Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Okay, humor well-taken. And per my note to you off-list, I think this thread >veered off into a direction that wasn't what I'd originally proposed. My >original thought was that Leica could take in used cameras from customers, >perhaps a trade-in situation, and then refurbish those for resale at >reasonable prices to photo students. I think the 'donation' part of it had >more to do with giving up profits, rather than outright giveaways of brand >new cameras! I think some on the list think I meant that Leica should be >tossing new M7s to college students totally gratis! Not so! Kit - Sorry! I think we both got a bit hot under the collar. :-) I think your revised idea is a great one! It wouldn't provide a tax deduction for the buyer, since you're getting a credit on your donation. But it helps keep the market value of used Leicas up at the same time as benefitting students. Hasselblad did this at one time with their 501CM and 203/205 bodies -- trading in an old 500C would get you a few hundred in credits. Hassie and Leica share a similar problem in that their bodies are so well built that their current models are competing against cameras built in the 1960s. The difference between what you propose and what Hassie did is that Hassie put the 500C's it collected in the garbage -- more accurately it cannibalized them for parts, but took a collective loss on them. Regarding advertising campaigns, I don't think Leica USA has any budget for national advertising. But it would be nice if all the Leica dealers made a collective effort to show what the cameras could do in the stores. Imagine if each store had beautifully done 13x19 prints of a local LUGger in the entranceway. That would inspire people coming into the store to think of the possibilities. Karen -- Karen Nakamura http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/