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People who live in Germany have been very supportive of this move and said so on this and other forums. It is certainly very good news for them whether they call them pfennigs or Euros as they seem to be saving lots of pfennigs/Euros on this arrangement.
F and S in the UK do all their packing and posting etc for free if you spend over £50 for UK customers. Their European p&p rates are 20% of the order and if you spend over £250 it is post free. I presume they also do the tasks you have itemised but are better at it so charge less. A lot of shopkeepers would argue they have to pay rates, lighting bills, be there for 6 days per week and so on. I presume there is a profit element on what they sell as well. It is a well known fact that many traders also make a profit on their postage and packing.
Grief is a strange word to use about adverse criticism. I presume it would be much better if nobody said anything and just stopped buying or ordering Strelets products. The French Linear B web site may have opened as a result of criticism.
I never intended to buy this set as I don't collect Romans so no sour grapes here. Nevertheless this limited edition, limited distribution idea could spread to other ranges.
F&S are in a different country, with different postal rates, and different business rates and taxes. They are also an established business with an established customer base. Linear B are just getting going, and they aren't in UK.
I have looked into starting and running an internet model shop, and the postage rates from here are just as expensive as they are in USA and Germany. The minimum charge is just a bit higher than the price of one Airfix tank kit. So I realised that unless I had a special product, I would not be competitive. And that is even if I didn't pay myself for my time. (Linear B have commissioned into existence a special and unique product.)
Stop buying Strelets products? Sure, why not? That's your prerogative. Although I thought it was Linear B you have a beef with, about a set that you've no interest in, not Strelets.
Reading all the messages above I cannot help but respond...
Postage from foreign countries can be expensive which is why we have specifically created the Linear-B page for France where sending packages from Germany was simply crippling. As one of you pointed out, this is not our fault, these are the postage costs across Europe.
Given that this is new for us in France, I will investigate whether it is actually cheaper to send the orders by packing the sets flat and inserting them into a bubble envelope. As far as the Roman Transport is concerned, most people order between 1 to 3 sets, so this is easily done. I am hoping that sending them in this way would contribute to reducing the shipment costs.
I'll see whether this can be done for other countries and will write back when I have that info.
For single sets, posting just the sprues in a padded envelope sounds like a feasible idea, if that would reduce postage cost - box art could be available online where required.
Incidentally, as Linear-b have re-issued the Romans on the March, how about the Norman Infantry next, which seems to be very hard to find nowadays...?
Reading all the messages above I cannot help but respond...
Postage from foreign countries can be expensive which is why we have specifically created the Linear-B page for France where sending packages from Germany was simply crippling. As one of you pointed out, this is not our fault, these are the postage costs across Europe.
Given that this is new for us in France, I will investigate whether it is actually cheaper to send the orders by packing the sets flat and inserting them into a bubble envelope. As far as the Roman Transport is concerned, most people order between 1 to 3 sets, so this is easily done. I am hoping that sending them in this way would contribute to reducing the shipment costs.
I'll see whether this can be done for other countries and will write back when I have that info.
Thank you all!
Linear-B France
Dear Linear B France,
I knew you were nice guys, all along!
Bonne chance dans votre aventure. Je sais comment il peut être coûteux d'obtenir ces projets ont démarré, et je vous souhaite tout le succès possible.
Viel Glück in Ihrem Unternehmen. Ich weiß, wie teuer es sein kann, erhalten diese Projekte begonnen, und ich wünsche Ihnen allen Erfolg.
A while ago I sent a couple of sets from Germany to the UK, boxes (revell standard fig box size) were flat packed and with the figures were then put in a large padded envelope, this was a very much cheaper option then using DHL Pakchen about half the cost I think overall...
Ive also had sets deliverd to me this way from the USA and the results were very positive...
hope this helps
Your reply is confusing - para 1 says the postal charges are different para 2 says they are the same or just as expensive though I am not quite sure where "here" is.
What kind of currency is Airfix tanks? Sterling? Euros? Why suddenly change to equivalents?
Anyway that apart.
My response to your para about grief was:
Grief is a strange word to use about adverse criticism. I presume it would be much better if nobody said anything and just stopped buying or ordering Strelets products.
In other words:
Adverse criticism is an essential part of a feedback system so anything that customers may feel upset about, a retailer/producer can try to remedy it.
Is that clearer now?
Your reply to this para was
Stop buying Strelets products? Sure, why not? That's your prerogative. Although I thought it was Linear B you have a beef with, about a set that you've no interest in, not Strelets.
How do you construe that from my reply how does nobody (or one) become me? If I felt that way I would have just acted no need to let anyone know.
I have no "beef" with Linear B/Strelets or anybody else if I had I would be seeing a legal rep about EC trading laws.
My fear is clearly expressed thus:
Nevertheless this limited edition, limited distribution idea could spread to other ranges.
I would add other companies as well.
finally
Linear B 's reply shows they are taking heed of the criticisms which is to their credit. The people at Linear B do a much better job of customer relations than others when given the opportunity.
I look forward to seeing your painted Roman models on this forum or at Benno's sometime in the future. Even the though I don't collect (my words note not your interpretation) them it doesn't mean I am not interested in them.
Thank you very much for taking a stance and for your kind words. Yes, we aim to please and some people are just a tough crowd... Over the weekend I'll check what postage costs from France to other countries will be. Like others I have had some experience with flat-packed boxes and kits and have found postage from abroad less taxing.
Give us a chance to get back to you and we'll see what makes sense. It is certain that postage costs from another EU country will never be as cheap as within your home place. But it's a step in the right direction. We are not a global conglomerate so with all the goodwill in the world nobody should expect us to have operations all around the world!! Not yet at least...
Linear-B is just starting and believe me there are some some very exciting surprises ahead...
So, David, thank you again, thanks to all the collectors and wargamers without whom we wouldn't be here and a HUGE thanks to Strelets for letting us use this forum.
FandS sometimes post the sprues and the box flattened so it can posted through a letterbox. My son and daughters are great jiffy bag traders on e bay and they can get the packing for CDs etc to a minimum.
I am interested in things Roman and Romano-Brit. I have had students who have worked at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester and colleagues who have worked on the displays etc. My local museum re opens soon and there is a strong Roman connection as it incorporates a Roman town wall as part of its structure. At the moment I do not collect Roman figures but who knows in the future if there are more non military types.
BTW I do know what Linear B is having seen lots of examples of the script in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and talked to people from Cyprus and Crete about Linear AB&C. Though I would have thought the runic futhark,futhorc was more in keeping with N Europe maybe that will be another branch.
When I was overseas, I almost always asked my supplier to take the sprews out, rubber band each set together (or use Zip Lock type sandwich bags for fiddly parts), and flatten the boxes. From U.S. to Japan, Fed Ex used to open my shipments and charge me duty! Ouch! There went my savings. No one else did that. However regular snail mail postage via surface shipping always got to me the way it should. I never cared how long it took. These days U.K. to U.S. I still request this type of favour from the seller. I know it's more work, but if we can help each other. Hope this helps.
What an innivation this would be .Then we would probably see many exotic sets of the Ottoman and Orient era appear to augment existing sr sets .There is some incredible art work freizes which could transform into many good figures that would be a joy to paint.Must be so much we do not discover yet from this empire,
i am wrong on coast for a start up.if i was on east coast it would be an easy integration, especially if i already had a ebay site with good sales tracking etc established.
plenty of quality gaming/historical events unlike california etc.period point of presence histori battlefield sites plus being something new would be nice for wargame magazines etc.i hope "they"
exploit it.
i think there is much opportunity here with the sr brand name attached
being localized with more local market familiar figures.alot would depend on design and production times and shipping.
more hobby=sport orintated market. maybe one or 2 companies weighing it up already so hope they progress.