Tariff effects on imported optics
- Thread starter DeathBeforeDismount
- Start date
At SHOT Show tariff price increases were discussed
Arken’s tariff price increases go into affect tomorrow
DNT increases were announced and are slowly going into affect, product by product, as they run out of existing inventory
My understanding is there will be price increases from other of the optics brands
Arken’s tariff price increases go into affect tomorrow
DNT increases were announced and are slowly going into affect, product by product, as they run out of existing inventory
My understanding is there will be price increases from other of the optics brands
Tariffs always get passed on to the consumer in the long run. Unless the costs to manufacture magically go down everything coming across the border unless it’s exempt is going to increase in price with new tarrifs.
I am ignorant to the particulars of the tariffs as a whole, but reading and talking to a few reps there are work around to diminish the tariffs, such as assembling the end product in the the USA. That's supposed to be one of the benefits to the tariffs,. It's scary times, our economy is still struggling but we have to do something.
Prices will go up.
Most of the time, it will be the tariff amount plus a little more for “administration” of the whole thing.
Most of the time, it will be the tariff amount plus a little more for “administration” of the whole thing.
Yeah, pretty much any time an industry can increase prices blame free (obamacare, covid, tariffs, etc.) you can bet a lot of companies will increase the amount their extra cost plus a chunk more to pad some profits. You can make a case that it helps offset the reduced volume of sales that higher prices could cause, but if you look at the balance sheets it rarely works out that way.
As long as consumers keep buying at higher prices it's hard to blame companies for grabbing some extra profits while the gov't takes all the blame. Consumers are at the same time the most powerful group in existence, and so stupid as a whole they are unable to wield it.
How about we discuss the regulations of a burdensome federal, state and local government making it cheaper to ship and import products versus making them here.
I have looked for American made products when I can, but for the sake of argument, we were buying cheap goods and living with the shortcomings, now we wanna complain about having to pay more for the same short comings.
There are options for every product, we just don't want to pay for it and we want to blame the manufacturer, when in fact it was us and government that created the problem to begin with.
I have looked for American made products when I can, but for the sake of argument, we were buying cheap goods and living with the shortcomings, now we wanna complain about having to pay more for the same short comings.
There are options for every product, we just don't want to pay for it and we want to blame the manufacturer, when in fact it was us and government that created the problem to begin with.
I have discussed it, but as of right now as of this post nothing is confirmed yet. I'll say that if there is something you want and can get it, it is probably cheaper right now
Laughs in ZCO . Sorry brother too soon.I have discussed it, but as of right now as of this post nothing is confirmed yet. I'll say that if there is something you want and can get it, it is probably cheaper right now
This is not a large margin or profit industry, many of us are doing this because we enjoy the industry and community. The owner of CST has multiple businesses, some that make way more money (Construction, drafting,engineering) than CST.
If CST doesn't break even or becomes a burden than we will no longer exist as is or he will sell it.
I'll go back to selling jewelry at the Pow Wows
I barely have any in stock, I'm 80 backorders deep. I'm scared that the potential price increase from Tariff's will hurt us bad...
I'll probably get in front of the camera and do a quick livestream to talk about the tariffs and a few likely scenarios for riflescopes.
I have a couple of work things to do first, so probably in an hour or so.
These are interesting times.
ILya
I have a couple of work things to do first, so probably in an hour or so.
These are interesting times.
ILya
Yeah anyone thinking that these companies who are primarily development and outsourcing outfits are going to be able to bring a state of the art factory which they don’t even own stateside are fooling themselves.
As of this moment, Arken Optics and Accessories price increases are going into affect today. DNT Optics has announced their price increases, however, those increases will only happen once they run out of existing inventory and tariffs affect new deliveries. We are not raising pricing until that happens as well.
We have yet to be informed by any other brands about imminent increases, although I did receive a few inquiries from different brands asking what other brands have announced. We will keep you informed as new information becomes available.
We have yet to be informed by any other brands about imminent increases, although I did receive a few inquiries from different brands asking what other brands have announced. We will keep you informed as new information becomes available.
They already do what i dub Kia tarif mod.
In the past Korean car imports were subject to hefty tarrifs in EU , the importers had storage and a dismantling facility directly at the port. Complete cars rolled of the ship , and workers at the port dismantled some of the trim, wheels and in some cases even doors , then cars were shipped to a distribution hub that resembled them and off they went onto the market tarif free. But is already something done by many US brands. Optics were in some cases subject to hefty US tarrifs even predating this.
But end of the day your 2800$ vortex made in Japan, drops off the ship at 7-800$ so you can quickly rack up enough added value to skirt some tarrifs.
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I'm not counting on it, but I'd love to see it, if investors and consumers are willing to bet with their cash.
Regulations taxes osha unions etc
nf does make some scopes in idaho, but not sure which ones.
Be nice if DNT could hold steady with the $699.99 MSRP through the first day of the 2026 NRL22X season (May 1st)...
I'll believe it when I see the DOGE refund. If I break even remotely even, I'll be shocked. If the administration is dead set on keeping the tariffs, they will have to push through some deep tax cuts. Otherwise, the House will be controlled by the Democrats in 2026 and they will be fully in control in 2028. We'll have the full blast of the DEI insanity back by 2029.
I am betting on this being a negotiating tactic, but time will tel..
Either way, here is the video of a quick livestream I just did on the subject.
ILya
Not just regulations, you have decades of companies/industries buying politicians to make laws and trade policies that favor farming labor/manufacturing overseas and importing the products back here so they can take advantage of cheaper labor. That's not the consumers fault, that's capitalism (well really crony capitalism) leveraging it's political power to increase business profits. That's basically made it impossible to find most goods reasonably priced that are US made. Yes consumers LOVE cheap prices (just go to Walmart any day any time and you can see that, horrible shopping experience, but everyone goes there to save $), but us old timers remember that when they first started farming all those jobs/product manufacturing overseas it wasn't because we couldn't afford the usual things. No one was screaming that we needed cheaper goods made in China because American goods were too expensive. Companies simply wanted a way to increase profits by reducing their costs but keeping prices the same, and they convinced politicians to pass laws that enabled them.
Unfortunately now if we're going to try and reverse it, it's going to be a painful road from a pricing standpoint. Honestly I'm not sure the average American has the patriotism anymore to accept any level of pain even if it means bringing back more American made goods. Heck just today took a 5% hit to the market.
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Agreed, I should have been more clear, I more meant my comment for the manufacturers, not the retailers/resellers. I'd imagine resellers are the ones impacted the worst. They get the angst from the consumer, and have to set prices to try to make sales, but the manufacturer gets their price increase regardless.This is not a large margin or profit industry, many of us are doing this because we enjoy the industry and community. The owner of CST has multiple businesses, some that make way more money (Construction, drafting,engineering) than CST.
If CST doesn't break even or becomes a burden than we will no longer exist as is or he will sell it.
I'll go back to selling jewelry at the Pow Wows
It's like eggs, perfect example egg companies get to blame the "bird flu" which is a real problem it just has not impacted supply as much as they'd like you to think based on prices. The largest egg distributor in the US, responsible for about 20% of the egg market, not only have they kept egg volume constant since 2021 but increasing their prices drove their profits up almost 1000% over that time. In fact in 2023 they were required to pay $20 million in a settlement that accused them of deceptive practices by conspiring to limit egg production.
When they asked the CEO about the high egg prices and their huge profits recently, he just said that consumers should blame the resellers because they don't set consumer pricing the resellers do.......these are the companies you are dealing with, they will never ever do the right thing for the average American unless it just happens to also increase profits. If they can use some excuse to increase prices blame free, they will do it every time, all the time.
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Again, this is a bad analogy. Resellers in this industry, do not set the prices period. MSRP, map, what we have to pay the manufacturer for their product is all controlled by the manufacturer.
These are questions that should be asked and not assumed because of what happens in other industries. This is a niche market, what CEOs of other industries of large retail companies, for example, do not translate to this industry.
I’m pretty sure that’s what he was saying. The CEO was blaming the resellers and putting the blame on them when the company/CEO jacked the prices up.
I may have misunderstood, I'm possibly fighting covid right now. I wish I could take the day off lol
If you actually read the one whitepaper he’s referencing you’ll see that those first round of tariffs didn’t raise prices because of the large number of exemptions that were issueed. Tariffs don’t increase prices if they aren’t actually applied. This time is different in that there (at least at this time) is no talk of such that.
Also, look at where the US dollar is now relative to the other currency. The combined chaos of this administration is devaluing the dollar making imports even more expensive than they’d be regardless of tariffs.
These two clowns are spoonfeeding you bullshit. Things are going to continue to get more expensive, not just a “one time price adjustment”.
Also, look at where the US dollar is now relative to the other currency. The combined chaos of this administration is devaluing the dollar making imports even more expensive than they’d be regardless of tariffs.
These two clowns are spoonfeeding you bullshit. Things are going to continue to get more expensive, not just a “one time price adjustment”.
The paper you link to states that only 13% of exemption petitions were approved. So the vast majority of the tariffs stuck.
exemptions by application numbers and exemptions by total value are wildly different things.
It is disingenuous to make aspersions about the "patriotism" of consumers and such when it's the greed of the corporations that is almost 100% responsible.
Companies have been jacking up the prices just because they could and squeezing the working taxpayers hard at every turn.
So they could have record profits and bonuses.
You want someone to have some pain, well start by putting the boots to the corporations hard.
Things would not have to cost so much to be made in the USA if there wasn't a huge amount of corporate greed
Walmart was one of the most evil corporations that started this.
I absolutely agree that corporations and capitalism......well in the US what we really have in huge corporations, education, medical, insurance industries etc. here is often chrony capitalism, where those in economic power influence politicians to create policies that favor their business/profits is a massive problem. Like keeping tariffs low so companies can outsource labor overseas and not pay a penalty when they import those goods back for resale, etc. Investment groups are taking over everything, and all they care about is profits. All the parties that are responsible for it and that could change it, are benefitting from the system as it is, while Americans get screwed, why would they change it? Vote someone out......great, but at the house/senator level, 90% of the time they put another life long politician in there that is going to do the same thing. Both parties at the top are controlled by the richest business people, you think they are going to let someone who wants to cost them a ton of $ by helping out the average American, get a presidential nomination? Never happen. Would I like to see boots put to the corporations big time.......absolutely I'll pay good money for tickets to that show, but I've seen nothing in the past 30 years that makes me think it's getting anything but worse. They are buying up the medical industries, 20% of all home sales are investors, higher for new construction single family homes, the list goes on.
However I stand by the fact that at the end of the day if consumers don't buy, things change and fast. If consumers 100% boycotted Walmart because they didn't like their practices/stores etc. how long do you think it would take before Walmart did something about it......a week.....a month.......6 months. If Walmart didn't make a single sale, hell even if they only make 50% sales, how long could they really stay in business......not long with their overhead I bet. Look at how fast Budweiser learned their lesson with just reduced Bud Light sales, and that was not even a full boycott, sales only declined by ~25% on one of their product lines, and they changed their tune in a hurry. It's actually amusing, but not surprising to me that Nascar rednecks have pulled off the only effective boycott in the last three decades. The fastest way to make corporations do something different, is hit them in their profits, but 99% of the time consumers as a whole usually just won't do it if it means they can't have their new $1500 cell phone every year and 10 starbucks drinks a week.
However I stand by the fact that at the end of the day if consumers don't buy, things change and fast. If consumers 100% boycotted Walmart because they didn't like their practices/stores etc. how long do you think it would take before Walmart did something about it......a week.....a month.......6 months. If Walmart didn't make a single sale, hell even if they only make 50% sales, how long could they really stay in business......not long with their overhead I bet. Look at how fast Budweiser learned their lesson with just reduced Bud Light sales, and that was not even a full boycott, sales only declined by ~25% on one of their product lines, and they changed their tune in a hurry. It's actually amusing, but not surprising to me that Nascar rednecks have pulled off the only effective boycott in the last three decades. The fastest way to make corporations do something different, is hit them in their profits, but 99% of the time consumers as a whole usually just won't do it if it means they can't have their new $1500 cell phone every year and 10 starbucks drinks a week.
I might have to find a ZCO 420 soon and snag it before the price increases hit.
How are tariffs going to affect US companies with foreign manufacturing? Quite a few will be in this mix.....
Even if this stopped next week half or more would raise prices just because
I believe that's what the tariffs are all about. Other countries put tariffs on our products already.
How many times have you seen someone say I'm in Europe and this scope cost this much and this one this much what scope would you get? Or some sort shit.
Now with Trump putting on tariffs the rest of the world is like shit that's not fair only we can have tariffs.
At least that's my very limited understanding of this.
What the hell I'm hoping for 100 percent tariffs on scopes from CHINA.
All of this stuff is complicated and inter-related. I agree with ToddM - you really have to go back to the 1980's. Corporations realized that they could substantially reduce the cost of producing goods, lower their prices and actually increase profits by moving production overseas. It was a lot cheaper to pay a worker in Mexico or Vietnam $2 an hour to build cars or make sneakers than to pay an American worker $20/hr. And if suddenly Nike could actually lower prices and increase profits by moving production overseas, it wasn't long before its competitors (Reebok, Adidas, etc.) followed.
Ultimately, tariffs aren't going to solve this structural problem. In the short term they're basically a regressive tax that increase the cost of goods to consumers. But in the long term, even if they are successful in bringing back mfg. to the U.S., costs are not going to come down because U.S. wages are still significantly higher than in the third world countries where these goods are currently produced. So any money the mfg. saves on avoiding tariffs ends up being offset by the higher production costs they are faced with by making their products back in the U.S.
And unfortunately corporate greed is basically built into the system. It is human nature that people act in their own self interest. So when you tie the compensation of CEO's and top executives to the stock price and short term profitability of their company you encourage behavior that maximizes corporate profits above everything else. That's how they get bigger bonuses and their stock options become more valuable. And if the consumer or the employee working on the production line gets screwed - the CEO can always console himself by buying a bigger yacht.
Ultimately, tariffs aren't going to solve this structural problem. In the short term they're basically a regressive tax that increase the cost of goods to consumers. But in the long term, even if they are successful in bringing back mfg. to the U.S., costs are not going to come down because U.S. wages are still significantly higher than in the third world countries where these goods are currently produced. So any money the mfg. saves on avoiding tariffs ends up being offset by the higher production costs they are faced with by making their products back in the U.S.
And unfortunately corporate greed is basically built into the system. It is human nature that people act in their own self interest. So when you tie the compensation of CEO's and top executives to the stock price and short term profitability of their company you encourage behavior that maximizes corporate profits above everything else. That's how they get bigger bonuses and their stock options become more valuable. And if the consumer or the employee working on the production line gets screwed - the CEO can always console himself by buying a bigger yacht.
Agreed, and even when companies drastically reduce their costs, they will almost never reduce prices unless sales drop and they are forced to in order to maintain volume, period. The other thing is so many big companies now are being bought by China, or China is buying a controlling interest in the groups that own them. Look at all the big brands that have changed manufacturing overseas, and bought out big corporations, not one I'm aware of ever reduced prices, at best they kept prices the same, but no doubt massively reduced their costs and increased profits.
Not an American company but Arcteryx is a great example. In the 90's and early 00's, 100% of their very expensive and very high quality jackets and climbing gear were made in Canada. In 2001 they were bought out by Soloman/Adidas and started farming manufacturing to China. Did prices go down? Not a chance, but you know their costs had to be reduced dramatically. Then they were sold again in 2005 to a Finnish group Amer Sports, which in 2019 China bought a controlling interest in. Even something that many people think is high quality and a "Canadian" brand is controlled by China when you follow the $.
Tons of companies people would think are not owned by China are controlled by them: GE Appliances, AMC theaters, Motorola, Smithfield foods, Forbes magazine, Dirt Devil and Hoover Vacuums, IBM, Spotify, Even IronMan triathlons, etc.
Others are owned by non-US parent companies, or investment groups.....I'm sure there are tons more
Budweiser - inBev a European company
7-Eleven - Japan
Burger King - Canada
Trader Joes - Germany - tied in with Aldi
Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge - Stellantis - HQ in Netherlands
Frigidaire - Swedish
Ben and Jerry's - British
Holiday Inn - British
Firestone - Japan
Purina - Japan
Gerber - Swiss
Heinz - brazil
T-mobile - germany
Not an American company but Arcteryx is a great example. In the 90's and early 00's, 100% of their very expensive and very high quality jackets and climbing gear were made in Canada. In 2001 they were bought out by Soloman/Adidas and started farming manufacturing to China. Did prices go down? Not a chance, but you know their costs had to be reduced dramatically. Then they were sold again in 2005 to a Finnish group Amer Sports, which in 2019 China bought a controlling interest in. Even something that many people think is high quality and a "Canadian" brand is controlled by China when you follow the $.
Tons of companies people would think are not owned by China are controlled by them: GE Appliances, AMC theaters, Motorola, Smithfield foods, Forbes magazine, Dirt Devil and Hoover Vacuums, IBM, Spotify, Even IronMan triathlons, etc.
Others are owned by non-US parent companies, or investment groups.....I'm sure there are tons more
Budweiser - inBev a European company
7-Eleven - Japan
Burger King - Canada
Trader Joes - Germany - tied in with Aldi
Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge - Stellantis - HQ in Netherlands
Frigidaire - Swedish
Ben and Jerry's - British
Holiday Inn - British
Firestone - Japan
Purina - Japan
Gerber - Swiss
Heinz - brazil
T-mobile - germany
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