I AM A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE, NEW LABEL, NO,
JUST OLD FASHIONED GOOD BUSINESS.
In this day and age to be very conservative means staying alive, saving money, better deals, but it only works if the end product is well made and does what it is supposed to do. My name is on the product I build. As a small business man I become more intimate with my customers. About a phone call away. Try that with Mr. Big.
I manufacture battery packs for the WEPP shooters, Wedding, Event, Paparazzi, and Photojournalism market. My clients are frugal, smart, climbing in their league, spastic and unbalanced at times, and highly competitive.
There is no BS in their world, they need gear thats simple and does the job. I build HD equipment, no frills just performance, and look for ways to save them money and time to hold my niche.
DOING MY JOB
I spend a lot of time with suppliers trying to keep prices down. And this is a volatile market and one must plan ahead. Availability is sometimes day to day. Most of the deals that I procure in turn, are made to keep prices down but not at the sacrifice of quality. But it can go too far. I am probably a lot tougher on the ancillary parts I use. I once saw a six thousand dollar lens, the kind you see at football games, those huge white ones, fall off a tripod not because the tripod itself failed, it was the poorly threaded screw holding it together.
QUALITY
For example better quality: I only use Kobicon jacks and Marson high grade steel rivets. Both cost double the price of the Chinese stuff available, but the Chinese quality and the vendors will sub you, failed miserably. The only box ever returned for a broken rivet, was the only box I ever built with a Chinese rivet. A one cent rivet cost me twenty dollars in postage. I learned my lesson, now I exclusively use TAIWAN, JAPAN, with USA preferentially when I can. Batteries are tougher because of the dangers involved in manufacture and other than China you have very few choices.
SHIPPING
I use the Postal service for the lower rates on a weighted product, average package range is 5-8 pounds. I use fast shipping, insured, two day to prevent stealing and theft and you are charged close to what it cost me to do this.
Your fees for shipping include Paypal, packaging materials, gas, insurance and sometimes standing on line. Normally pre labeled CLICK and SHIP means no time on lines, but cables and small parts cost me time and time is money.
HOLDING PRICES
I have held the price line with basically free service, backing up the product and other special jobs I have done for customers, the increase is negligible and fortunately we have been able to hold the line. We have made other changes to simplify and easier for you on the website. Drop down bar tabs make selections easier. Separate page for Pricing, How to Order, Specifications, the top bar tabs get you there.
VALUE ADDED
A product is as good as the sum of it's parts. It's called value added. Each 2010 pack can power two strobes with the second port into an umbrella or soft box or two strobes floor mounted for backgrounds illumination of large churches or areas displaced at 10 degree angles using the Jacobs Perfection Light Bracket.
We do not use cardboard covered vinyl in our cases because they absorb moisture. Our cases are made in Denmark because they are a better molded polycarbonate product than any made in China.
We do not use cheap findings like metal belt clips and minuscule shoulder strap assemblies. I use the ULTRA from Clip.COM I have had competitive packs just slip off my belt because they lie flat on your waistline when you sit down. Cheap clips bend, and lose shape. No stitches that come loose, nor painted on logos, nor barrel connectors.
Superior charging of the Sealed Lead Acid battery means no days off. My packs stay on the charger indefinitely. My chargers are intelligent, more so than the others and do the thinking for you and make my batteries last longer up to seven years.
TRADE ISSUES:
Rumors again abound about cost of lead and batteries will rise in 2010 10%. No one looks forward to increases. The sleeping giant HOME of the PANDA BEAR, realized they own the market now with little or no competition. Seems their abundance of lead spilled over into paints used on kids toys and games, wall coverings, decorations, tools, food, and a plethora of other contaminants as well.
How did CHINA become the world’s leader in battery components? Simple, it's another perfect storm, it’s highly dangerous and profitable. Loss of life is not a shortage problem. Sort of like "whack-a -mo". One down from poisoning, explosions, contamination and another pops up and they don't miss a beat nor keep score.
Few other countries process Lead, NiMH, or Ni-cad and add Li-On to the list. Battery making is a dangerous sport. From acid burns to sheer explosions, it’s a challenge for the OSHA types to reconcile so we get it offshore.
Only two states in the US had lead mines and it has never had that many friends or supporters so most of the lead reclaimed from car batteries and SLA's goes back to China as ballast, thats the stuff that keeps those huge freighters from overturning since they go back empty only to reload and come back to drain us again.
Even the Japanese, who love recycling and profit, after the SONY plant blew up and burned to the ground offered great incentives to the Chinese to do their battery business for them. Thus the En-EL3A from Nikon in Japan at outrageous prices are made in Shen-Feng-Shui, China. Then to Japan to be covered in plastic and then to the world.
S.H.A.F.T.A. A ROYAL SCREWING:
The perfect example of how "we do not know how to write trade agreements". For example: Our Fair Trade with China gets muddled with certain products bypassing the tariffs.
Assembled in Mexico can mean, made in China and then the components are assembled in Mexico. All because of N.A.F.T.A. We should change that to S.H.A.F.T.A. It stands for: SH*T HANDED to AMERICA by the FREE TRADE AGREEMENT. But wait, how does China fit in with Mexico and Canada.
Thank cigar aficionado and former President William Clinton for opening the door in trade. Preferred partner status. The latter renter in the White House George W. Bush has to be thanked for driving a Union Pacific freight train through the open door. Moral: Don't open the door to strangers.
BOTTOM LINE
I suppose this all makes me old fashioned, keeping costs down, quality up, a great loyal customer base and plenty of interesting conversations with talented people… I like things the way it is...