My company is pretty tiny, barely 300 employees world wide. We sell millions of gallons of lubricants each year. Yet we will sell 1 gallon to a customer who wants it, all via distribution. Distributors don't care about customer sizes. They are equipped to handle small and large.
Fujifilm simply doesnt want to sell film. It's clear for all to see. If Ilford's distribution can sell to small customer's so can Fujifilm's. There are different layers of distribution that can service customers of different sizes. But none of that works if the supplier wants out of the business. Kodak's films are in this tiny shop in my town. Why? Because they want to sell film.
I don't know. You are quite inconsistent in your opinion of Fujifilm (and in your attitude towards photography as well). Just because Fuji discontinued Acros, you were ready to discontinue photography and buy a bicycle. B&H suddenly got a few packs of Acros and you jumped right back in. In the other thread, you praised Fujifilm for still standing while others fell by the wayside.
QUOTE:You live in a fantasy ignoring the reality that Kodak is today in very very serious financial trouble. Just last week Kodak floated the idea that they would sell off the most profitable part of their business in a last ditch effort to pay outstanding debt. The company is STILL not financially viable years after emerging from bankruptcy. The stock price has been declining 2-5% per day for weeks now. The rats are starting to bail from the ship. Kodak warrants have lost 95% of their value. Investors are that certain that the loans will not be repaid back.
If we are honest, it should have been Fujifilm that should have been the last man standing between the two film producers. Fujifilm is an exceptionally stable company, far stable than Kodak could ever dream of. Fujifilm at one point was committed to film. They aren't now, but they used to be. Fujifilm had it all at one point, ISO100 and 400 monochrome film. ISO160, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 color film AND two flavors of E6 film.
THAT is the company people should have rallied behind, not a dying company preparing to dismember itself. Sure, losing Portra would have sucked, but people would have moved on. They always do.
Well, we had our chance, but it was not to be.UNQUOTE
Have you asked your little photo shop why they never carried Acros? Perhaps you were/are the only person who shoots that strange Japanese film in your town? Perhaps you found that B&H was cheaper and used the local store only when you wanted something in a hurry? Maybe if you had asked them to get Acros for you, they could / would have?
Shigetaka Komori, Fujifilm's current CEO, has been with the company since 1963. He's not an outsider appointed by a private venture fund wanting to make quick bucks and exit in the next quarter. He even wrote a book detailing the how and why of the transition of Fujifilm from a purely photographic company into what it is today. The size of Fuji's non-photographic business proves that his decisions were right. Unfortunately, in the process, some things have had to be abandoned. That is simply what it is.
I have read a number of Fujifilm's annual reports and they have consistently emphasized their commitment to photography and imaging - not to film. Did you know Fuji used to make glass plates film sheaths for using film in plate holders? They even make photo frames! Instax is a hit. So what if some of us don't use it?
Let's just enjoy film while we can. After that, perhaps glass plates, tintype, even smartphone photography! There's a whole world of photography out there!
Kumar
