I was pleased to see that our friends over at Walthers finally got the message. Their out of sight pricing on Proto Engines must have been causing sales to dry up in a hurry. I’ve yet to see how much of a price reduction they’ve implemented, but any downward movement is certainly a step in the right direction!
Yea, they announced the price drop in their most recent monthly mailer. From what I have seen, it seems the average drop in price on Proto 2000s is about $40-50 a locomotive.
I would have to agree with you. Stock must have been sitting a little too long on the shelf so Walthers had to bring the price down some to move things out…
Tom
Don’t count your chickens and all that. Have you seen the cost of the upcoming Heavy 2-10-2? $425 a pop with sound and DCC. A bit pricey, maybe…
Mark,
At that price, Walthers may have to “relearn” the bulging overstock issue again. I’m glad I waited for the price of the Trix 2-8-2 Mikado to come down. Originally released at $599.99, the Trix Mike leveled out at around $460, until it dropped a whopping 50% just a few months ago. I picked mine up off of eBay for $220. That’s about 37% of list.
Tom
For a good long time now I’ve been of the opinion “that if it’s from Walthers it overpriced!”
Just my 2 cents worth
Jim
Amen! You’re not the only one who thinks that way.
The manufacturers might be wise to realize that, with the aging of the hobbiests, patience is now a virtue. Our limited funds force us to avoid snapping up a new product as soon as it appears on the shelves. By waiting until there is a price reduction, we also avoid the first run shortcomings.
I’ve purchased some things at Walthers and I’ve found that, as a rule of thumb, they usually price things at MSRP unless they put an item on the sale block. Even then their “sale” can usually be beaten by almost any other train website such as Wholesale Trains.
the goat
Walthers needs to lower their prices and start including grabirons installed
Proto prices were sky high nobody was paying them.
From what I understand, Walthers lowered the MSRP…without lowering the price they charge the dealers. They’ve just compressed the dealers margins.
I hope I’m wrong about that.
I think we need to separate two things here: Walthers retail sales prices vs. the MSRP on Life Like and Walthers products.
As far as buying retail from Walthers, understand they are primarily a distributor to hobby shops and a retailer second. Since most of their bucks turn as a distributor, they are not out to underprice hobby shops. To do so would compromise their primary business as a distributor, and could get them into some legal trouble, as well. As a result, they are a retailer of last resort unless the buyer is content to pay MSRP. That is not unique to our hobby and is in fact fairly common.
The prices Walthers establishes on Life Like, their own brand and other brands they might own are an entirely different matter.
And afraid some of those engines are a little light on the pull, I’ll wait for BLI thank ye.
As ususal, folks here have forgot that Walthers didn’t raise the prices in the first place. Life-Like did just before the Walthers sale. All Walthers did was continue LL’s last pricing change…
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
I’ve been told the same thing by the owner of my LHS. Apparently, Walthers isn’t the only ones doing this either. He said that Atlas has also been squeezing the dealer profit margin.
Jeff
Walthers is finally realizing people wont pay $365 for an engine that can hardly move 4 cars on level grade.
“It was the best of times and it was the worst of times…”
I really wonder what our hobby will be like in ten years… Here in Atlanta five of our nine train stores have closed within the last three years. Low margins forced by dozens of internet sites, show dealers, Ebay, and possibly being squeezed by distributors and manufacturers might have all played a part. And the shift in production of nearly everything in model railroading to Asia is alarming to me (as I said in an earlier post, the Chinese are NOT our friends). While I certainly appreciate the quantum leaps that have been made in detail, quality, and variety I get a bit of a sick feeling when I stop and think about where my money will eventually end up when I buy a new locomotive.
Being in my mid sixties and having aquired most of “stuff” that I could ever possibly need for my sixth (and final) layout, I know that I’m not going to be hurt too much no matter which way things go. But when I see the twinkle in the eyes and smiles on the faces of my grandsons I’m easily reminded of how great it was to be “the engineer” when I was their age. Sometimes I think fifty-five years of enjoyment in this hobby is almost more than I deserve. I just hope future generations have the same opportunity.
It was the best of times and…