Ongoing Saga of Walthers SW9/1200: Was "Another one bites the dust."

I pre-ordered one of these with Walthers back when they were initially listed as being "DCC Ready" (or "DCC Friendly", or whatever it was). But here's hoping they lost my reservation if they're just going to wind up being the "same ol', same ol'"... Nice engines, but I don't really need another one.

-Mark

 

Pete emailed me last night that he called Walthers and they said it was a go. So I guess I will get mine!!

 

The latest message from Walthers:

Walthers wrote: "Hi Brian, We wanted to update you (and other N Scalers waiting for the new SWs in the 920-80150 series) that they should be in stock and shipping from Milwaukee by this time next week – we originally anticipated they’d arrive by November 28, but the transit time took a little longer than expected. Sorry for any confusion!"

 

Confusion versus the date or confusion versus the report that it was cancelled?

Anyway, looks like "secure from general eBay alert."

 

It's amazing that one inaccurate message posted on a website can cause this much stir when not one other site said that they were canceled. Do you guys put so much faith in one source of info that you don't check other sources first?

Too the comment earlier about the "Walthers catalog full of over priced items"...... The catalog lists all items, regardless of manufacture at MSRP (Manufactures Suggested Retail Price). That is the only way to fairly list items becuase the sale pricing varies from week to week. Also, all manufactures that Walthers carry are represented in the catalog, ALL OF THEM. It is up to the manufacture if they want a text listing or photos. Photo listings cost the manufacture, text listings do not. If you are missing pretty pictures it is because the manufacture doesn't want to pony up to pay for them, not because Walthers is slighting the company.

I can't believe all this angst against a company that more than likely has at least a 25% interest in you layout between buildings and accessories. Without Walthers, many of these smaller companies would never be where they are. A shop could never afford to carry all the products that Walthers handles if they had to buy them independently from each manufacture. You would never see half the stuff you see now if it were not for them.

If it was your money on the line and you only had less than half of a minimum order of product reserved, would you take a chance on the fact that you will have to eat half of a production run and loose any chance of making a profit? It's just not good business sense. The problem at Walthers is their constant cycle of over produce, then dump of products 6 months after its release. Customers are conditioned to wait for the dump so they don't preorder or buy when new. Because of this, there are insufficient pre-orders coming in so the product just doesn't get produced. They say they have changed their tune and will not be doing this anymore but it will take a while for customers to be reconditioned. The only way this is going to happen is if they set on the current batch of GP60's and RS3's which were over produced just like before. If they start dumping them, they just continue the cycle. It's hard to get pre-orders on a loco listed at $99 when you just dumped the last batch of them at a loss a month or two ago.

 

Sad part is this is how I am with Walther's...I only paid a dealers discounted price once for locos, when they did GP20s, well technically it was Life-Like at the time, and got the BNs. However not 6 months later, Walther's does the fire sale, and GP20s are $30 a piece...why pay around $75 for a loco when I can wait 6 months and get it for a third of the original asking price.

 

Brian, when you get yours please let us know if anything has changed internally. I think a lot of people are holding off on ordering until they find out if they're really any DCC-Readier than before.

-Mark

 

"It's amazing that one inaccurate message posted on a website can cause this much stir when not one other site said that they were canceled. Do you guys put so much faith in one source of info that you don't check other sources first?"

I thought the internet was created to spread unfounded rumors. Half (or more) of all online discussion would disappear if only facts were allowed ;-).

 

Tony, this is assuming that the "dump" price really does mean a loss to Walthers. I'm a bit skeptical about that.

But I'll add to this that you've also conditioned dealers not to buy any at MSRP less their discount either, lest they get undercut by the manufacturer and/or distributor later. There is at least one firm that has learned this lesson the hard way, at least around here where the LHSs vow to never buy any of their product again.

 

My guess is they have about $25 in actual manufacturing and transportation costs for a locomotive, maybe more now because of the Chineese economy. (Walthers recently cut the dealer discount percentage on HO Proto items so they could keep retail pricing the same, so prices are definitely going up.) What doesn't figure into that is advertising, warehousing, warranty/defects and other forms of handling once it is in their hands. The longer an item sets, the more it costs for all these things.

 

Any H&D (hate and discontent) heaped upon Walthers was earned by Walthers. Their disdain of N scale has been well documented through the years ! All the good they may have done for the hobby is overshadowed by their continual thumbing of their collective noses at n scalers. It's much like a child who behaves...we tend not to heap praises on them for it. But let that same child do something wrong and we are all over them like stink on cow pies. In the case of Walthers there isnt enough good to outweigh the bad. Nuff said...JMHO YMMV.

*BTW...the product in question hasnt hit the store shelves yet...so the jury is still out...again ;-)

 

There is also a difference between Walthers the distributer and Walthers the manufacturer of their own retail products. They can do an unmatched job of say selling others products to retail vendors but that is completely different than handling their own product lines. Walthers is their own worst enemy it seems. I bought the GP-20 and I am trying to buy the SW unit to support their effort. I was not overly impressed with the GP-20 and that disappoints me. If it not for the importance it had on the CB&Q roster at the time I would have been tempted to pass. I would love to have a DL-109 or 2 but I now won't pre-order.

 

I hardly think Walthers is without fault here. Short of BLI every other manufacture has a clearly defined product line and business model. Kato, Atlas, FVM, IM etc you know what to expect from them and it makes sense and is predictable. Walthers is all over the place with no rhyme nor reason. They expect N to follow in the footsteps of HO. Atlas has many prodcuts in HO that they do not in N and Kato has many N products they do not in HO. For me it is their attitude to you in general when they realize you are in N scale. My personal experience up until this most recent FB interaction has been very negative to say the least. This goes back to the early 90's when I was actually in the industry. They want their N scale customers to fit a certain mold and that is not a good business practice. The customer segment is what it is. You can meet their needs or you can choose not too. If you can't make enough profit doing so than move on. They would be so much better off if they just came out and had an honest dialog with N Scalers. I also highly doubt Walthers has made anything based on customer input, at least N scale products.

 

I like Walthers and Lifelike stuff but they hurt them selfs with the blowout sales several years ago. Who wants to pay full price when you have been taught that you will get them for a killer deal 6 months later? Also there are many people that do not feel there worth the price because of past issues with Lifelike products. I happend to think they are just as good as my Atlas stuff.
Kevin

 

Another one bites the dust at Walthers bye bye SW9/1200

All I want is an authentic NS Dash 9.

 

Okay, I know its almost Christmas, but lets no start a wish list. I know I have SEVERAL locos on my wish list and have suggested several to mfgs only to find out it is like talking to wall.

 

Pretty much this. Walthers has everything they need to be a major player in the N-scale market, but for some reason the haven't been able to figure it out. It's perfactly understandable that modelers would be upset by this.

 

No prob BoxcabE50 Administrator...I just consider the source and ignore it..LOL