Check out page 57 of the new sale flyer. Soundtraxx decoder Regular price $60.00 sale price $129.00 I think I’ll take 2 at that price!
Don’t Bash Walthers
Walthers is a very respectable compnay.
Have u ever heard of mistakes.
I don’t dispute that at all. Of course it is a mistake, in light of recent discussions about the cost of the hobby skyrocketing I thought it was quite amusing.
I think walthers pricing is horrible!! Not including the mistakes!
Walthers is fast approaching the point of being considered as a monopoly with the amount of the hobby they control. I for one have never like Walthers for reasons I won’t go into and support them as little as possible. That’s my two cents.
walthers are smart business people
hate to say, their designed to satisfy their shareholders/ bond holders etc.
You realize to stay competive you need to merge and get bigger. The steel industry, telecommunications, transportation etc.
Walthers makes execellent products bar none, best bang for the buck.
Running around trying to find that new Walthers book… turning to page 57… hmmm… Well now! That’s strange. Well, everybody makes mistakes I guess. [:)]
-Brandon
It would be a pity if this forum degenerated into a retailer bashing discussion. Everyone has and are entitled to their opinions, but it should remain just that, your opinion.
I know the original post was just a tongue in cheek pick up of a typo, but can you imagine the work that goes into the production of a catalogue like Walthers ? I am involved in a 200page annual catalogue and I can tell you, that is one big effort, so Walthers is mammoth.
Let’s leave supplier comments as “you can get this from…” or similar useful input we can all benefit from.
We all get a laugh at Walthers expense by joking about “MSRP” whenever appropriate, but I’d have to say that they have been a Rock of Gibralter over years of difficult times for our hobby. They provide a catalog which is a bible for product availability, and their web site is one of my first places to look when I want to see who makes something. And if you don’t like their prices, you can get many of the same products somewhere else. You can’t really say they’re a monopoly when you can get Walthers brand stuff at Discount Trains Online for less than at Walthers dot com.
Some people are upset about their purchase of Life-Like and the subsequent rise in price for many of the P2K products, but think for a minute about why Life-Like got out of the business. At the former prices, they weren’t making enough money to stay in business. If Walthers didn’t raise prices, they’d end up in the same situation. The first rule of business is that you have to stay in business. I don’t think the United Arab Emirates was banging down the doors trying to purchase Life-Like, so Walthers probably did us all a favor by picking them up and bringing them into a corporation that is dedicated to Model Railroading, run by people that know the hobby. In contrast, look what Horizon has done to Athearn. 'Nuff said?
So, thank you, Walthers, for all you have done for Model Railroading.
I think many people fail to realize that Walthers primary business is being a wholesaler/distributor, not a retailer. They would create huge channel conflict and alienate their primary customers (retailers) if they started pricing aggressively to the consumer directly. So I take it for what it’s worth… They’ll sell it to you direct if you really want, but I don’t expect to ever see anything but full MSRP on their site, and that’s fine by me.
Look at the Walthers “sale” book the way I do. It’s a showcase for new products that I can get through my local shop if I want them. Ignore the prices, cuz the LHS can beat them.
Folks, in initiating this I was not wishing to bash Walthers. I have many of their products and I fully agree that there is no need to pay Walthers MSRP since their dealer channel is more than willing to discount from MSRP. Walthers products are in general really well made and IMO their structures are the staple for many layouts. From the P2K thread it appears that Walthers did not inititate the price increases, these were well in hand before LifeLike sold the business. Having said that, while Walthers is not a monopoly, one has to admit that this industry has one or two very powerful giants that really control the market. DCC manufacturers seem to have found distribution channels outside of the big 2, but most of the smaller structure and details makers are rather dependent on the big distributors. Not that this is a bad thing, as many of these smaller ones would possibly not survive without the distribution channels being open to them. Another thing that Walthers brings to the table is import expertise. Many of the products they distribute are from overseas and they bring them to us to give us even greater choice.
Anyway, I think Walthers is big enough to take a little dig from me. Doubling the price on something on sale is funny IMO. I can’t imagine they will be too upset that a bunch of folks picked up their sale flyer to look!
Anyone ever thought about what it costs to put out their annual catalogs?
It’s got to be in the 6 figure range.
Where would this hobby be without Walthers?
I bet you haven’t tried to assemble some of their MOW equipment!
- Their Jordan spreader with “operating side wings” that do not operate, they will fall off if assembled as per instructions.
- Their Russell snow plow whose wings were almost impossible to mount according to their instructions.
- Their “operating” side dump ballast car that needed extensive work to even fit together, let alone “operate”.
- Their rotary snow plow with the powered blade, whose drive belt falls apart making the model non operational.
Their other so-called “operating” kits that don’t operate, don’t last long, etc. - the rotary car dumper, opening bridges, transfer table, etc.
These are the “execellent products bar none, best bang for the buck”??? Wow, I’d like to see a list of poor products then!
Bob Boudreau
Agreed, a catalog of this magnitude has huge cost. However, it also is a huge source of income for Walthers. Aside from the fact that they sell the catalog, they get these sitting on the counter of every hobby shop in the nation. Think of the business that this generates. It is not unlikely that they get revenue from the manufacturers that place their product in the catalog. If it did not make money they would not produce it.
Any extreme statement will nearly always be wrong. I agree Walther’s doesn’t make uniformly superior product, best bang for buck, etc.
At the same time, while I’ll admit their “operating” equipment often leaves something to be desired (and you forgot the now-thankfully-retired bascule bridge!), that doesn’t mean they’re uniformly bad either.
The ‘operating’ series is a notable exception. If you leave that out, I generally find their products to be of quite good quality and reasonably priced for what you get (unless you’re silly enough to actually pay MSRP, in which case they’re overpriced).
Is that universally true? Absolutely not. Is it completely wrong? Nope.
My favorite Walther bashing is something like . . .
“Walthers is crazy. $59.00 for the cornerstone station? Internettrains.com has it for $40.00. That’s why I don’t support Walthers.”
Where does he think internettrains.com gets the station from? [(-D]
Walthers products are ok, if you shop for them elsewhere than Walthers.
Their grabirons though are[}:)][V][8][xx(]
IMHO, Walthers “best” developments for the everyday model railroader have been the “Cornerstone and DPM” kits! Before their introduction, modelers had to scratch build, or kitbash structures.
For the price, these kits allow you to rapidly build up very realistic looking towns, cities, villages, industries, etc., in a relatively short time, compared to just a couple of decades ago.
Walthers is a JOKE!!!
A **** poor excuse for a MODEL RAILROAD distributor.
Their phrase “Your dealer can get it from Walthers” is even a bigger JOKE!!!
Yea, they can get it if you’re willing to wait, and wait, and wait…
75% of what’s in the catalog is “Out of Stock.” !!!