email announcing other items I would have liked on sale. Well if I'd known, I would have ordered all at once to save on postage costs. Sales are great but space them out some!

I'm at the point now where when I see another email, announcing yet ANOTHER sale from Pentrex, just like the one I got the week before, and the week before that, and...many times I don't even look anymore. It's kinda like the boy crying "Wolf!" so much you've stopped paying much attention.

How about it Pentrex, make the sales a LOT less often and maybe many of us would order more items under one shipping fee for them all? I know I would.

[Anonymous]

Paul, your nuts!!! Just kidding. But I never heard anyone complain about something being on sale / reduced in price. LOL

Seriously now, I don't think their weekly specials and their different sales throughout the year are really like crying wolf because each sale has different items than the earlier sale, and afterwards the price goes back to MSRP. If they had everything always on sale and always at the same sale price, that would be crying wolf and would make the MSRP ludicrous. I have built up a collection of over 325+ tapes, with roughly 225 of them being Pentrex. It took several years, but most of them were aquired either through these specials (over the years) or from steep discounters like Cajon Rails or MacMillan Publications. So I am thankful that Pentrex has done so many sales - largely because often times even the steep discounters can't touch the Pentrex sale prices. The trick is to bide your time and be patient. If you want a tape, wait until it goes on sale. It could happen next week or it could take over a year, but it will be offered at a reduced / sale price sooner or later (and sometimes discounted 50 or 66 %, though that's more uncommon.) By using this approach I believe that on average (across my entire collection) I paid maybe only 70-75% of list. I'm pretty well done with my tape buying now, and only pick up an occasional new offering.

By the way, in addition to the closeouts (which they always have on their website) they have a 20th anniversary special (they do the anniversary sale every summer) with 80 tapes on sale up to 50% off. This annual summer sale plus their annual (every January - February) Questionaire/Survey special - where you answer their questionaire of 6 - 8 questions about tapes - usually offer the best prices you'll ever see for Pentrex tapes. I waited for those two sales each year to do the bulk of my purchases. They usually have 80-100 tapes involved in those sales, though sometimes fewer. Here's the summer / anniversary sale:

http://www.pentrex.com/20av.html

Enjoy the hobby.

Greg

[Anonymous]

I'm not a heavy hitter but a cheap low income buyer. Their announcements
fit my budget and thats when I occasionally buy.

[darth9x9]

It's just a sign of things to come. Lots of video distributors are going to be dumping their tapes as DVD is the way of the future. You can't even buy a VCR at Circuit City any more. What a shame................

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SWchief

I never heard anyone complain about something being on sale / reduced in price. LOL

I wasn't. What I WAS complaining about was the cost of shipping if one was wanting to order sale videos regularly. Shipping isn't cheap and it could add up real quick week after week after...

My point was instead of putting a couple items on sale every week, put a lot of items on sale no more than say, once a month. You know, like every other company "normally" does. I thought that was kinda obvious...guess not.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy

The one thing that irritates me about Pentrex is that they seem to have something on sale EVERY WEEK! This actually gets irritating. The first time I realized it, I had just ordered some sale items. A few day later, here comes another email announcing other items I would have liked on sale. Well if I'd known, I would have ordered all at once to save on postage costs. Sales are great but space them out some!

I'm at the point now where when I see another email, announcing yet ANOTHER sale from Pentrex, just like the one I got the week before, and the week before that, and...many times I don't even look anymore. It's kinda like the boy crying "Wolf!" so much you've stopped paying much attention.

How about it Pentrex, make the sales a LOT less often and maybe many of us would order more items under one shipping fee for them all? I know I would.

No Paul, based on your original post quoted here, it wasn't obvious. I didn't think your complaint was really so much about shipping/postage costs, but rather about the emphasized weekly aspect. The shipping comment appeared to be more of an afterthought. Further, some of the oldest, largest, and most "normal" companies in America have sales every week, week in and week out - namely Sears, JC Penney's, and Walmart. My kids raised the same complaint you did about having sales every single week, only the were complaining about the sales commercials they see on TV every day by these companies. They also do it in the print media. So do Bestbuy, Circuit City, Macy's, Robinsons May, etc. My Sunday newspapers are filled with the sales ads - different from week to week, but there every week. LOL Pentrex is just copying a marketing model that obviously works - those companies are huge and profitable. Pentrex too appears to be profitable as they've been in business for 20 years now. Whatever. Enjoy the hobby!

Greg

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SWchief

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy

The one thing that irritates me about Pentrex is that they seem to have something on sale EVERY WEEK! This actually gets irritating. The first time I realized it, I had just ordered some sale items. A few day later, here comes another email announcing other items I would have liked on sale. Well if I'd known, I would have ordered all at once to save on postage costs. Sales are great but space them out some!

I'm at the point now where when I see another email, announcing yet ANOTHER sale from Pentrex, just like the one I got the week before, and the week before that, and...many times I don't even look anymore. It's kinda like the boy crying "Wolf!" so much you've stopped paying much attention.

How about it Pentrex, make the sales a LOT less often and maybe many of us would order more items under one shipping fee for them all? I know I would.

No Paul, based on your original post quoted here, it wasn't obvious. I didn't think your complaint was really so much about shipping/postage costs, but rather about the emphasized weekly aspect. The shipping comment appeared to be more of an afterthought. Further, some of the oldest, largest, and most "normal" companies in America have sales every week, week in and week out - namely Sears, JC Penney's, and Walmart. My kids raised the same complaint you did about having sales every single week, only the were complaining about the sales commercials they see on TV every day by these companies. They also do it in the print media. So do Bestbuy, Circuit City, Macy's, Robinsons May, etc. My Sunday newspapers are filled with the sales ads - different from week to week, but there every week. LOL Pentrex is just copying a marketing model that obviously works - those companies are huge and profitable. Pentrex too appears to be profitable as they've been in business for 20 years now. Whatever. Enjoy the hobby!

Greg

Whatever...Have a nice life [:-^]

[BRAKIE]

Thankfully I have VCR /DVD player-a Wally World special sale. I needed the VCR due to the fact I have lots of train movies from Pentrex ,Trains,Greenfrog
and others.

[Nieuweboer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by darth9x9

It's just a sign of things to come. Lots of video distributors are going to be dumping their tapes as DVD is the way of the future. You can't even buy a VCR at Circuit City any more. What a shame................

It is always possible to transfer (prized) video tapes to video discs and so save them for future viewing when no more VCR's are available.