A Critical Look: Vanishing Margins

A Critical Look: Vanishing Margins

If you've ever seen Pawn Stars, you basically know how retail works: a retailer purchases a product from someone, usually a distributor or manufacturer, and resells it to you, the consumer, for a higher price. The retailer uses that money to pay his supplier for the product, and takes what is left over and uses it to pay his staff, the electric bill, or any other such necessities. Anything left over after that is usually reinvested into the business or invested elsewhere.

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A Critical Look: Traxxas' Connector Crisis

A Critical Look: Traxxas' Connector Crisis

For the last thirty plus years, the hobby industry has been largely built around the concept of openness — that any, say, speed control, from any manufacturer, can work with any motor, or receiver, or vehicle that the user wants. This has lead to a lot of hodge-podging, but it also fostered competition and drove down prices, because no single company cornered the market on anything.

Today, I want to talk about how that foundation for our industry is being jeopardized. It will likely start the hobby industry down the road leading to higher prices, fewer choices, and, eventually, a series of "walled gardens" between which nothing can be interchanged. This future is now, and the first shot fired in the revolution centers around a surprising and seemingly innocuous component: the humble battery connector.

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A Critical Look: Toledo Fails to Impress

A Critical Look: Toledo Fails to Impress

When I walked into the SeaGate Center in downtown Toledo, the first thing I noticed was the lack of elbows in my ribs. The entire convention center had fewer people than I’ve ever seen at a Toledo show. A few people commented to us that the aisles were wider, but that turned out to be false; the aisles appeared wider because there weren’t enough people to fill them.

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A Critical Look: End of an Era?

A Critical Look: End of an Era?

It's been awhile since I talked about the state of the industry as I see it here, in Saginaw. Much has changed since that last blog post many years ago, and unfortunately, not all of those changes were for the better. While there were some positive changes in the industry (more like a lot, actually), I find it more helpful to discuss those things that require change to better the hobby world. Talking about success isn't without merit, but talk of failure is crucial to prevent past mistakes repeated.

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