Very Testing Times For Model Retailers ...... If we didn't already know

[Adrian Smith 1]

Over the last week I have had occasion to do some business with Weston UK in Kent for whom I have a high regard for based on the history I have had with them.

I decided to purchase their Capiche 50cc mainly to do an electric  version. ( I loved the Capiche 140 flight envelope back in the day) I phoned James directly to check stock levels. Yes got one available. I ask if the website is secure for me to purchase on line. Well it turns out there is no e-commerce set up on the website although you can order one, but they phone you for payment. That's when an issue arose. It seems my card provider doesn't like card holder not-present payments and it flagged up all sorts of fraud warnings and temporarily blocked my card. I did manage to pay with another card but I had to make one long phone call to the fraud department to unblock my original card.  Anyway a couple days later I did email Weston UK to see when dispatch would take place and the tracking data would be available. June Greenfield confirmed it would be done Monday, but in the meantime Weston UK is reconsidering its mass production of its bigger kits as it's getting expensive and difficult to ship these big boxes. Anyway I have offered to pay any un-budgeted courier costs given the way inflation is and the fact the kit is priced to sell including shipping. As far as I know it's only Parcel Force who will ship these boxes on mainland UK. I haven't heard back yet on that offer. 

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Strange times, not that long ago the market had models aplenty to suit all tastes, now much less on offer and at prices beyond me.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Parcels are a big problem today with the usual 'covid' excuse, I bought a 2.08m  second hand Stuka in 2010, it was sent from the top of France to me at the bottom, it arrived at my local sorting office 2 klm's down the road, they phoned me to pick it up as the two boxes wouldn't fit in their van, two trips with my old Peugeot, 407SW a big estate and only one would fit at a time and the back door wouldn't close, last year they wouldn't accept my little Quickie 500 as the box was over 1.20m, ( 1m29 )

[Cuban8]

I'm not surprised at Weston or indeed any supplier of large ARTFs, reconsidering the viability of selling such goods given the shipping difficulties and costs of what is really quite a niche, physically large product transported half way round the planet. It's not as though you can fill a container with hundreds of them to pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap as in years gone by. The mass market just isn't there any more - and I doubt if it's good business to keep too many languishing in stock.

I'd guess the driver for these products is still the USA, so while they remain in a position to import larger models perhaps because of their traditional like of them and wider, more prosperous market, they'll still remain available, but at a much higher cost.

Whether that feeds through to maintaining our market place, I wouldn't like to say.

 

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Wonder where all the ships,containers, vans went from when we could buy stuff, tis a mystery.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

One neighbour is making one into a garden playroom for his kids, and another neighbour has his garden tools in it, and a 3rd on our club field with a couple of mowers and planes in it,,,

[kevin b]

3 years ago I sent a parcel to a friend in Australia it weighed about 8 kilos and cost under £30.00.

I now have another parcel to send to him which weighs 4 kilos.

The cheapest price I can find is now £137.00 !!!

So half the weight and over 4 times the price.

If I were to send him the same parcel from New York it would cost me £64.00 (and would probably get there quicker).

[Frank Skilbeck]

During Covid, shipping was all messed up and container shipping rates went through the roof, they have come down, but still above pre-pandemic rates, https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chain-advisors/supply-chain-expertise/world-container-index-assessed-by-drewry

 

 

[Engine Doctor]

Just wait until the PO and other delivery companies switch the EV 's then ere will be another big pric3 hike and another excuse for either not taking bigger items and late delivery 

 

[Cuban8]

4 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Just wait until the PO and other delivery companies switch the EV 's then ere will be another big pric3 hike and another excuse for either not taking bigger items and late delivery 

 

Rather like drone deliveries of domestic parcels and odds and ends, widespread use of electric delivery vans will remain very limited and only in certain areas. In the case of EV vans, then maybe a case might be made for their practicality in large city centres where there might be many deliveries all close together. Worked for milk floats decades ago. Between cities or regions then it's a different matter.

[Engine Doctor]

2 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

 Worked for milk floats decades ago. Between cities or regions then it's a different matter.

Yes but there were far more milk depots around then and plenty of power stations to supply electricity for chargeing them. There are too many differences between then and now to make realistic comparrison .

[John Lee]

Electric delivery is already here.

 

Most of my Amazon deliveries are by electric vans now (I live on the Wirral, not a major city) and I regularly see dozens of them leaving their North Wales depot. They have a fleet of over 3000 electric vans in Europe and have just started trialing electric HGV's.

 

Amazon would not be using them if they did not work & save them money. The daily milage of the vans is surprisingly small & electric is far more suited to their stop start routine than ICE's.