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Regarding RMT, an extremely interesting post by Walter Matuch, 3rd October 2013 :
(Quote)
10/3/2013
NOTE: RMT was 'off-line' from about 12 noon on Tuesday, October 1 until about 4:30PM today/Thursday October 3rd due to a telephone company switching station 'melt-down' in my area. Sorry I could not contact anyone online, but those that called, I tried to answer their questions the best I could.
First of all, I am not planning to close RMT. The Polk's are closing their business. I (and my wife Susie) still own RMT 100%. As our product line grew, especially after much of the former Kline train molds became available to RMT, it became necessary to partner with Polk's/Aristo to utilize their resources to continue RMT's expansion. For this I have no regrets as the Polk Family was great to work with.
Secondly, and of the same importance...I want to thank all the 'train guys (and gals)' who expressed support for RMT through their informative OGR (and CTT) Forum posts, comments and purchases of RMT products.
But now it's time for some background from Walter.
Going direct was a hard decision to make in November 2010 but 'the writing was on the wall'. That month I personally called over 100 local hobbyshop dealers throughout the USA and Canada to talk about RMT ( and toy trains in general). A few did hear of RMT, I had already been in business for 7 years by then, and the others were still unaware of the RMT product line. But what really surprised and shocked me was, that, even though it was pre-Thanksgiving Week 2010, many hobbyshop dealers had not placed ANY toy train orders with manufacturers or hobby distributors for the upcoming Christmas Holiday Season. Were they waiting for Christmas Eve to order?
To the dealers (you know who you are) that continually trash RMT on the OGR Forum and in their stores...for years I tried to support YOU by raising MSRP (at YOUR request) to allow YOU your 40%+ markup, made roadnames (again at YOUR request) tailored to fit particular market areas (and then YOU never bought them), sold product to YOU in less than case lots, delivered to York to save YOU on shipping, stopped retail selling by RMT at York and just displayed new items and also gave dealers special promotional offers that were unheard of in O gauge. But realistically, this was not enough.
I think that 'full service' hobbyshop dealers deserve the support of us all but it needs to be a 2-way street. I thank all those hobbyshop dealers who supported and carried RMT in their stores and truly wish them well.
With that in mind, I thought that there were still many toy 'train guys' who wanted the products RMT offered. So I decided to go direct and offer them the entire selection, great pricing and 24/7 availability for ordering.
To put it simply, at that time, the retail market was not growing and the economic outlook (for whatever reasons) continued to shrink. And yes, manufacturing is continually a serious concern regardless of where products are made since it is always tied to costs, transportation and consumer support.
At RMT, I tried to produce whatever products I thought would help 'train guys' enjoy their hobby. There was, and will be, never an RMT item that I would not be proud to have on my train layout!
Starting tomorrow morning/Friday/October 4th, both the RMT and RMT by AristO websites will again be accepting orders for RMT product. Whatever is currently in stock will be available for sale. I spent today checking all the nooks and crannies in the ARISTO warehouse to find any RMT items that may have been overlooked and were previously listed as sold out.
All the 'yellow box' RMT by AristO items need to be sold by December 31st as this licensing between RMT and AristO will end then. Going into 2014, I fully expect to continue RMT as an independent company and produce those many items shown in the RMT catalog and online at www.readymadetoys.com
At this time, there will be no incoming shipments of any new RMT products until 2014.
To move RMT forward, I ask for your continued support and perhaps a purchase or two of the available RMT items. To keep informed with RMT updates and ongoing sale info, please join the RMT email list. Go to www.readymadetoys.com to join.
Without the Polk Family, the crew at OGR and CTT, you the 'train guys' (and gals) who took the time to include RMT in their train hobby and many industry friends and manufacturing contacts...there may not have been any RMT products to enjoy.
A sincere thank you to all.
Walter M. (and Susie) Matuch/RMT
(end quote)
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