Ilford Price Increase in May

Agulliver · May 4, 2020

What makes you think Ilford Photo makes big profits anyway?

I hope all the people who bleated about Fuji increasing prices while claiming that Ilford and Kodak never increase prices are happy now.

I don't enjoy price increases but if it keeps Ilford going then I'll accept it. I'd rather my HP5+ and ID-11 were a little more expensive than taken away from me.

Dali · May 4, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
What makes you think Ilford's profits don't go to the shareholders?

I don't know but I would rather see the extra profit being re-invested in the company (R&D?) than being sucked by parasites.

Dali · May 4, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
You can be certain, very certain, that the shareholder's profits are constantly under review by the board of directors.

No doubt but this is not the point: When I pay the price, I expect to company to take all benefit of it as it is after all the customers' interest to get the money re-invested in production. Paying the price knowing that x% shall disappear into suckers pockets make me sick, whoever takes the decision.

warden · May 4, 2020

Dali said:
I don't know but I would rather see the extra profit being re-invested in the company (R&D?) than being sucked by parasites.

By parasites you mean people who have invested in the company, right? Those parasites are pretty useful people and can keep you in business.

As for R&D, it is abundantly clear by their product line that Ilford invests in R&D, no worries there.

MattKing · May 4, 2020

Harman is owned by a venture capital company - Pemberstone - that apparently has a history of buying small to medium sized businesses and running them long term for the benefit of its investors.
As Pemberstone has access to more capital than Harman used to, there are advantages in being so owned. Most of the film photography industry suffers from not having sufficient access to capital.
It all depends on how well Pemberstone deals with its investment - an investor interested in reasonable returns and a steady growth in value is an excellent owner, whereas an investor interested in quick, short-term profits is often a poor one.

Agulliver · May 5, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
Who says Ilford makes big profits?

The people who moan about the price increase going towards lining the pockets of shareholders.

No manufacturer of photo film is creating any fat cats these days.

I don't like the price increase either, but Kodak and Fuji also increased prices in recent times....and if that keeps my HP5+ in production then I will suck up the price increase as best I can.

Adrian Bacon · May 5, 2020

MattKing said:
I could be wrong, but I think that that article may be US based, so may actually reflect the US distributor's (Roberts Cameras) information.
Harman do their own distribution in the UK - and may therefore benefit from higher margins.
The US is their biggest market, so more product is sold through Roberts than through other conduits.

roberts price in the us is increasing may 5th. They actually pushed it back quite a bit, they usually kick it up at the beginning of every April. I’ve known about it for a few weeks. I’m expecting to receive the new price list sometime on Tuesday.

Adrian Bacon · May 5, 2020

paulbarden said:
The last time I bought 8x10 sheets of HP5+ it was $109 a box. At $150 a box, I doubt I will buy it again. Such a shame.

If this price increase is supposed to take effect May 11, why have prices jumped already, or have we not actually had the price increase yet??

most retailers are either out of stock or almost out of stock of most products and so have jumped up prices for a lot of things because they’ll have to be reordering in the next couple weeks and the prices will go up then anyway.

Adrian Bacon · May 5, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
With 30 million now unemployed and federal extended benefits scheduled to end in just a few months, Ilford's timing could not be worse. It is possible to raise prices and make less money.

It’s also possible to not raise prices and make less money. They have costs themselves that increase every year (like workers salaries, the cost of goods sold, etc). They are also a company who is in business to make money.

Adrian Bacon · May 5, 2020

Dali said:
No doubt but this is not the point: When I pay the price, I expect to company to take all benefit of it as it is after all the customers' interest to get the money re-invested in production. Paying the price knowing that x% shall disappear into suckers pockets make me sick, whoever takes the decision.

those suckers are investors that provide access to capital that Harmon would not otherwise have. In return, they expect a reasonable return on their investment. It’s beneficial to both parties. Harmon can do things that they would otherwise not be able to do (for our benefit), and their owner makes a reasonable return on their investment. That is going to happen regardless of whether they raise their prices or not.

Dali · May 5, 2020

jawarden said:
By parasites you mean people who have invested in the company, right? Those parasites are pretty useful people and can keep you in business.

By parasites, I mean the huge majority of shareholders, not those investing in companies or even building it from zero. FYI, look at the percentage of financial volume used to invest in companies compared to what goes through Wall Street or the City in one year. it gives you the magnitude of parasitism.

warden · May 5, 2020

Dali said:
By parasites, I mean the huge majority of shareholders, not those investing in companies or even building it from zero. FYI, look at the percentage of financial volume used to invest in companies compared to what goes through Wall Street or the City in one year. it gives you the magnitude of parasitism.

I believe Ilford's financial records are public so you can review them if it's this important to you to verify your standards of investor purity and reinvestment are being met before purchasing their products.

Bob Carnie · May 5, 2020

paulbarden said:
That’s been my opinion for awhile now too. But even for me, there’s a limit. (I won’t even consider Kodak products in 8x10 format - they’re simply too expensive) At $6 per sheet of 8x10 HP5, I’ll be careful how I use up my remaining inventory and then switch to something less costly. The CatLabs X80 has proven to be a very good film, though with a speed compromise. At approximately $4 a sheet, it’s starting to look mighty appealing.

I do have one other alternative that’s less expensive still: for about $1.50 per negative I can make 8x10 collodion glass negatives. That’s an even more attractive alternative.

You make good glass negs Paul , that would be my go to.

NB23 · May 5, 2020

Dali said:
No doubt but this is not the point: When I pay the price, I expect to company to take all benefit of it as it is after all the customers' interest to get the money re-invested in production. Paying the price knowing that x% shall disappear into suckers pockets make me sick, whoever takes the decision.

Dude, this is a problem with today’s consumers. They expect their money to go here or there.

Look, you buy a product and your money is gone. It went towards a product. Stop looking and expecting your money to go where you want it to go: you parted with it.

logan2z · May 5, 2020

Am I seeing things or did the price of Ilford chemistry jump by closer to 30% than 15%?

I placed an order from BH Photo on March 14 that included Ilfostop stop bath, Rapid Fixer and Multigrade Developer. I paid $7.95 for 500ml of Ilfostop, $9.95 for 1L of Rapid Fixer, and $9.95 for 500ml of Mulitgrade Developer. Looking at BH Photo today I see these prices:

Ilfostop 500ml: $10.26 (+30%)
Rapid Fixer: $13.97 (+40%)
Multigrade Developer: $12.40 (+25%)

The increase won't stop me from buying these products, but I'm curious why the prices jumped so much more than the announced 15%.

Sirius Glass · May 5, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
A shareholder is a shareholder. Why would they not be entitled to profit from their investment?

Dali wants to specify how much money people deserve and exactly how they will use their own money. That is a lot of gall.

NB23 · May 5, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
Dali wants to specify how much money people deserve and exactly how they will use their own money. That is a lot of gall.

Yes. His Dollar is worth a lot.

I’d venture to say that his Dollar is worth at least 50 of Your dollars.

MattKing · May 5, 2020

Or Dali is someone who bemoans the fact that so much of the corporate world is owned by institutional shareholders who assign no value to the long term health of the corporate entities they own shares in.
As for the reasons for price variation, in case you haven't noticed, Ilford products are made in the UK (and probably Germany), they have to be shipped to the US, and then shipped from where they are unloaded in the US, and there isn't anything stable right now about factors like currencies, shipment conditions and costs, and aa whole bunch of factors.
Who knows if this incredible instability is the new normal.

logan2z · May 5, 2020

MattKing said:
As for the reasons for price variation, in case you haven't noticed, Ilford products are made in the UK (and probably Germany), they have to be shipped to the US, and then shipped from where they are unloaded in the US, and there isn't anything stable right now about factors like currencies, shipment conditions and costs, and aa whole bunch of factors.
Who knows if this incredible instability is the new normal.

I'm sure you're right. I was just expecting a 15% price hike and was a bit surprised to see 30-40% on some products. Hopefully not the new norm, but I doubt we'll see prices go down at any point...

JWMster · May 7, 2020

Yep. Kind of glum that after deciding to commit to FP4 as my go-to film for the next year plus, bingo.... it's suddenly Ilford's most expensive 4X5 (100 sheet boxes) and the hike is up, up and away. But there you go.

CMoore · May 9, 2020

Ayrton Senna said:
With 30 million now unemployed and federal extended benefits scheduled to end in just a few months, Ilford's timing could not be worse. It is possible to raise prices and make less money.

I thought you were dead.......

Ilford Price Increase in May

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Ilford Price Increase in May

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