Tariffs

[Big Swimbait]

I just got an email from Enigma Fishing that the new tariffs will result in a price increase of up to 30% on their rods and reels. The suggestion was to buy before 10/1 to save the increase. Has anybody else heard of any other increases due to the new tariffs? 

[Black Hawk Basser]

This isn't the first I've heard of it.  Fishing is becoming a hobby for the affluent.

[Cgolf]

Trapper tackle is closing out remaining stock and are then done. 

 

As as far as tackle prices go, if companies see people willingly paying Megabass prices, they feel they can raise their prices too. This has been going on awhile and will likely get worse. 

 

Also be interesting to see what companies that source from other countries do with their prices. 

[Harold Scoggins]

1 hour ago, cgolf said:

As as far as tackle prices go, if companies see people willingly paying Megabass prices, they feel they can raise their prices too. This has been going on awhile and will likely get worse. 

Many of the U.S. retailers mark up JDM tackle 100%, yes, 100%. I try and buy from the U.S. as much as possible, but I'm not going to pay twice what I can get a bait for direct from Japan. I'll be posting another JDM order I have coming in soon where I saved over $100 on glide baits and that's after shipping.

[Cgolf]

56 minutes ago, Harold Scoggins said:

Many of the U.S. retailers mark up JDM tackle 100%, yes, 100%. I try and buy from the U.S. as much as possible, but I'm not going to pay twice what I can get a bait for direct from Japan. I'll be posting another JDM order I have coming in soon where I saved over $100 on glide baits and that's after shipping.

That is smart shopping. Ridiculous how much they mark them up.

 

I personally only order sale items online anymore. Only time I pay full price is if we are traveling and stop in a local shop. I have found a couple of well stocked shops when we travel to the quad cities area I will support whenever we visit. Wish we had shops like that around home. 

[Shimano_1]

It's all getting ridiculous.  I understand how business works and I get to an extent we have no control over it. I am also big on principles.  I am a firm believer no other senko style bait works as good as the senko itself.  Used to buy a ton. Then they jacked the prices up pretty much everywhere by like 2 bucks a bag. Haven't bought a pack since. Foolish....maybe. have done well with my 3 dollar a bag dingers. I can afford to fish nice gear but I ALWAYS try to bargain shop and buy stuff I use on sale. If I fished enigma and I recieved that email I probably would never purchase anything from them again.  Price increases are universal but 30 percent seems quite excessive.  As usual tho just my personal opinion 

[WRB]

Tariffs apply to 1 country regarding fishing tackle....China. The fishing industry has been sending fishing rod manufacturing to China for decades and it's evolved from a cottage industry to a higher production industry. Tariffs directly apply to products made in China and shipped to the USA, no surprise.

Tom

[DanielG]

Sort of related. To avoid some of the prices you can sometimes substitute. You can't get by fishing lures/poles/reels much but I try to purchase other stuff differently. For instance. I find that sewing thread plastic boxes are often great tackle boxes. You know, the ones that are milky colored with multiple dividers in them. But side by side one is double or triple the price because it holds lures instead of thread spools.

I purchase sharkskin cloth and have my sister with the sewing machine sew up the edge of a long section of it to make rod sleeves. A yard of cloth will make a bunch of them. You've seen it. It's the stuff that you often see zippered cased laptops in. It feels like wetsuit material. Tough, a bit rigid, light, and doesn't snag on the rod.

If I needed a tackle bag I'm sure I could find one suitable for the job, just not from a tackle store. It would probably be half the price.

I'll bet you guys/gals have lots of your own examples too. What a great idea for a thread....

[MAN]

We are splitting the additional tariff cost with our China factories and absorbing the difference in our fishing product line. But a lot of companies are just raising the retails to absorb.  Additionally I am looking in Vietnam for lower end fishing rod business. Vietnam, Cambodia and the Phillpines are all gaining very quickly from this Tarriff. It just takes time to get the infrastructure up and running as well as training these folks to make lures, rods and reels that are worth a flip. One thing for sure is China is taking a beating and once these industries are gone from China...they will never return.  

[Hower08]

3 hours ago, MAN said:

We are splitting the additional tariff cost with our China factories and absorbing the difference in our fishing product line. But a lot of companies are just raising the retails to absorb.  Additionally I am looking in Vietnam for lower end fishing rod business. Vietnam, Cambodia and the Phillpines are all gaining very quickly from this Tarriff. It just takes time to get the infrastructure up and running as well as training these folks to make lures, rods and reels that are worth a flip. One thing for sure is China is taking a beating and once these industries are gone from China...they will never return.

Why not put those resources into American workers? Problem solved sure you would have to pay them an honest wage. So be it, consumers would be more willing to pay the extra $ per bait to help support a fellow Americans

[VolFan]

Hower - While your sentiment is good, that is not an option due to a variety of factors at both ends of the process.

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, Hower08 said:

Why not put those resources into American workers? Problem solved sure you would have to pay them an honest wage. So be it, consumers would be more willing to pay the extra $ per bait to help support a fellow Americans

Aren’t Zoom and Yum American poured plastics? Yum has my #1 plastic of all time the do nothing crawbug. Curious how many othe4 plastics are poured in the US? Crankbaits May be a different story. 

[Hower08]

10 hours ago, VolFan said:

Hower - While your sentiment is good, that is not an option due to a variety of factors at both ends of the process.

Like cutting into a companies profits? I understand but don't agree. Better to source materials from other countries than outsource jobs. 

 

9 hours ago, cgolf said:

Aren’t Zoom and Yum American poured plastics? Yum has my #1 plastic of all time the do nothing crawbug. Curious how many othe4 plastics are poured in the US? Crankbaits May be a different story. 

I believe they are and I always try to research and buy American as much as possible 

[Spankey]

18 minutes ago, Hower08 said:

Like cutting into a companies profits? I understand but don't agree. Better to source materials from other countries than outsource jobs. 

 

I believe they are and I always try to research and buy American as much as possible 

 

9 hours ago, cgolf said:

Aren’t Zoom and Yum American poured plastics? Yum has my #1 plastic of all time the do nothing crawbug. Curious how many othe4 plastics are poured in the US? Crankbaits May be a different story. 

I fish pretty much the same stuff as you guys. Zoom, Berkley, Yum, RoboWorm. But just the talk of tariffs I’m sure will bump US manufactured soft plastics as well. Just because they can. 

 

I could be wrong but fishing equipment is probably not that big on the full scale of things of everyday items. But like y’all it is an important part of my life and an interest that I would say is more important to me than other Chinese junk that comes here. 

[MAN]

12 hours ago, Hower08 said:

Why not put those resources into American workers? Problem solved sure you would have to pay them an honest wage. So be it, consumers would be more willing to pay the extra $ per bait to help support a fellow Americans

We have moved millions of dollars in production back to America from China..where it made sense.  Like someone mentioned above..hearts in good place but there is a lot more to it.      

[DanielG]

12 hours ago, MAN said:

We have moved millions of dollars in production back to America from China..where it made sense.  Like someone mentioned above..hearts in good place but there is a lot more to it.      

I still see 99% of the stuff in stores made in asian countries. You still have to hunt hard for American made and most items just aren't. I wonder just how much has really chaned.

[frogflogger]

I spent over a $1000 on USA made reels (Ardent 1000's)

never regretted it - just wished they had stayed the course and upped the quality.

The reality is the US is now a service based economy and it is much smaller world than we grew up in -

[MAN]

On 9/20/2019 at 9:53 PM, DanielG said:

I still see 99% of the stuff in stores made in asian countries. You still have to hunt hard for American made and most items just aren't. I wonder just how much has really chaned.

The type of things that have came back to the U.S. generally are not going to be sitting on a retail store shelf with a Made in USA sticker.  

[DanielG]

6 hours ago, MAN said:

The type of things that have came back to the U.S. generally are not going to be sitting on a retail store shelf with a Made in USA sticker.  

I don't think the tariff thing is working. Here is the breakdown of what's happening. Right after this information was made public by the departments that measure such stuff the President ordered companies to come back to the US. Of course he can't do that and they probably won't. It's all about capitalism, stockholders, and the bottom line. I don't think stuff made in the USA meets that requirement. Sucks.....

 

"About 41% of American companies are considering moving factories from  China because of the trade war, or have already done so, but fewer than 6% are heading to the U.S., the American Chamber of Commerce in China said in a recent survey.

Companies are largely eyeing Southeast Asia and Mexico."

[Black Hawk Basser]

It's all about which country can suffer the longest without buckling to the pressure.  IMO, China is in a better position for that.  I'm sure they're trying to hold off through the election.

[Big Rick]

On 9/19/2019 at 8:09 PM, Hower08 said:

Why not put those resources into American workers? Problem solved sure you would have to pay them an honest wage. So be it, consumers would be more willing to pay the extra $ per bait to help support a fellow Americans

Hower, I'm in your corner 100%. However, I travel 4 states almost monthly for my business and there are help wanted signs in EVERY town regardless of size. Americans of a certain age group are LAZY and refuse to work mainly due to the easily accessed "free" money from our government. "Free" money is doled out in an effort to turn elections and help certain parties maintain power. But, as usual, these bums are even too lazy to go vote!!

 

Anyway, I hope this isn't too political.  It's just the way it is. My company is a manufacturing company and just TODAY we had new help hired that just decided not to show up on the first day. No call, no reason, just bailed on the job. So, while I believe in putting America first, I also can see why these companies are having to seek out different avenues to accomplish the goal of rolling out a product in a timely manner under budget. It's hard to do in this country anymore. 

 

Oh yeah, the "free" money obviously isn't free because our government does nothing to earn money. It just taxes YOUR dollars and then gives it away....

 

rant over

[MAN]

China is getting devastated over there because of the Tarriffs.  Seen it first hand and will see it again in a couple weeks when I head back. Part of the benefits of having a government controlled media is you simply don't allow negative news to be reported on. They probably are in a better position to hold off until further elections..simply because they don't have to answer to the people who are suffering.   

[DanielG]

26 minutes ago, Big Rick said:

Hower, I'm in your corner 100%. However, I travel 4 states almost monthly for my business and there are help wanted signs in EVERY town regardless of size. Americans of a certain age group are LAZY and refuse to work mainly due to the easily accessed "free" money from our government. "Free" money is doled out in an effort to turn elections and help certain parties maintain power. But, as usual, these bums are even too lazy to go vote!!

 

Anyway, I hope this isn't too political.  It's just the way it is. My company is a manufacturing company and just TODAY we had new help hired that just decided not to show up on the first day. No call, no reason, just bailed on the job. So, while I believe in putting America first, I also can see why these companies are having to seek out different avenues to accomplish the goal of rolling out a product in a timely manner under budget. It's hard to do in this country anymore. 

 

Oh yeah, the "free" money obviously isn't free because our government does nothing to earn money. It just taxes YOUR dollars and then gives it away....

 

rant over

Since unemployment is at an historically low level, in fact it's at a level where the percentage is basically people moving from job to job or in between jobs, and everyone is working, I don't think that LAZY would explain it. A contractor told me the other day that he can't find workers, people don't want to work. I told him that they are working, just not for you. You either have to pay more or make the job better. They don't need you.

[Hammer 4]

And yet, the Poverty rate, at least here in cali, is at an all time high...

[Deleted account]

35 minutes ago, MAN said:

China is getting devastated over there because of the Tarriffs.  Seen it first hand and will see it again in a couple weeks when I head back. Part of the benefits of having a government controlled media is you simply don't allow negative news to be reported on. They probably are in a better position to hold off until further elections..simply because they don't have to answer to the people who are suffering.   

Yeah, but they could continue to "be devestated" for decades, and nothing would change. Their manufacturing employment isn't a big deal to their economy, and they have literally billions of folks living in something that wouldn't even qualify as poverty, so yeah, that's not a winning strategy, and that doesn't even account for their ability to manipulate our economy almost at will.