Tariffs hitting Leica May 1st

[repins05]

Hypothetical example without know actual cost of glass......

Tariffs -

Scope, in its entirety, manufactured outside the USA will see a 25 percent increase in total price.

Scope using glass manufactured outside of the USA but rest of parts manufactured in the U.S see a 5 percent increase? Less ...? More...?

 

[Bugger]

Most glass manufacturers have another market they're in to help cost share. Zeiss, for instance, is also in eyewear.

^^^this^^^
Sporting optics from all the alpha brands are just a tiny portion of the company. I bet the margins are already low compared to their medical/lab devices, eyewear, jewelry, camera lenses, etc. It would take one of those industries to start here and then we can hope they want to branch out into hunting optics. I really doubt a company could support itself on binos and scopes alone outside of Asian contracts.

 

[flyfisher117]

If you think the Germans work for nothing, I'd invite you to go visit a German factory and talk to them about their wages and time off. American's work for nothing and no quality of life in comparison.

Can confirm. I work for a US OEM. Our parent and sister companies, all in Germany, have better wages, time off, working conditions etc.

 

[z987k]

^^^this^^^
Sporting optics from all the alpha brands are just a tiny portion of the company. I bet the margins are already low compared to their medical/lab devices, eyewear, jewelry, camera lenses, etc. It would take one of those industries to start here and then we can hope they want to branch out into hunting optics. I really doubt a company could support itself on binos and scopes alone outside of Asian contracts.

Margins on most scopes are incredibly high.

 

[Backyard]

I heard at one time that all these tariffs would be payed by the tariffed country. What happened?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Predator_SD]

Hopefully expensive enough sales drop off dramatically and they suffer. Time for a massive reset in the US in manufacturing, consumer spending, and prices.

 

[Predator_SD]

I heard at one time that all these tariffs would be payed by the tariffed country. What happened?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They are, no one is forcing you to buy Leica

 

[Bugger]

Margins on most scopes are incredibly high.

We talking alpha class or Chyyyyna?

 

[z987k]

We talking alpha class or Chyyyyna?

I've read swaro is up around 60% at msrp.
Hopefully someone that sells these can chime in, though if it is that high i wouldn't blame them from steering well clear of talking about it.

 

[Latewinner]

Just my thoughts, but I wish they would have been surgical in the tariffs. The broad tariffs might crush the economy because everyone and everything is affected. Targeting certain strategic areas would have been a healthy start.

Can’t reverse an entire trade imbalance in 1 term…

 

[Backyard]

They are, no one is forcing you to buy Leica

You don’t really think that was a serious question? Sorry, here: JK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chanson_roland]

Can confirm. I work for a US OEM. Our parent and sister companies, all in Germany, have better wages, time off, working conditions etc.

I used to have a team in Germany. Their labor laws and wages make the entire US look like the set of "Cool Hand Luke".

Nothing like flying over from the US and spending all your time in the office alone because of some obscure medieval holiday/festival/clog dancing that has your team day drinking while you're staring at the coffee machine and trying to decide if the "mitdermilken" button adds cream to your cup or jettisons the keurig capsule into space.

Oh, and when they come back from their legally mandated hiatus, they've *STILL* earned more vacation time in the interim than you have.

I love Germany. It's a lot of things. Cheap ain't one of them...

ETA: One of the reasons why Germany/Austria/Switzerland are so good at optics is their hundreds of years of R&D and scientific education in math, optics and physics. Their high schools teach more of those subjects than most of our colleges. So, in the short term, that's hard to replicate. Additionally, many of their specialist companies are privately held, meaning they are relatively immune to short-term market sentiment and will be resistant to changing prices.

 

[Maverick1]

Getting a bit tiresome to see so many
1. Non-political threads turn political
2. Veiled political threads being posted as non-political

-
-

 

[ddowning]

All of my employees care about the quality of product they put out. I think most folks in manufacturing jobs in the USA probably care about the products they help bring to life.

The government does a lot of harmful things to the work force though. I have had single mother's work for me that were rock stars. But, they can't make over a certain amount without fear of losing the government assistance they need.

Basically punishing the working class, while shipping billions off to foreign countries. It's pretty insane.

You can help those people by putting them in a position to make more and catering to the amounts while their skills grow. Once they are at a level where they can earn more than wages plus assistance, you give them a big pay jump that gets them over the hump.

 

[roadrunner]

Margins on most scopes are incredibly high.

Niche market is why.

 

[roadrunner]

I used to have a team in Germany. Their labor laws and wages make the entire US look like the set of "Cool Hand Luke".

Nothing like flying over from the US and spending all your time in the office alone because of some obscure medieval holiday/festival/clog dancing that has your team day drinking while you're staring at the coffee machine and trying to decide if the "mitdermilken" button adds cream to your cup or jettisons the keurig capsule into space.

Oh, and when they come back from their legally mandated hiatus, they've *STILL* earned more vacation time in the interim than you have.

I love Germany. It's a lot of things. Cheap ain't one of them...

ETA: One of the reasons why Germany/Austria/Switzerland are so good at optics is their hundreds of years of R&D and scientific education in math, optics and physics. Their high schools teach more of those subjects than most of our colleges. So, in the short term, that's hard to replicate. Additionally, many of their specialist companies are privately held, meaning they are relatively immune to short-term market sentiment and will be resistant to changing prices.

No doubt. Americans in general, as far as the corporate world goes, have no clue what "work ethic" means. To them, work ethic means you work for pennies on the dollar because it's important to do more for less by being a "team player".

Getting a bit tiresome to see so many
1. Non-political threads turn political
2. Veiled political threads being posted as non-political

-
-

Discussing how the world economy affects the hunting industry is hardly political.

 

[pacoalcracker]

A lot of the German workforce are schooled engineers.....even regular mechanics and all factory technical workers like electricians and millwrights etc etc.....that is why they demand a higher wage. Here in the USA its quite the opposite.

 

[jayhawk]

^^^this^^^
Sporting optics from all the alpha brands are just a tiny portion of the company. I bet the margins are already low compared to their medical/lab devices, eyewear, jewelry, camera lenses, etc. It would take one of those industries to start here and then we can hope they want to branch out into hunting optics. I really doubt a company could support itself on binos and scopes alone outside of Asian contracts.

True. I mean Swarovski makes more money selling jewelry than from hunting optics.
And Leica is more popular in the camera and photography industry.

 

[chanson_roland]

A lot of the German workforce are schooled engineers.....even regular mechanics and all factory technical workers like electricians and millwrights etc etc.....that is why they demand a higher wage. Here in the USA its quite the opposite.

One of the things the Germans heavily invested in post WW2 is the Apprenticeship model. If we want to boost manufacturing here in areas like optics, that's one option.

German Apprenticeship Model

 

[IDVortex]

You can help those people by putting them in a position to make more and catering to the amounts while their skills grow. Once they are at a level where they can earn more than wages plus assistance, you give them a big pay jump that gets them over the hump.

As someone who has/does own my own business, been in management rules to help dictate pay and such with employees, there are a lot of people out there that are more willing to rely on government assistance than to rely on their own 2 feet. The government is a big union, they rather have control over you then to push you to rely on yourself.