Returning to film

I have been interested in all the comments and agree with many. I don't knwowthe BEST way to greet new members, but answering their questions goes a long way.

As for stores which tell customers that they must buy a digital camera because film is not going to be made, I tell them that our wet lab classes at the college still outdraw the digital photography ones 10 to 1, which is a fact.

I then let them know that if they choose to abandon silver based photography that is their right, but they will not see me or my students in their store. I purchase and urge my students to purchase materials from stores dedicated to serving the analog community and let those going digital do so.

Does this help? I doubt it, but it makes me feel better.

Most forums have a "Welcome" PM, and that's been on the todo list. I'm not comfortable with it having any commercial involvement though. I would prefer to keep it as a welcome, brief history, the type of atmosphere we expect in the forums, the forum rules, a link to the forum for introducing yourself, etc. I've noticed a lot of new members have been getting into strife for not really knowing what we are about (for example posting A vs. D, or spam). I think an initial PM could help in that regard..

srs5694 said:

There's also the fact that salespeople want to sell what their store has. This is particularly true when they're on commission -- the salesperson will get a heckuva lot more money out of a $1,000 DSLR sale than out of the sale of $10 worth of film!

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The margins on digital cameras are rather thin, and you can not say that the stores prefer to sell digital gear because they make more money from it. The margins for memory cards are almost non-existent also and I can not understand why some dealers trade these things on eBay for discount prices, because after paying the fees, there are at most a few cents to be earned per sale.

Sean said:

Most forums have a "Welcome" PM, and that's been on the todo list. I'm not comfortable with it having any commercial involvement though. I would prefer to keep it as a welcome, brief history, the type of atmosphere we expect in the forums, the forum rules, a link to the forum for introducing yourself, etc. I've noticed a lot of new members have been getting into strife for not really knowing what we are about (for example posting A vs. D, or spam). I think an initial PM could help in that regard..

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Hi Sean,

If you added a link to the Sponsors Page in such a Welcome PM that would make any potential commercial relationship between the newbie and a sponsor a solely voluntary one on the registrant's part.

Petzi said:

The margins on digital cameras are rather thin, and you can not say that the stores prefer to sell digital gear because they make more money from it. The margins for memory cards are almost non-existent also and I can not understand why some dealers trade these things on eBay for discount prices, because after paying the fees, there are at most a few cents to be earned per sale.

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Anybody know offhand the average mark up for film, paper and chemicals?

I think if I am a photo retailer selling digital equipment exclusively (there are a few in Toronto) I would have to sell a lot of lenses, inkjet cartridges, bags, lens caps, microfibre cloths to make the rent. I think there must be a lot of back end discounts, and dealer spiffs to make it pay.

Bill

I think a (single) welcoming PM would be most useful. Sean's outline of this sounds pretty close to the mark.

I don't think it would do any harm to include a link to the sponsors' forum if some / all were offering some form of APUG discount. My opinion is that anything more than this would stand a very good chance of being counter-productive.