My LHS can't order anything from them anymore and said the word is that the company is going out of business. Is this true?
Just checked their website---seems to running just fine here---might it be that your LHS is having issues?
http://www.njinternational.com
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Well they tried to order 3 signals for me and after waiting several weeks, they said nobody is getting back to them from the company, and that other hobby shops have told them NJ Int. is 'going under'. I sure hope this isn't the case.
rjake4454 Well they tried to order 3 signals for me and after waiting several weeks, they said nobody is getting back to them from the company, and that other hobby shops have told them NJ Int. is 'going under'. I sure hope this isn't the case.
They were at the Edison, NJ Greenberg Show last weekend (8/14), with their usual display and products for sale.
You might want to just give them a call. (480) 219-4135
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Maybe you've just got your signals crossed . . . . . . . . . . or maybe your hobby shop is trying to send you a signal,
Hee hee hee hee hee!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
Instead of going through your local hobby shop, you can order directly from NJ International via their web site. Prices will be the same either way.
Too many people don't realize that a company like NJ International, Tomar Industries, etc., may be a one or two person operation -- if they are traveling around the country to train shows to drum up business, they can't be back home filling orders. Their signals are assembled by hand, not by machine.
NJ International also sells through Walthers. Your LHS could order through them. Or, you could order through them.
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The LHS I used to deal with which has since gone out of business used to pull that nonsense all the time. I would order something and they would say oh they never got back to us or so and so must have forgotten to order it or it looks like their out of stock or maybe going under bla bla bla. I was new back into the hobby only a short while so I took what they said for the truth. One day I saw an Athearn RS3 in the CNJ coast guard paint scheme that my LHS had been trying to order form Walthers but said it was out of stock. When I went in and asked the owner if I could take a look at it I said you must have had this on the shelf for a long time, he said nope got that one in a couple of weeks a go to replace the one that I sold. When I told him what was going on he got this grin on his face and told me to come over to the register he pointed that locomotive out to me int he Walthers catalog and dialed up Walthers on speaker phone and asked the person who answered to check stock on it and she came back and said we have plenty how many do you need.
A lot of hobby shops will give you a run around until they get a large enough order for free shipping. Not saying this is the case with your guy but maybe it's just not worth his time for only 3 signals. Betcha if you place an order for $1000 worth of stuff he would dirve to the place himself and pick it up.
So, let me get this straight:
Local hobby shop is a one man operation. Customer orders small quantity of low to mid range priced merchandise.
Local one-man-band hobby shop owner calls one-man-band distributor, gets busy signal/leaves voicemail/no answer at all
Local one-man-band has (hopefully) other customers and issues to attend to.
Local one-man-band never gets return call from distributor.
Local one-man-band accused of "nonsense" because he didn't pursue order with distributor with the ferocity of a caged wolverine.
So not only have we established that NJ Internation is still in business, but my order from Walthers which came a few days back proves they are introducing new stuff, as I ordered several "Phol Low Switch stand" (modern style stands w/ the big triangular loop handle) - I think these were introduced last year (MR archives says Jan 2009, ok but still that's not ancient-time).
Milepost 266.2 Local one-man-band accused of "nonsense" because he didn't pursue order with distributor with the ferocity of a caged wolverine.
I think the question is whether the story about NJ International "going under" was true, or something the guy made up. Other than his explanation, there seems to be no other basis for that suggestion.
Milepost 266.2 So, let me get this straight: Local hobby shop is a one man operation. Customer orders small quantity of low to mid range priced merchandise. Local one-man-band hobby shop owner calls one-man-band distributor, gets busy signal/leaves voicemail/no answer at all Local one-man-band has (hopefully) other customers and issues to attend to. Local one-man-band never gets return call from distributor. Local one-man-band accused of "nonsense" because he didn't pursue order with distributor with the ferocity of a caged wolverine.
If a LHS, even a one-man-band takes an order, even for a small amount of merchandise, he is bound to persue it. Since placing a special order is supposed to lead to a sale, it would be in the shopkeeper's best interests to write down the order, and have some means to track it from taking the order from the customer, until he calls the customer to pick it up. That accidents and mistakes happen is one thing; carelessness is something different.
If for some reason shopkeeper cannot or will not place the order, he should refuse to accept the order in the first place. If the LHS cannot accept small orders, the shopkeeper should state this up front. He should not cover his own unwillingness/inability by saying that the manufacturer is going out of business. (That is nonsense.)
The owner of a hobby shop is free to refuse or ignore customer orders and requests, but he must also understand, that the customer is free to do business elsewhere.
Dan
The LHS is there to do business by selling what he ha son his shelves and not necessarily what he can order for customers. You see chances are that he has already paid for what he has on the shelves and the only way he can realy stay in business is to recoup his investment in product he already has put money into. And given the fact that he has competition from Walthers and others who can buy directly from the manufacturer at a lower prices than LHS you can easily understand whu so many LHSs have gone out of business. So it is no advantage to order anything through your LHS. They aren't set u for it and uness the owner is interested in helping out his customers, there is no benefit for them to order anything they do not already stock.
Irv
corsair7They aren't set u for it and uness the owner is interested in helping out his customers, there is no benefit for them to order anything they do not already stock.
I'd have to disagree with that. I order everything through my LHS, and he is happy for the business. I e-mail him my order, he places it with Walthers, and a few days later I go to pick it up. He is a regular dealer with them, and he gets to pay their wholesale price, and sells items to me at retail price, less a discount. He makes money, Walthers makes money, and since I don't have to pay postage and I get a discount, I save money. Everyone wins.
For serious model railroaders, what the LHS has on hand in terms of engines, rolling stock and structures is quickly exhausted. I'm now building Phase 2 of my layout, but the track is mostly down, and it will be years before I need more turnouts, roadbed and ballast, the staples of the LHS. So, I'm happy to have a shop that will order for me and save me the shipping cost.
Of course, this is a shop which always seems to have customers when I go in. They don't seem to be in danger of going under. There is a lesson to be learned here.
Milepost 266.2So, let me get this straight: Local hobby shop is a one man operation. Customer orders small quantity of low to mid range priced merchandise. Local one-man-band hobby shop owner calls one-man-band distributor, gets busy signal/leaves voicemail/no answer at all Local one-man-band has (hopefully) other customers and issues to attend to. Local one-man-band never gets return call from distributor. Local one-man-band accused of "nonsense" because he didn't pursue order with distributor with the ferocity of a caged wolverine.
If the "local one man band" is unaware of the internet and the "newfangled" invention called "E-mail" he is in bigger troubles than that me thinks......
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Milepost, it's nice of you to stick up for the LHS owner, but really, I have to disagree with you, and agree with the others: the guy's flat out wrong.
Back when I was in retail (long about the time they drove the Golden Spike), the company president drilled one thing into us. Customer Service is King in retail. You make the customer happy, within reason, even if it costs the company money. A happy customer will come back, and you make money on him next time. Word of mouth will spread -- a happy costomer will tell a couple of people, an unhappy one will tell 100.
Something else may be at work here, too. I've noticed a disturbing trend among people today (especially, but not exclusively young people) to never admit responsibliity and say they made a mistake. It's blame shifting, it's described as one of Steven Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Defective Teens", but many people never outgrow it.
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CTValleyRR Something else may be at work here, too. I've noticed a disturbing trend among people today (especially, but not exclusively young people) to never admit responsibliity and say they made a mistake. It's blame shifting, it's described as one of Steven Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Defective Teens", but many people never outgrow it.
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Irv,
That is really off base. The LHS may have inventory 'sitting' on the shelf, but if he does not have the cash to special order; then he will be out of business very fast. The LHS can get the product at the normal dealer discount. Walthers itself does not sell direct to the modeler. Walthers does have a mail order/city desk operation(Terminal Hobby) that will sell to the modeler at MSRP(unless they are unloading distressed or overstock items). If the LHS would discount the 'stale' items to clear the shelves, they would have capital to invest in faster selling items or special order items. If Walthers undercut their dealers, they would lose them. BLI has a 'discount' arm(Factory Direct Trains) that sells off excess inventory, but has started discount selling of BLI engines. Some LHS's do not sell BLI anymore. Special orders are 'easy money' for a LHS - They get paid right away and do not have the inventory collecting dust on the shelf.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
corsair7uness the owner is interested in helping out his customers, there is no benefit for them
Whiskey Tango? Why would anyone expect to stay in business unless he was interested in helping out his customer? If you don't help out the customer, you don't stay in business.
Let's assume that NJ International is not a richly staffed outfit and from time to time the phone, and maybe email, may well go unanswered particularly in the summer. Back in the 1960s there was an annual ritual that Red Ball would simply shut down for a few weeks - letters and phone calls unattended to, nothing mailed out, etc. It was basically one or two people running the place and they took summer vacations. Some very familiar names in model railroading are very small outfits.
Dave Nelson
jmbjmb corsair7uness the owner is interested in helping out his customers, there is no benefit for them Whiskey Tango? Why would anyone expect to stay in business unless he was interested in helping out his customer? If you don't help out the customer, you don't stay in business.
I have 2 hobby shops that doesn't want to special order Fox Valley Model Cars from Walthers or Horizon!!
Of course both has tons of decade old N Scale sitting on their shelf..One even told me it would be best to order them myself!
Oddly one has special ordered for me several times in the past to include the last order which I promptly picked up.
Larry
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I´m starting to wonder if the dealers in the US don´t have wholesale prices from the distributors?!?
When I order from my LHS, he says I have to pay for his shipping costs and it is always cheaper than ordering it from the Mfg´s....
But as he has the discounts and as I have some discounts from him being a regular customer, there is often a good deal to shop from him.
My LHS orders from Walthers every week. A lot of this is special orders for individuals. He has a big shelf in the back where every special order ends up, tagged with the name of the person who ordered it. It's all very well organized, so much so that I usually go to the shop on Thursday afternoons, because the orders ship on Monday.
When I go to the shop, I always look around for other stuff I might need, or maybe stuff that I don't need, but really want anyway. By filling special orders, he gets me into the shop pretty much every week or two, and I buy stuff off the shelf as well as picking up my orders.