AS PMP HAS GROUND TO A HALT WE REVIEW THE FUTURE

The postal strike has virtually ground PMP Films to a halt regards orders, the digital downloads are just £8 and run no risk of being stacked in a distant sorting office or waiting shipment overseas. We shall implement a postal charge on overseas orders so we can send them tracked and insured. Last year we said that we would cease our Amazon shop which we did. This caused a substantial drop in sales partly hidden in all the other woes post Brexit, strikes etc in the UK. The next move will be to drop Ebay, the number of moans about the few orders which have gone out means us issuing refunds on EBay only to find that they get the order the next day etc. If anyone needs reminding it is my hobby and we run the archive at a loss and subsidise it from our pensions. Thus the easiest way out would be to pursue my hobby through the places I most like and at intervals that suit me. I would carry on the scanning of old cine and digitising our masters and share extracts on Youtube.

I was astonished by the naivety of some retailers / manufacturers like Rapido who are wailing about lack of pre orders for the avalanche of new releases they keep advertising. Few people are ordering anything at present other than through Amazon who have their own distribution network. If they advertised and released new buses at sensible intervals they would get more orders. They also decided to abandon Yardley Wood model bus club  who would have been their biggest outlet. They also offer no discounts at Rapido so as not to undercut retailers so why would people order direct from Rapido. The quality of their offerings is astounding although I would rather have driver and passengers then lights, first thing I do is snip off the annoying wires underneath the model. They are launching hundreds of Leyland Nationals which are also crawling out of the old EFE business. Oxford is better focussed and at an affordable price. The modern buses from Hong Kong still keep pouring in which is great when they cover a new prototype, quality as Rapido fantastic!  Rapido are duplicating other makes past releases when there are thousands of buses they could consider.

With the lack of revenue foreign travel is also under review, I'm waiting to see if the promised free tickets to Hong Kong emerge which are supposed to kick start their tourism. Intra Express who did the rail and tram trips from Germany have been started up under a new ownership but with well known guides from Thomas Fischer days. The only trip online at present is in a few weeks to Calcutta , the network celebrates 150 years but with a max of about 30 trams it is a long way to go and the whole system is by no means assured of a rosy future but has stepped back from the brink. They are advertising quite a range of trips in 2023 per there TUT advert.

We had a delightful family Christmas with my sisters in Hampshire here are a couple of shots

We also put some colourful bright flowers on our mothers grave in Hythe where it seems that the ferry will close and the tram will be strictly a tourist / heritage venture which doesn't really bode well for the future.

Well I must return to scanning and loading to Youtube and the digital archive grows but there are never enough hours in the day. Our thanks to all our friends who sent cards despite the post strikes. We wish everyone a happy New Year when it arrives. Although the weather looks dire for New Years Day we shall try our best at the Wrexham road Chester running day.