M—
not “if”, WHEN…
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Definitely hope you beat that damned cancer my friend. My thoughts are with you. . .I have a brother-in-law and a much loved neighbor going through different cancer battles right now. And I’m just a decade and a bit from losing my first wife to lymphoma and MDS, Cancer SUCKS.
Yeah, I almost went with a smaller bike but I have to confess, I’m a highway Chile. What I love most about cycling is two to four day trips, ten to twelve or more hours a day “in the saddle,” and I was making regular trips back and forth from Texas to Cleveland to visit my family. The Fat Bob is a consummate road machine, it’s exciting and not too comfortable and I have had amazing journeys on it. I’d also I think really enjoy the BMW 800 boxer out now. . . . And if I can wrangle out of some upcoming home improvements (I’m trying hard) who knows.
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Thanks. We shall see how it goes. I’m so sorry for your losses. Cancer sucks.
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Yes it does. But - my brother in law beat it. We bailed hay together while he was on chemo and radiation. I couldn’t believe it. There is hope. Keep the faith!!
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An examination of history would reveal that exploitation is not limited to any one particular race of men. Power, selfishness, and greed knows no racial boundaries. This is something that extends very deeply into the very DNA of this planet. Lobsters have been around 350 million years, they saw the dinosaurs come and go. And lobsters also have a society in which 1% control 50% of lobster wealth. There must be some nature based evolutionary reason for this state of mind as it runs deep into the consciousness of everyone, not just the 1%. Most of the 99% would happily become a 1% if given the chance. While it happens, it’s a rare bird who would walk away. Hopefully one day human collective consciousness will break these sorts of cycles, but it’s likely going to take lobster like patience 
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Until PSA decided to go direct, every dealer I saw including Amazon was selling their product at list, so I suspect if you saw a P12 at $2750, it was after the decision to go direct. And, that decision to go direct will help them keep their prices down. Profit margins at a given retail are higher when you sell through a dealer network. You sound like you work at one of their former dealers and are just going off on them. You also sound totally out of touch with reality.
Actually, going direct has been creeping in for over four decades. Fifty years ago, all manufacturers had a a healthy network of factory reps and distributors. About forty years ago, the signs of chipping away at that networks started to show. Twenty five to thirty years ago, only a relatively small number of reps and distributors remained. Also, some brands started to sell direct to consumer, either instead of or in addition to a dealer network. And each year since, that trend has accelerated. It would not surprise me if virtually all dealers go away within the next twenty five to thirty years, as maintaining dealers is very costly.
I am in the US, and still have my 1997 Geo Prism LSi. Then again, no one in my family ever kept a car less than fifteen years, as my parents grew up during the great depression of the 1930s. I also still have vinyl LPs that I bought in 1966.
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I’m old and white, personally conservative, but politically liberal. So far, nothing here has offended me. Some things said may be in less that stellar taste (no, Paul, not referring to the Stellar line!), but there are far more important things to get bent out of shape over. IMHO, world wide, virtually all segments of humanity have become too sensitive and too reactionary to anything that goes against what WE believe in. To each and every one of you out there, I’m going to try to buck that trend. Even if you think I’m ancient, weird, uninformed, ugly, etc., etc., etc., I love you as long as you are a good human being.
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And even if they are enjoying higher profit margins, is that bad?? What if the PMs having a dealer network threatened their corporate health?? What if the price slashing of their product was threatening the health of the dealers themselves?? 99.9% of us have no way of knowing, and can’t make an informed opinion on it. As for the other 0.1%? Ted and Paul aren’t talking!
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The only people who know if PSA is profitable and how much are the accountants and CFO. No one else needs to speculate or know. It is not a publicly traded company and therefore the information is private. Pretty simple really.
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one example. ALL service, exchanges and warranty issues fall on PSA’s shoulders. BUT, this model does give PSA total control of everything, and allows them to respond more quickly where needed, not matter what area. If any issues pop up, PSA will know about them more quickly, and can correct those issues more quickly.
Not necessarily. Taking on all aspects in the distribution of their products means they must absorb ALL costs that were handled by the dealers. You and I do not know whether that has increased or decreased PSA’s overall costs. Even if it decreased their costs, and the PM is actually higher, that still may be warranted. Increased PMs lead to better corporate health, more money being put into R&D (and therefore better product in the future). PSA isn’t trying to maximize the number of sales, they are trying to maximize how much each sale will increase the owner’s listening experience.
@umiami91 I hope you beat the cancer… & pray the right doctors and treatments are presented to you.
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Thanks. I’ve got docs running Mayo Clinic protocols so I suppose that’s all I can hope for.
Sorry, Michael, the Bhutanese are happier. we went there and checked. They’re really, really happy. We’re coming to Denmark for my birthday next year so will cross-reference and report back.
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come visit then …
You must be joking, this would be the first time in history, a company profit margin shrinks after they go direct! 
Most products are sold at 50% of MSRP to dealers, so essentially PS Audio is doubling their profit! I can buy all other arguments (better service, trade-in, more R&D, etc…) but your point is beyond ridiculous!
At a dealer cost of 50% of MSRP, their GROSS margins (revenue less cost of goods sold) would, indeed, double. That said, I suspect their GM% was effectively less than that after in-channel product promotions.
Their NET margins will probably increase after going direct, but not as much as the gross, as net margin would also reflect any higher R&D costs (more new product development), sales expense increases (increased marketing expense, more customer service reps answering phones, costs associated with supporting in-home trials), any admin cost increases stemming from running a larger organization, and so on. And the tax man will be in line to eat a portion of any increases in the net profits.
Without seeing their P&L statement, we’re all talking trash based on best guesses and assumptions.
Paul has stated that his vision is to be able to provide customers with an end-to-end system solution - source to speakers - and at various price/performance points. In the current retail environment, introducing all of the additional product to make that happen into the conventional distribution channel would be like pushing on a string. I suspect the change in business model followed from a strategy of how best to implement that vision.
As it should.
Not sure it will fit in with our itinerary …