jeez, do you buy ever anything online (as some unscrupulous buyers do and avoid paying state taxes simultaneusly hurting local retailers) -- we should call this "retail piracy", i guess...
best mishka On 10/26/06, John Celio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Granted, this is somewhat different from selling gray market cameras, but > >> the loss of sales and profits is the same. > > > > Um, no it's not, it would be similar if you could clone cameras. Grey > > market import protection is in place simply to ensure that the local > > market can gouge local buyers. > > It's not gouging, it's staying in business. The costs of successfully > running a business in one country or region can be substantially higher than > running it in another country. This is why outsourcing of jobs has become > such a major problem in recent years. A friend of mine whose job at Intel > was outsourced referred to it as "job piracy." In a country like the US, > workers cost more, insurance and benefits cost more, rent costs more, etc., > compared to some "2nd world" country in southeast asia where gray market > retailers get much of their stuff from. Thus, retailers in the more > affluent regions have to charge more to stay in the black. The gray market > undercuts their ability to stay in business, which affects not only the > business itself but also its employees and the revenues and taxes it > generates for local and higher governments. > > In other words, the gray market has an effect on entire industries and > economies, not just local stores. > > There's also the fact that different countries have different import taxes, > and some countries have sales taxes that others do not. A good example is > the VAT that some UK travellers wanted to avoid by buying their cameras from > me at my last job. There are reasons for these taxes to exist, the first > and foremost is to ensure your government (local and national) has the money > to continue to function. > > Unscrupulous dealers will do whatever they can to circumvent these costs, > and unscrupulous or ignorant buyers will seek them out. On a large scale, > this hurts the local and national economies and has been affecting the > camera industry in particular for a long time now. It's one of the major > reasons internet retailers have been successful at driving brick-and-mortar > retailers out of business. > > > I'd like to see how you felt if you were running a legitimate business and > some jackoff came into town selling the same product, only at substantially > less because he got it through illegal channels. The worst part is, you > can't do anything to him because he's not located in a store: he's in a > roving van that can go wherever buyers want him, which means he doesn't have > the same costs you have associated with rent, insurance, employees, etc. > Your business does not gouge customers, and provides services the other guy > cannot or will not, but he's still successful because people don't realize > he's hurting their economy. Your store goes out of business and your > employees are now getting meager unemployment checks from the government > (who is now getting less tax revenue, by the way) because they can't find > work, all while the other guy keeps about his merry way taking more and more > bites out of the economy until it dries up and he moves along to find > greener pastures to slash & burn. > > This is what the gray market is doing to the camera industry, leaving us > with fewer and fewer real, respectable camera stores. > > I guess that's what you want, though. Enjoy! > > John Celio > > -- > > http://www.neovenator.com > > AIM: Neopifex > > "Hey, I'm an artist. I can do whatever I want and pretend I'm making a > statement." > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
