Ilford has new USA distributor

[cmacd123]

The middle of the country is often the worst. Frozen roads make it hard both to get trucks to the warehouse, and then to ship to dealers during the winter months. It happens due to cheap land and cheap labor. But that advantage is offset if you can't efficiently turn your inventory for a third of a year.

Conversely in the Arctic, you have to wait for Frozen roads to get truck shipments. Can't think of any place in North America where Winter weather causes more than a couple of days delays during the year. (the southern US seldom gets winter weather, and so they do get thrown for a loop when it arrived)

 

[DREW WILEY]

When I studied Pleistocene geomorphology fifty years ago, I was greatly assisted by the extensive studies funded by the oil companies trying to figure out how the maintain roads on Arctic permafrost. Over the decades they have probably spent billions on freeze/thaw issues. Now they merely grease the palms of a few key politicians, and lo and behold, warming issues instantly cease to exist! But the Russians have gotten clever, and capture some of the natural gas at the wells, and use this as refrigerant energy to re-freeze the permafrost around the drilling platforms.

 

[DREW WILEY]

But in my adult reincarnation, I was a professional buyer for a big construction supply here on the west coast for almost forty years. Shipments from the Eastern seaboard and parts of the mid-south like Arkansas would run anywhere between one to three months late in Winter. It's not like ordering some knick-knack via UPS or FedEx. Complex goods like tool and machinery require that all necessary components get to the point of assembly in due sequence, or the finished product simply won't exist. In some instances, people couldn't even get to work for a week or two at a time. Trucks have to stop and wait out icy conditions. How much this will affect a film distributor, I can't say. But I can't foresee serious bulk shipments of printing paper getting to central warehouse distribution except by truck.

 

[cmacd123]

funny, I have lived all my life at one the coldest Capital cities in the world, (yep with more extreme weather than Moscow) and seldom has anything been slowed down. The house I live is was built in -30C weather over one winter....

Now snow and Ice can mess stuff up in the US south, where they seldom see it and don't have the needed snow plows and such.. but that is a small area and they would get late shipments no mater where they were coming from.

Indiana, well that is where RCA used to make all their TV sets. so I imagine there logistics are just peachy.

 

[Craig]

Complex goods like tool and machinery require that all necessary components get to the point of assembly in due sequence, or the finished product simply won't exist. In some instances, people couldn't even get to work for a week or two at a time. Trucks have to stop and wait out icy conditions.

Never seen a frac crew? The oil and gas industry does most of it's work in the winter when things are frozen, and very little slows them down. Trucks don't stop and wait for sunshine and rainbows, we just get on with things and life carries on. Winter doesn't slow down Canadians.

 

[cmacd123]

Never seen a frac crew? Winter doesn't slow down Canadians.

And Calgary is one of the few places where the cold can get colder than Ottawa, (But it is a dry cold)

Middle of the US is a great place to run a distributorship for consumer goods. Might want it a bit further north isf they want to serve Canada. (Buffalo NY is a popular place) but since the setup is for the US market, IN is great.

 

[Sirius Glass]

In the middle Atlantic states the mere rumor of snow sends people into a panic buying up all the toilet paper, milk, eggs and white bread. It must have something to do with a pagan rite that causes great gastric distress. I do not know. Also the minimum acceptable driving speed becomes 70 mph regardless of road width or conditions. Once ice and snow appear, the 70 mph is no longer fast enough.

However I noticed in Calgary people just get their cars above the snow and drive on it, but at slower speeds, using turn signals and being very polite and patient with other drivers and pedestrians.

 

[RattyMouse]

The middle of the country is often the worst. Frozen roads make it hard both to get trucks to the warehouse, and then to ship to dealers during the winter months. It happens due to cheap land and cheap labor. But that advantage is offset if you can't efficiently turn your inventory for a third of a year.

I dont know where you've lived but I've lived 45 years in the middle of the country and stores are stocked just as well in the deep winter as any other time. There are hundreds of distribution centers located all over the Midwest.

 

[skorpiius]

In the middle Atlantic states the mere rumor of snow sends people into a panic buying up all the toilet paper, milk, eggs and white bread. It must have something to do with a pagan rite that causes great gastric distress. I do not know. Also the minimum acceptable driving speed becomes 70 mph regardless of road width or conditions. Once ice and snow appear, the 70 mph is no longer fast enough.

However I noticed in Calgary people just get their cars above the snow and drive on it, but at slower speeds, using turn signals and being very polite and patient with other drivers and pedestrians.

Ok now I know you're just making this up

 

[Tim Stapp]

I'm both bummed and glad at this news. I was hoping that Norman Camera (warehouse in Kalamazoo, MI) would get it. On the other hand, my kids and grand daughter live in Indy. I guess that I will be visiting them more often

 

[DREW WILEY]

I just know from a mere forty years of consistent experience how seriously trucks can get delayed headed west in Winter. It often surprises people who have stereotypes of "sunny" California, but much of the state can get isolated by snow. Ever hear of the Donner Party? - and Donner Pass is the lowest pass over the range, and the only one usable to all-year trucking. Using a snowplow any of the higher passes would be classified as suicide.What's really idiotic is when goods get shipped over the Pacific, then have to get from here to warehousing across the country, then get shipped back here where most of the actual demand is. The main problem this time of year (Dec) is that parcel carriers double their staffing with temp and theft gets rampant, while trucks often off-load during storm delays, and

 

[Besk]

I've purchased some used camera gear from Roberts Camera on eBay. They seem like a good outfit, I have no complaints. They're also good about describing the condition of used gear.

I agree.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

if you go to robertsdistributors.com all you get is a demo website.

Their website is https://robertscamera.com

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

I've shopped at Roberts since I was a teenager. I grew up in Fort Wayne, a 2 hour drive took me to Roberts downtown Indy store. The old Roberts store was one of those old ramshackle looking places that have so much charm; a couple yrs ago, they built a big new store. They're good people, and will do a good job as Ilford's distributor. I was there a few months ago and they has a huge stock of Ilford films.