Tariffs and Film and Paper prices

[Alan Edward Klein]

I agree, but that veering is moderator-approved, except when such approval is rolled back and the posts are deleted.

I’ll be taking some pictures today using pre-retaliatory tariff film and vintage analog camera. Yippee! Rejoice!!

Pre-tariff film shoots better.

 

[ags2mikon]

All of this tariff stuff is in a state of flux and will be for the foreseeable future. Just because they add 10% tariff does not mean I will be paying 10% more. Sometimes the seller will absorb some of the tariff and the added cost will be less that the 10%. I thought we would be looking at new tariffs 2 years ago depending how the political winds blew and started looking at Kodak Tmax films with that in mind. I do not have anything against Ilford at all. They make great products, but I am on a pension so I have to watch my costs. I now mix all of my chemistry that I can and have simplified on Tmax 100 and 400. I also stocked up on raw chemicals to hedge against further price increases. I think that any tariff that is added will not be permanent. That too will pass.

 

[koraks]

that veering is moderator-approved

No, it most definitely is not. The fact that we don't delete everything doesn't mean we approve of it. Sometimes we let it slip - sometimes we're just not around for a minute, and sometimes we just tolerate some degree of transgression of forum rules so we don't have to cut the entire thing short altogether, sometimes we'd rather remove some bits but as the discussion has proceeded, it'd be a lot of work to do a neat job so we just move on.

Don't mistake a lack of intervention for approval. And for that matter, don't mistake a moderator posting in a thread as approval that everything posted in the thread is A-OK.

 

[GregY]

All of this tariff stuff is in a state of flux and will be for the foreseeable future. Just because they add 10% tariff does not mean I will be paying 10% more. Sometimes the seller will absorb some of the tariff and the added cost will be less that the 10%. I thought we would be looking at new tariffs 2 years ago depending how the political winds blew and started looking at Kodak Tmax films with that in mind. I do not have anything against Ilford at all. They make great products, but I am on a pension so I have to watch my costs. I now mix all of my chemistry that I can and have simplified on Tmax 100 and 400. I also stocked up on raw chemicals to hedge against further price increases. I think that any tariff that is added will not be permanent. That too will pass.

Yours of course is the understandable position of one in the U.S...... in other places photographers are making different choices...

 

[MattKing]

Think of the moderator's view of this thread as if we were all parents and the thread was the smell of a soiled (photographic) diaper.
Not approved of - but sometimes one has to deal with these things - mainly because the rest of the places in the world that are discussing this won't bother to touch on the effects on photography!

 

[FotoD]

Anybody have a sense of what will happen to raw chemicals for those of us making our own developers, hand coating, etc?

If anything I would expect prices could drop. It seems China had an overproduction of chemicals even before the US tariff bonanza. But it only takes a tweet to change everything these days, so who knows.

 

[pentaxuser]

I now live in New Jersey. It's the only state in the USA that does not allow patrons to pump their own gas. Other states either have pump your own only lines or pump your own or have an attendant do it it for higher cost per gallon. When I drive to other states and need gas, I;ve often pulled up to the pump and waited minutes for the attendant before remembering I have to pump it myself.

That is a surprise to me as a U.K. resident. We've been self service for what seems forever but certainly well over 20 years

pentaxuser

 

[BrianShaw]

Think of the moderator's view of this thread as if we were all parents and the thread was the smell of a soiled (photographic) diaper.
Not approved of - but sometimes one has to deal with these things - mainly because the rest of the places in the world that are discussing this won't bother to touch on the effects on photography!

Good point. Perhaps “tolerated” would have been a better word choice. Thanks for your service!

 

[koraks]

Perhaps “tolerated” would have been a better word choice.

"Overlooked" or "actively ignored". Mostly the latter, really.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That's exactly what Greg was implying in post 364. Yes, that is a function that most, if not all, international shipping companies offer. Have you not seen the periodic threads with gripes about shippers like that and their exorbitant processing fees and (not of their doing) import duties? How have you not noticed these discussions?; they seem to come up on a regular basis.

I do not make international purchases often, so I have manage to miss or dodge payments like that.

 

[GregY]

If anything I would expect prices could drop. It seems China had an overproduction of chemicals even before the US tariff bonanza. But it only takes a tweet to change everything these days, so who knows.

In our collective experience have the prices of chemicals, film or paper ever dropped substantially?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

No, it most definitely is not. The fact that we don't delete everything doesn't mean we approve of it. Sometimes we let it slip - sometimes we're just not around for a minute, and sometimes we just tolerate some degree of transgression of forum rules so we don't have to cut the entire thing short altogether, sometimes we'd rather remove some bits but as the discussion has proceeded, it'd be a lot of work to do a neat job so we just move on.

Don't mistake a lack of intervention for approval. And for that matter, don't mistake a moderator posting in a thread as approval that everything posted in the thread is A-OK.

It appears to me that most of the slips are on one side of the political spectrum, negative against tariffs and the people who impose them.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Ebay does not & errors occur. Here's the catch with international sales & why i avoid buying from EBay sellers in the USA. Ebay charges for shipping....and ships through their midwest hub...from which the box is sent on to customs in Ontario. There the box can languish for weeks (or disappear)...then it gets transferred to DHL Canada...who contacts me with an amount owing if i ever want to see the goods..once paid, the closer it gets to me DHL may offload to a local delivery service... A real nightmare.

You have a good strategy for you location. I just avoid eBay except when I can find no other alternative.

 

[koraks]

It appears to me that most of the slips are on one side of the political spectrum, negative against tariffs and the people who impose them.

You've got to be kidding me. I'm not even going to seriously respond to this kind of idiotic statement.

 

[GregY]

You have a good strategy for you location. I just avoid eBay except when I can find no other alternative.

It took almost a month to get a lens from a seller in Idaho (500mi/800km) directly south of me. It travelled as far as Texas and then north to cross the border 3500 km/2200 mi east of me.
The lens was a replacement for a lens ordered 5 weeks before from Roberts Camera ebay store which followed a similar circuitous path before vanishing. Of course ebay issued a refund....

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

You've got to be kidding me. I'm not even going to seriously respond to this kind of idiotic statement.

I don't respond to personal attacks.

 

[koraks]

I don't respond to personal attacks.

That was also the reason I didn't respond.
For the record, yours was truly an idiotic statement as the 'debate' on the tariffs has been exclusively one-sided as far as I can tell. So any slippage will automatically be one-sided, simply because conflicting opinions were not even posted. That's what made that statement so ridiculous and evidently intended only to create bad air - i.e. trolling.

But the conclusion is clear. We need to crack down harder on this kind of thing. It's evident that some people will abuse any kind of slippage in this area and that's exactly what the no politics rule is intended to prevent.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That was also the reason I didn't respond.
For the record, yours was truly an idiotic statement as the 'debate' on the tariffs has been exclusively one-sided as far as I can tell. So any slippage will automatically be one-sided, simply because conflicting opinions were not even posted. That's what made that statement so ridiculous and evidently intended only to create bad air - i.e. trolling.

But the conclusion is clear. We need to crack down harder on this kind of thing. It's evident that some people will abuse any kind of slippage in this area and that's exactly what the no politics rule is intended to prevent.

The problem is not because of politics per se, rather the cause by the ones who post political statements.

 

[koraks]

The problem is not because of politics per se, rather the cause by the ones who post political statements.

It's certainly possible to have a fruitful or at least productive discussion that involves politics. It just hasn't ever happened on an internet forum as far as I can tell. And we're not going to use this one to find out how to get there - if it's feasible in the first place.

Comments on the influence of tariffs on photograph without implied political positioning remains welcome. Let's get back to that.

 

[ChrisGalway]

Thanks both. It has been close to 10 years since I shipped anything in a professional setting (ie for work), so I'm a bit foggy if I had to deal with this then. The last time I shipped anything at all to the UK was 6 years ago and that was a bunch of gifts for a coworker. I do recall filling out a customs declaration for that, but it was pretty straightforward.

Chris

If you complete the Customs forms online, the HS/Taric code is inserted automatically if you type in a description of the item, e.g. "leather camera case". And you can't print off the label unless all fields, including the HS/Taric code, are completed. I would never risk getting this all done by hand at a post office unless you personally know that the agent knows their job.

 

[AERO]

That is a surprise to me as a U.K. resident. We've been self service for what seems forever but certainly well over 20 years

pentaxuser

I think it is well s over 20 years ago they allowed self service. I believe they said it would also mean cheaper petrol for the motorist as they did not have to employ/pay forecourt staff
We were lied to--again...

 

[pentaxuser]

I think it is well s over 20 years ago they allowed self service. I believe they said it would also mean cheaper petrol for the motorist as they did not have to employ/pay forecourt staff
We were lied to--again...

Did they allow self service or in fact presented you with DIY pumps but had attendants for a very few weeks in case you were unsure what to do? As far as I recall there was never any intentíon when DIY pumps arrived of having anyone available on a permanent basis

Effectively within a short period such attendants were redundant anyway as once you had done it for yourself a couple of times at the most, an attendant would have only slowed you down

However surprisingly in New Jersey it remains law that you have to have an attendant as Alan has stated

Alan, does that mean that despite it being quicker and easier to do it yourself the petrol station owners have to employ someone to act as an attendant with its resultant costs?

It just seems a strange law in this day and age

Has this come about because of an old law that has never been repealed and do you know why it still exists?


Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[AERO]

I think in the UK most people knew how to operate the pumps. They were not like the pumps available today..not much choice in petrol grades then and diesel was only lorries or coaches basically...

 

[cliveh]

Don't mention tariffs.

 

[MattKing]

Apparently, Tariff provisions are not sufficiently off topic for some people here, so self-serve gas stations are to be discussed.
Can we PLEASE get back to photography?