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HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies

Is it too early to start the "who is going to buy the divisions of Hobbico" pool?

I got odds of Redcat buying Axial at 2:1 and Traxxas buying Arrma at 10:1. Anyone want to get in on that action?:lmao:
 
svt923 said:
Is it too early to start the "who is going to buy the divisions of Hobbico" pool?

I got odds of Redcat buying Axial at 2:1 and Traxxas buying Arrma at 10:1. Anyone want to get in on that action?:lmao:
Click to expand...

I am. Ill set up the go fund me account now, claiming that without axial I will suffer from significant stress, and can no longer function at work.

If that doesn't work Ill just say it is a fund to stop Trump. The all the blowhards will pony up the coin.:ror:
 
Strc just posted this:

Important Announcement to all Hobby Shop Owners:

First and foremost, we sincerely thank you for your amazing support of our product line over the years, we really appreciate it. We apologize for the past few months our products have been difficult to come by through our main distributor Great Plane/Hobbico. The truth is we have not been able to ship product to them due to payment issues (as the image shows). We tried for months to reach out to Hobbico to resolve this, and it has been an extremely difficult process to reach anyone that can address this issue and we have failed to make significant progress. So unfortunately as of this moment until further notice, our products will be available through the following distributors:

HRP Distributing, Inc.
HRP Distributing
2034 South 3850 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
1-800-622-7223

Swift Distributing
www.swiftdistributing.com
424 Otterson Dr.
Chico, CA 95928
(800) 705-2215

SK Motions
Radio Control Cars, Trucks, and Accessories
385 S. Lemon Ave. #E 238
Walnut, CA 91789
949-705-6668

Once again we apologize for any inconvenience this change might have caused, however we are grateful that the distributors listed above are willing to step up and do what they can to fill the void left behind. One thing we would also like to do is take this opportunity to point out that STRC is by no means a big company. We started out as a small hobby shop 18 years ago, just a handful of guys into R/C and then came across an opportunity to create an option part brand for the R/C community and til this day it is still the same few guys. Being a small company in this situation means there is very little we can do other than suck it up and move on and unfortunately for the R/C industry we are just one of many small vendors stuck in the same situation.

But with a new year comes a new beginning and we sincerely hope to stick around and continue to do what we enjoy doing. If you’re a shop owner and you are interested in continue to carry our products or like to start carrying our products in your shop, definitely contact one of the distributors above or please take the time to reach out to us either through message or email and we can get you set up right away. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this and once again thank you for your support! We have a lot of new and exciting products planned for this year (like our new line of HPI Venture option parts and Brass components for TRX-4 & SCX10 II) and definitely looking forward to this fresh start. Happy New Year Everyone!

Steve
 
I was just about to post the message from Steve too.. looks like tower may be in some trouble


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So sad. Giants do fall.

Liquidation upcoming? That's my guess. Axial will be bought by some company. Other brands are at risk.

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Save your pennies kids, if they have a going out of business sale, it’s going to be a good one


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I could really care less what happens to Arrma or Duratrax, but I an concerned about Axial and Revell/of Germany as well as Estes and hope those can be spun off or saved.
 
cmbscx10 said:
I was pretty shocked TBH. While more than likely true, it's not very cool or maybe even legal to post something like that.
Click to expand...


It is ridiculously stupid to call out a quarter million dollar a year account over 23,000 that is only 60-40 days over due.(total over due less the net 30).

After that post tower will never touch STRC again. If STRC can't eat $23,000 and just stop sending tower inventory till they get paid it shows us that STRC is in financial also.

You're going to eat the $23,000 in either lawyer fees or nonpayment, why make a bad business relationship over it?

Now STRC looks like a petty, in need of capital company.

Why do these companies think they can say or do anything they want. There are very clear rules to how you run a business, you don't ever put debts out there. It is a lose, lose when your in this situations, take the lump and save your companies reputation and integrity.

Tom/vp situation is a great example. Regardless if he is right, he looks like an idiot. VP looks like scumbags, if they respond then they add fuel to the firre, if they don't respond people assume its true.
 
The business models that some accountants have developed create these issues. 23k write-offs don’t pay employees. This 60/90 day pay cycles are the issue. Pay on your VENDORS TERMS or STFU.
Hospitals always tried the 90 day pay on me, I put them COD, until the DRs bitched they couldn’t get their products...... I was put on a net 30 finally.
Always two sides to all stores, Facts not hyperbole will solve the issues


Hang up and Drive
 
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Yes, putting your business out in public may be a bad idea on some levels, but it’s totally ridiculous for a small company like strc to be expected to eat 20k+ in lost revenue.. and almost insulting to expect them to.

A public statement will help the avg Joe understand why he can’t get the parts at tower, if not then when you repeatedly visit towers site and see something unavailable I’d assume it’s a problem on the manufacturer side, not the monolith that couldn’t pay its employees last year on time


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Not all small business can eat $23k like it's a drop in the bucket. I used to work in the ink industry where most commercial printers are strapped for cash these days. You let a few of those fester and suddenly, you can't pay your vendors and can't get materials. Next thing you know, those guys whom pay slow have put you at -$400k and you are going out of business.

I currently work for a very small business and our AP person is a pitbull. Day 31 you are getting a phone call.

I deal with hospitals in my current job and, yes, they are horrible payers.

I don't agree with them putting their AP sheet out for public viewing, as I don't know what they think that's going to accomplish. Do they think they are going to shame the money out of Hobbico? :roll:
 
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I can say I would never want to do business with a company that publicly posts accounts payable info in any way. That's just utterly stupid.

I was production manager for a construction company who got caught up in the housing crash a few years ago. AP was a mess towards the end. Everyone hated the situation, but it was what it was. Guarantee that any vendor who posted our accounts like that would never bid on another job ever again. All that does is make things worse. Trust me, no company wants to be in a position where they can pay the bills.
 
Ditchrat said:
It is ridiculously stupid to call out a quarter million dollar a year account over 23,000 that is only 60-40 days over due.(total over due less the net 30).
Click to expand...

Please clarify if I understand correctly...

x dollar a year account = Annual financial turnover.
 
wings_of_fire said:
Please clarify if I understand correctly...

x dollar a year account = Annual financial turnover.
Click to expand...


Well their billing to tower for 30 days was $23,000. Making a presumption that monthly billing is around that same amount for the other months, that's 276,000 a year.

So walking away from tower looks like a fairly large drop in sales. I wouldn't expect all the tower customers who bought their products to suddenly shift their business to another company, they would just buy another product from tower to fit the gap.
 
Ditchrat said:
Well their billing to tower for 30 days was $23,000. Making a presumption that monthly billing is around that same amount for the other months, that's 276,000 a year.

So walking away from tower looks like a fairly large drop in sales. I wouldn't expect all the tower customers who bought their products to suddenly shift their business to another company, they would just buy another product from tower to fit the gap.
Click to expand...

That is if Tower has a product to fill the gap. It seems like they are losing outside vendors due to non-payment. When I was at my local LHS, we were discussing Hobbico and it was mentioned that the lawsuit wasn't the only reason Traxxas pulled out of Hobbico. Hobbico owed them a ton of money as well.
 
skinnyj said:
That is if Tower has a product to fill the gap. It seems like they are losing outside vendors due to non-payment. When I was at my local LHS, we were discussing Hobbico and it was mentioned that the lawsuit wasn't the only reason Traxxas pulled out of Hobbico. Hobbico owed them a ton of money as well.
Click to expand...
Sure enough that could be the case too.
Its not like we actually know anything. Just entertaining speculation.
 
WHITE-TRASH said:
Gawdammit that's laying it out there now isn't it? :shock:
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I thought too:shock:

cmbscx10 said:
I was pretty shocked TBH. While more than likely true, it's not very cool or maybe even legal to post something like that.
Click to expand...

I was shocked too, not sure on the legality of it either. That said, I am one of several people in my office taking care of these types of calls right now for my employer and now may ask that very question at work tomorrow!
 
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