Polaroid a victim of greed and not declining revenue?

gr82bart · Jan 4, 2009

To think that Polaroid might have been brought down, in part by another greedy idiot and not declining revenue, burns me a little. Whether it's shareholders or privately owned, there is no immunity to greed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQdphguZPJ8I&refer=home

Sucks.

Regards, Art.

Pinholemaster · Jan 4, 2009

The parent company raped Polaroid.

Prior to Petters Group, though, the top executives of Polaroid lined their own pocket quite well instead of truly being focused on growing the business.

brofkand · Jan 4, 2009

It is so sad to see things like batteries, DVD players, and pretty much every cheap knockoff consumer electronic nowadays use the Polaroid name.

That may have given the greedy execs an influx of cash to grease their palms, but it absolutely killed anything the brand had left. The brand Polaroid is no more in essence. If someone else comes in and wants to take Polaroid back to it's roots, it would have a hell of a time doing it.

mikebarger · Jan 4, 2009

This has happened in a lot of companies in the US. Technology passes them by, then their name shows up on junk or non-related consumables.

It is hard to continually down size a company as the market disappears; and still make enough money to satisfy shareholders. It's hard to blame shareholders wanting to move to products that at least give them a chance to make money.

I doubt many investors buy stock in a company because they want to see their products hang around. How many photographers bought Polaroid stock to save instant film, any of us? People buy stock to make returns on their investment.

Mike

epatsellis · Jan 5, 2009

Art, why would polaroid be any different than any other company? Seems to happen frequently these days, in fact.

Paul Howell · Jan 5, 2009

Remember Bell and Howell?

Ralph Javins · Jan 5, 2009

Good morning;

Paul Howell, I remember well the B&H Model 179 16 mm film projector. I tried to buy a 385 back in the 1970's, but failed. Noting the name, any family relationship?

It is interesting now to consider the life expectancy of a 16 mm film on a reel in its can, in comparison with a CD-ROM or DVD disk. I already know that a floppy disk or magnetic tape will not hold its pattern for very many years, so what ever is on the tape will be lost after a few decades in most cases.

pnance · Jan 5, 2009

Don't forget RCA (now a Chinese company).

epatsellis · Jan 5, 2009

Honeywell/Nikor?

Not to mention the epitome of greed (before Madoff, of course) Enron, execs bleed the company dry while living the high life.

What we need are those guys on the Miller commercials to go in and straighten them out...

Alex Hawley · Jan 5, 2009

Good article. Thanks Art. And all these business execs that are fleecing everyone have Ivy League MBAs. Makes one wonder what is taught in those high-falutin' schools these days. There's no shortage of bad management all across the spectrum.

Colin Corneau · Jan 5, 2009

On that topic...

A friend of mine is a professor at a university. She was talking to a colleague who related an interesting anecdote about a university MBA program at a facility they worked at previously.
Seems a professor assigned the class a major project. One student hacked the prof's computer, downloaded all info and sold it to classmates. The teacher bounced his arse out of the program.
The cheat (let's tell it like it is, shall we) protested to the dean of business studies. After a talk, he overturned the expulsion!

Reason: The kid did what it took to get ahead and make money. In his view, that was what was needed to get ahead in business in the real world.

So...there's your answer, right there. People may be born with a conscience, but ethics have to be taught.

mikebarger · Jan 5, 2009

No disrespect, but I sure hope that's an urban myth. But the way things are now I'm sure it's true.

Mike

AgX · Jan 6, 2009

Colin,

Related to your example of university educating for life is an exam at Cologne University Faculty of Economics where short after the insolvency of AgfaPhoto the students were asked, based on that case, to comment on chances a planned insolvency could yield for an investor.

JBrunner · Jan 6, 2009

The demise of Polaroid film had to do with greedy people, real estate profiteering, and the scammer. Sales of instant film were reported by the film group to be quite strong right up until they closed. I have started experimenting with the Fuji pack film for transfers. Different, not better, but do-able.

SamWeiss · Jan 7, 2009

JBrunner said:
The demise of Polaroid film had to do with greedy people, real estate profiteering, and the scammer.

????? As stated in the linked Bloomberg article:

Polaroid first sought bankruptcy protection from creditors in 2001 after digital cameras rendered obsolete the instant-film technology that made the company a household name.

JBrunner said:
Sales of instant film were reported by the film group to be quite strong right up until they closed.

It would be interesting to read that... but I can't find it on the Polaroid site or in (what little that I can find) Petters information.

Polaroid ceased being anything more than a recycled brand name several years ago, even before Petters bought the brand name and applied it to misc products.

BradS · Jan 7, 2009

gr82bart said:
To think that Polaroid might have been brought down, in part by another greedy idiot and not declining revenue, burns me a little. Whether it's shareholders or privately owned, there is no immunity to greed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQdphguZPJ8I&refer=home

Sucks.

Regards, Art.

you act surprised....it is the same with just about all corporations in the US. Wake up man!

JBrunner · Jan 7, 2009

SamWeiss said:
????? As stated in the linked Bloomberg article:

It would be interesting to read that... but I can't find it on the Polaroid site or in (what little that I can find) Petters information.

Polaroid ceased being anything more than a recycled brand name several years ago, even before Petters bought the brand name and applied it to misc products.

No, thats news reporting. The Petters Group fiasco was independent from what was happening in Boston regarding the plant, at least to a degree. The hawks had been after Polaroids real estate for a long time, common knowledge in the area. At one point last year I spoke directly with Polaroid concerning type 55 and they iterated that both type 55 and 669 had strong sales. Revenues had of course declined, but they had weathered the storm, downsized the film group, and were chugging away quite happily. The film group never had squat to do with the knock off crap, which the real Polaroid never produced. The real Polaroid continued to exist and produce film right up until they decided to shut it down last fall. That is when Polaroid ceased to exist as anything but a brand name as far as I am concerned. It's easy and lazy to say digital killed Polaroid, and in one sense, it's true, but the waters run far deeper than just that. The corporate freak show was and is its own venue. Those are the convoluted facts as I understand them, and I have no reason to doubt them, however as in all matters like this the true story may never be completely understood, even by some of the persons directly involved. As in all matters on the internet YMMV.

Frank Szabo · Jan 7, 2009

epatsellis said:
Honeywell/Nikor?

Not to mention the epitome of greed (before Madoff, of course) Enron, execs bleed the company dry while living the high life.

What we need are those guys on the Miller commercials to go in and straighten them out...

I disagree - what's really needed is a few million angry and armed citizens plus a few hundred guillotines; all on Wall Street.

JBrunner · Jan 7, 2009

Frank Szabo said:
I disagree - what's really needed is a few million angry and armed citizens plus a few hundred guillotines; all on Wall Street.

Yeah!! An then lets drag all those geeks out of their McMansions and....oh wait.. they don't live there any more...

Steve Smith · Jan 7, 2009

Colin Corneau said:
Reason: The kid did what it took to get ahead and make money. In his view, that was what was needed to get ahead in business in the real world.

One of my college lecturers told us that anyone caught cheating would be given extra marks for initiative!

Steve.

pauliej · Jan 7, 2009

Yes, we need a mob with torches and rope storming Wall Street and stringing up the bastards to teach them a lesson in ethics. Maybe storm the university mentioned above as well, as they sure dont seem to be teaching honesty and ethics any more either. Put me down as a Conservative Anarchist - I wont do any actual hanging, but I will provide the rope if needed.

paulie

archphoto · Jan 7, 2009

OK, but now and the future: ??????? On the road (or studio) with an extra D-@@@@@@ ???

Peter

crabby · Jan 7, 2009

Polaroid Promotional Film 1964

Polaroid Promotional Film 1964

http://www.archive.org/details/Polaroid1964

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 7, 2009

Excellent film. Aside from some interesting sales figures and great vintage Polaroid shots, it's interesting to see how they present the sales strategy that will be familiar to everyone who has bought a new camera in the last 25 years or so at least--i.e., try to sell up to the next model, and push the accessories after the customer has decided on the camera but before ringing up the sale. If you watch to the end, you see Polaroid's TV ads are promoting the cheap model, after telling the dealers to talk up the fancier model once the customer is at the sales counter, and then they treat a sale of the lesser model as a loss.

Frank Szabo · Jan 8, 2009

pauliej said:
... snip

- I wont do any actual hanging, but I will provide the rope if needed.

...

paulie

Perhaps not at first, but when you realize you'd be saving the nation, all should fall into place.

I've made a similar suggestion many times - a few hundred thousand angry and armed citizens and a couple hundred guillotines parked on Wall Street to be used until the infestation is eliminated. Sure, it'd be rather messy but not nearly so as what's happened to our country.

Polaroid a victim of greed and not declining revenue?

gr82bart

Pinholemaster

brofkand

mikebarger

epatsellis

Paul Howell

Ralph Javins

pnance

epatsellis

Alex Hawley

Colin Corneau

mikebarger

AgX

JBrunner

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SamWeiss

BradS

JBrunner

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Frank Szabo

JBrunner

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Steve Smith

pauliej

archphoto

crabby

David A. Goldfarb

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Frank Szabo

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