Anyone been to tower hobbies lately? they jacked up all the prices on their planes, about 30.00 per plane average it looks like. i'll be taking my cash to the local hobby shop instead. looks like tower wants to get rid of some customers with their pricing

EVERYTHING is going up!! What's kinda weird about is the press NEVER mentions the "I" word.

The "I" word? What? INFATUATION? INFLECTION? INTROSPECTIVE? No, not INTERRACIAL?

Yae, I know which one you mean. That "I" word is exactly why our OP here will likely find the same price hike at his LHS when he gets there

The international shipping from TH had gone up a LOT lately. It's like $27 for a small package. Even with the promotion it's like $23 [X(]
A deal braker for me

I have noticed it as well, but it won't stop me from ordering from them. Their price + shipping is within 10% of what my LHS charges, so if my LHS doesn't have something in stock I'll just order it from Tower.

1)china is going up , total fact , Govt in China is funding farmers to stay at home and earn money , grow crops , ect . This limits the labor supply along with rising cost of labor and tech industry paying more for labor. In addition , anything oil based -linked to plastic products =increase .
2)USA is in an interesting pickel , we have a govt (as always ) that has never held real work outside of govt , so they dont know that the best way to creat jobs is to reward the independant business owner to grow his/her own business , so while we see govt attempt at jobs like improveing rest stops ect , real work is not perpetuating, only temp work with govt contrcats .
3)So what does this all have to do with Tower , the hobby and USA .
You have to study trends to know that its all linked and also know that opportunities to make money and capture new hobby segments are real and alive for the keen eye .
New explosive trends in RC are ARF in epo formats , this is not a labor intensive product , but more so a industrial investment with labor assembly , Tower and the big guys are totallly behind in this trend .
4)direct to consumer exporters -like Hobby King are Killing Hobbico , Horison and the top 4 , trust me on this . So if I were Tower and one of the big 4 , you have choice , stick to your current model with core brands like Futaba , Spectrum ect or offer your brand along with your new "budget brand" .
In essence its better to compete with yourself then allow a competitor into your segment .
So by not offering budget brands , your demand is down , your cost are up for lack of demand and increased cost (as stated earlier) , all this adds up to an unpleasant long term perspective for USA hobby distributors who lack trend planning and demand planning .
5)if this is over your head , you simply dont want to realize that its ALL LINKED , we are a global busines world , like it or not , USA jobs can thrive and be created by looking at what we do well , study trends , strengths , weeknesses and opportunities , compete with yourself first and you will be your best competition !!!!

I have no LHS. I do shop around on line but find Tower's prices hard to beat, especially as a super saver member. Brian

I save about 10% having my LHS order things from Tower. Once in a blue moon I might get a free shipping coupon from Tower. Only then will I order from them direct.


Pete

Tower offers free shipping every other week on their website on purchases of $99 or more.

I know what the Towers and Horizons make on the products they sell. It is not double digit margins.......it's triple digit in many instances. I know a flyer that wrote for one of the major RC magazines. He had what was called a "B" account. This allowed him to buy from the big boys at cost. Of course the items were to be used and promoted in magazine articles that encourage us to buy the stuff. Just for example; something I would buy for $100 dollars he could get for less than $25 dollars. Big dollar items like 1/4 scale and larger airframes could be had for less than 40% of what I would pay. Some as low as 25%. Of course, many of the projects he did cost him nothing. The point being, I got a look into what the margin structure of the big distributor looks like. Understand that their whole business isn't all rainbows and sunshine. There is defective merchandise they eat, dead inventory they have to liquidate, probably some shipping damage they take care of out of their pocket etc. But, all in all, they enjoy what would be considered in most circles, very healthy margins.
What I find interesting is the big, eyebrow raising jumps in margins these guys make. I mean they cram it down your throat all at once. $30 dollars on a $279 dollar plane makes you take notice. Most other industries make gradual raises over time. Something in the 2 - 3% range. They eventually get their 10% increase but, in a more subtle manner.
As the prices increase, I shop around more and often decide I don't really need to buy the item at all. I think with a shrinking economy, this move will cost Tower more than it will make them in added revenue. Time will tell.
3 years ago I spent over $2000 dollars on RC stuff
2 years ago I spent probably $1500 dollars on RC stuff.
Last year I spent around $900 dollars.
This year I bet it will be more like $600.
I'm not sure I can stay very active in the hobby for less than $500 dollars a year. I like new stuff and of course there are always repairs. It's just a matter of money. Fun is not cheap.

ROK , i would have to agree with you but I think they build it into there business model that they define as customer servace . So in essence they build in an estimated 33% for product failures .
I started a post on eletric retracts on another website . My point was that I bought $89 retracts from Horison , they I bought $15 ($7.95 a units ) from a well know Hobby supplier from Hong Kong . To my surprise and to the thread that is now about 30 pages long , there was no markable differance but an incredible markup .
I decided to try the orange spectrum copies in receivers , again very cheap in cost and they have been flawless, at 1/3 the price !!!
So I do believe that the price reflects as stated earlier there idea of customer servace and ability to fund returns

Tower's coupons combined with selling all the parts, accessories, etc. is a good plan because the postage disappears and you can stock up on other things you need. But the dollar is dropping, as it must now, and the industry depends almost totally on imports, so everyone is squeezed.

I just bought an LA Racer for $125 including shipping, and it's a direct competitor for the Escapade, which is now listed at $130. I suspect the LA Racer is actually a better airplane. Everyone knows about the Escapade because it is well advertised, but you pay for that advertising when you buy it. So the danger for Tower is people look around more and find good alternatives.

In the long run, the days when we can hire people to build cheap models for us overseas are probably coming to a gradual close. Nevertheless, the hobby is unbelievably cheap compared to what it was 30 or 40 years ago, and there will be lots of ways to continue enjoying it.

Jim

heck with tower i found a site that you can bid on rc items below retail works for me! rc penny auctions . com

The press will only mention the I word if they don't get their way in 2012........

Then watch how much the I word is thrown around along with the D word....as in Depression.....etc....