Ilford prices going up Feb. 1 in North America

[firecracker]

Originally Posted by Terence

Somehow, I think the Iranians would be the ones to suffer, but I could be wrong . . .

You're right. I should restate that they will suffer while we will only be "affected."

[copake_ham]

Is there a reason why this simple "price increase thread" is being dragged into the political arena?

Simple fact, my brother works in the medical imaging field and told me at Christmas that Kodak was raising its prices on X-Ray (and presumably other film).

He now works for an end-product producer of equipment (Phillips) but used to work for a vertical producer (Konica-Minolta) and told me that the "others" always wait for Kodak to do the price rise first - and then they follow along!

Cut the political crap here please. I consider "W" and his folks to be beyond disgusting - but I don't come to APUG to hear political chatterboxes!

And, yes, this all started with Roger and his unnecessary gratuitous statement that "W" has been responsible for the trading decline of the dollar.

Did any of you think that it is a deliberate move by the Fed to redress the US trade imbalance by keeping interest rates low and thus pushing the dollar down? It is a risky gamble because it also means that large US Treasury securities holders (e.g. China) will experience a decline in the value of their reserves.

But this is intended - the US Treasury is trying to "push" China and the other large US securities holders to shift some reserve assets to the Euro.

Economically, the real international game is being played out in East Asia - not the Middle East!

[coriana6jp]

They raised the prices here in Japan on Ilford products back in November, by about 8 percent or so. So its certainly not limited to North America, while its not the best thing for us, its the price we are going to have to pay to keep using film. And I will happily keep paying as long as I can.

Gary

[kjsphoto]

HP5+ was the only film I used and I buy 4-5 boxes of 8x10/4x5 a at time and buy it many times at year as I shoot a lot.

At this rate I will be switching again. I realize goods cost more but this is the second time in a short time span. What is the deal?

nobody likes increased prices but if it keeps the materials I love to use in my camera bag and darkroom then I will deal with it....even it I don't like it.

There are two ways to look at this. Higher prices means fewer can afford to buy which means your beloved film will be gone as they wont be able to sell enough to support the manufacturing of the product.

The best solution would be for them to lower the price and get everyone using their products therefore cornering the market and removing the competition. Then you would have film around for a long time as they would sell tons.

They are basically pricing themselves out of the market. Typical management that only cares abut stock holders and do not real the danger they are causing for themselves in the long run.

Unless of course they want out of the film business then they are doing the right thing and they should just keep raising prices every 6 months. IN two year they will be out of the film business all together.

Hmm, cost of silver, other raw materials or the currancy spread? I am slowly becoming an Ilford Paper, chemicals and film fan, this could get expensive but at least they are still around. I rather support a firm that is enthusiastic about film photography.

FUJI, Efke and Forte. no need to be gouged by Ilford.


[quote]
7% doesn't seem too much to me,
[/QUOTE ]

Sure if you only buy 1 or 2 boxes of film or 5 rolls of film a year. You are right it is not big deal but when you buy a lot of paper and film it adds up. And when sales are slow the price increase kill you form a business standpoint.

Cut the political crap here please. I consider "W" and his folks to be beyond disgusting

For once we finally agree on something.

They raised the prices here in Japan on Ilford products back in November, by about 8 percent or so. So its certainly not limited to North America, while its not the best thing for us, its the price we are going to have to pay to keep using film. And I will happily keep paying as long as I can.

NO not really we do not have to put up with it. Just change brands and let them see how it feel to have sales drop by 8-10%. Two can play at their game. EFKE and Fuji films are nice and their are more papers than Ilford to boot.

Yes I am a HP5 person but I am really getting tired of the fee hikes more than once a year.

They are starting to remind me of Feebay.

[Gim]

"Did any of you think that it is a deliberate move by the Fed to redress the US trade imbalance by keeping interest rates low and thus pushing the dollar down? It is a risky gamble because it also means that large US Treasury securities holders (e.g. China) will experience a decline in the value of their reserves.

But this is intended - the US Treasury is trying to "push" China and the other large US securities holders to shift some reserve assets to the Euro."

If this is true then I suppose that we are in for a quite an expansion of inflation. We have relied on China and others to buy our dept. for quite some time. If they are not buying then we, as US taxpayers, will have to actually pay for our own dept. Hold on to your butt holes.

But, I suppose, inflation will make current dept. look cheaper.

Its all politics. Sorry as it is.
Jim

[firecracker]

I'm sorry about my last two posts that revealed something about the politics. I didn't mean that. Instead, I simply wanted to point out other factors that will probably drive the prices high as well. With all of them combined, we'll be in trouble.

I started another thead about Ilford's Xray fog problem over their shipping their stuff to Japan, and that is, from my point of view, which is a consumer's point view, not going to do any good to the current price increase.

Ironically, many photo-supply consumers in Japan really love Ilford stuff, but there's always not enough being supplied in this country for some reason. But these people still prefer Ilford and other foreign brands for the sake of them being foreign products (in a "greener-grass" sort of way). In other words, it's a very saturated market with a lot of hunger for such good products, but never been so fulfilled enough.

I'm not talking about myself but the people from many places (schools, pros, amateurs, stores, etc). I'm pretty flexible, so whatever is available and good for me, I learn to use it, but these people are not and they want the stuff so badly. So, I just wish Ilford as a company would hear more voices from the actual users in the market and market their products better. If they did, they would probably be able to sell better.

[Petzi]

Originally Posted by kjsphoto

They are basically pricing themselves out of the market. Typical management that only cares abut stock holders and do not real the danger they are causing for themselves in the long run.

I don't know who all the owners of IlfordPhoto are, but they are as far as I know not a stock corporation.

[kjsphoto]

Originally Posted by Petzi

I don't know who all the owners of IlfordPhoto are, but they are as far as I know not a stock corporation.

I didn't mean it in a literal sense but the fact that the only thing most corporation care about today is their own pockets. They are really screwing themselves by the constant rate hikes.

[avandesande]

the "pump and dump" scheme of the US government started before W was in office

[Petzi]

Originally Posted by kjsphoto

I didn't mean it in a literal sense but the fact that the only thing most corporation care about today is their own pockets. They are really screwing themselves by the constant rate hikes.

I agree that their prices are high, in particular for photo paper. But we don't know all the reasons for their strategy.