Re: [Leica] Is film a thing of the past? Will they be digging up Leicasurus Rangefinderus fossils in a few short yoears?

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Donal-

Well I can't tell you about "market saturation", since here in the
hinterlands of NC it hasn't happened yet! I worked at a drugstore minilab
partime until I retired in '95. From 1993 to 1995 business seemed to grow
steadily- one of the reasons I left was that management would not hire
enough people to cover the increase in business! After I retired, I went to
Wolf Camera, working only on weekends, and I have seen the minilab volume
steadily increase there, as well.
To be fair, only one of our stores has the APS capable printer, a Fuji
SFA238. It is in out highest volume store, but even at that, where the roll
count is about 250-300 a day, I have rarely seen more than 15-20 APS rolls
come in for develope and print service and even fewer reprint orders.
We have to send the APS out from the other store to the Main Lab, and I
recall only about 4-5 rolls coming in for outlab service here last weekend.
Now, Greensboro isn't exactly Possumtrot, or Lickskillet, RFD, but the
photofinishing market here is still expanding!
As my wife jokes, " What does a man with two college degrees say to a pretty
girl?... ' you want singles or doubles?' "
Carpe Lux,
Dan'l
dwpost@msn.com
- -----Original Message-----
From: Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Monday, June 22, 1998 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Is the Leica an endangered species?


>Dan Post wrote:
>> Two- APS accounts for only about 5-8% of our total volume.
>
>I remember speaking to a manufactuer's representative a couple years
>back on the plane returning from a PMA show and she said the main reason
>for APS development was that the mini lab growth had pretty well reached
>saturation and that the manufacturers needed to develop something new
>for them to buy.  She said it was purely economics and profits and her
>company (to be nameless) was in the middle of it.
>
>donal
>--
>Donal Philby
>San Diego
>www.donalphilby.com