Tariffs?

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

My understanding of who owns the tooling is, whatever goes to China, stays in China. Ownership is kind of immaterial. This is part of the price China exacts for cheap labor. It's policies like this that are part of the underlying reason for the tariffs in the first place. They have really locked in a lot of manufacturing, by not letting it get away. Labor costs have been rising in China, and there are countries that might be cheaper, but we can't get out. 

That is not exactly correct on the tooling. You can ship tooling, not built in China, in and out of the country. You can have tooling built in China that stay's in China or you can pay a higher price to have tooling built in China that is exportable. It all depends on what you want to pay.

Apples55 posted:

While I agree in general, Allan, my concern is for “the little guys”... I have two steamers on order from Grzyboski’s and two diesels coming from 3rd Rail. Neither of these vendors requires a deposit, so if the price increase is significant enough, many consumers may cancel orders and leave the vendor in the lurch which could jeopardize their continued existence.

Although that may happen in a few instances, my guess is that most hobbyists who placed preorders for items (always a bit of a risk in any case) will stand by their commitments to complete the purchases. I certainly have a number of items in the pipeline myself, and even though I'm by no means a wealthy hobbyist, I do take care to stay within a hobby budget that always has had some flexibility in regard to possible price increases (tariffs or otherwise).

Allan Miller posted:

Short term pain (which just about everybody will feel); hopefully long term gain. At least that's how I see it. I'm ready to absorb some pain if it helps to level the playing field.

Allan, I’m in total agreement with your comments. Just to add further, we all need to remember that these tariffs are not occurring in a vacuum where the rest of the business climate remained unchanged. The US corporate tax rate was reduced from 35% to 21% as of Jan 1, 2018. The US importers now have a little cushion to help sustain what we all hope is a temporary added cost (tariffs) to push the trade agreement to a better place for both the US and China. 

Fortunately I have all the trains that I can ever use.  I don't need anything.  I continue to buy new things because I like them and want to own them.  I can pass on new trains if the price becomes to high.  

Perhaps this will help trains hold their value on the used market.  That would be a welcome change when I want to sell something.  

NH Joe

Guys...I am getting quite a few emails about this thread...obviously it must be a sore point for some folks.  I really don't want to spend my entire weekend having to deal with a discussion that is really going into aspects of the purpose, goals, whys, etc. of the tariffs.  It seems that in one way or another, any increases in prices of raw materials to produce our trains, regardless of the reason including tariffs,  could have the effect of increasing the costs to hobbyists.  Seems pretty simple to me.  This is a political topic right now plain and simple....  Don't you get enough of this crap in the news?  How about joining some political forums and post to your heart's content about whether the current tariff situation is going to meet whoever's goal for whatever reason.....just don't do it here.  There are so many good train topics on our forum....