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Back when Squadron was king I ordered from them due to the items I wanted was carried. Since they changed owners the items that I want are either too high priced or they say they have it but they do not have it. You can not expect to keep customers if you say you have something when you really don't. I would like to see them stay in business if they get with the same program as other on line retailers. It's not all that hard to figure out what modelers are building and wanting. How many model forums are out here on the net? I wish them luck and if they can get the items in stock and within a reasonable price I will order from them again!

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Squadron had become irrelevant in modeling world at the turn of the century and accesibility of internet to the masses, free flow of information and goods, etc. "Saving" Squadron would be equivalent to saving manuscript production after the printing press was invented. Either you adapt or die, it's that simple.

Cheers.

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I used to shop with them until I found Sprue Brothers. I would occasionally go back to them for stuff, but when I noticed some questionable pricing practices I ceased to support them. I know there is a lot of nostalgia with them, but the market has spoken. Customers have found and supported better shops.

πŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌ: Sprue Brothers .... Visited almost daily!

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When I receive their flyer it's nice to see the wide variety of stock they offer but some things just make me shake my head. Telescopes? Hawaiian shirts? See-saw pricing?Hardbound Squadron/Signal books, really? If they want to draw business their way they have to look no further than the competition. Sprue Bros., Hannant's, Hobbbylinc, etc. Sensible website with a smart search engine. Stock levels with real time quantities, reasonable (actual) shipping and reliable service. Squadron's competition may have my email address but they refrain from filling my inbox with desperate "3 hours left" emails.

Squadron has simply outlived it's reputation and that's too bad. Maybe that's what happens when you are owned by a holding company, hire an executive from EA Sports, hire another from Franklin Mint, buy out VLS,Black Box/Avionix, Aeromaster, Eagle Strike, etc.

I would like to see Squadron stick around but I'm not going out of my way to "save them" from their unsustainable business model.

Edited by Jim S
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Just to add a little more to the discussion. If you think about it it's rather odd that Squadron isn't one of the leading on-line mail order model companies in the world.They were established doing mail order long before most all of the current leading companies were even a thought. If anyone could have taken full advantage of the strength of the internet it was them. They had the warehouse and order/ship system already set-up. All they had to do was successfully transition the ordering side of it to take advantage of the internet and they could have been way ahead of the curve. Hind sight I guess but I think they missed a golden opportunity.

Bill

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Lets take Sam Walton's retail model.....

You scope out the competition, have more than they offer, and drop the price a few bucks. Then you throw in a sale or two....

That's is the reason they topped JCPenny, and Sears......

Last time I shopped Squadron...two years ago for Black Friday. Not a bad deal but I had to go in with someone to be able to afford enough to get the 50% off and the free shipping......spread out the love throughout the year.....and just not enough things available for me to buy.

BTW, I have been comparing SB to the online market and I have been getting better deals from other vendors. Now, the reason I go to SB....Met Gordon and son, very nice, and he has one helluva service ethic.

-Jim

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Aside from discussing Squadron, the underlying theme that runs through most posts in this thread is that we have a lot of options open to us to obtain the things we need/want in this hobby. We don't have just one or two online choices available to us but many choices to shop and compare from around the World. Added to this is that as much and all as many of us see/would like to see ourselves as being loyal customers to company "A", cost and availability wins the day (nothing new and nothing confined to just our hobbies really). I suppose that if it hasn't already, what's happening with Squadron should serve notice to the other online stores.

:cheers:

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I got back into the hobby because I accidently found the Syosset, NY Squadron shop in the 1970s. Terry, the manager knew plastic modeling, the store had everything that was mainstream, and it was the only real game in town. With the advent of the internet, the Squadron just didn't adapt, didn't meet the quality, selection, and price of major competitors, and ended up being sold a few years ago. The new owners haven't faired much better other then promises of better in stock conditions, and competitive prices. Sale after sale, especially their Black Friday sale, I couldn't find any thing I was interested in that was In stock. Now I just never bother going to their site to check anything, as I'm fairly certain that they don't have what I need or want. Even paints at times are out of stock!

Over the last several years Sprue Brothers, and ScaleHobbyist.com have become my go to online resources, with Hobbyworld USA the newest member of the trio. I just don't shop anywhere else, and honestly, have no reason to do so.

It's just not my responsibility to support them in order for them to continue to stay in business when in reality, they've done nothing to change or adapt their business model to what the business is today.

Joel

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I second the question about their distributorship and other companies they have snatched up...is it just the mail order that's in trouble or did they dork up their corporate structure and the whole enterprise is in extremis? If it is the latter - HUGE impact to the hobby.

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I second the question about their distributorship and other companies they have snatched up...is it just the mail order that's in trouble or did they dork up their corporate structure and the whole enterprise is in extremis? If it is the latter - HUGE impact to the hobby.

I've heard through the grapevine that their wholesale side, MMD, has ticked off more than one customer by selling kits to shops at wholesale prices and then charging far less in the sale flyer to the general public. If the shop tries to order from the flyer they cannot and have to buy through MMD at the "wholesale" price.

I agree with some of the other posters that Squadron was in the position to be a big player in the onlien world by being the dominant mail order shop, instead they've decided to fall back on the "well, we've always been here" idea that doesn't work.

Ken

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I became a devout Squadronion (Squadronite? Squad-man?) back in the early 80s, their flyer was like styrene porn back then. Sure there were a few local hobby shops I frequented as well, but Squadron pretty much owned the mail-order business.

Then the internet happened.

Thirty years later Squadron is still mailing out monthly flyers. Sure it's entertaining reading on the throne but, dude, that train left the station decades ago. Kill the flyer, take that printing budget and invest it in your online presence and move on.

I am local to Squadron so I can avoid their shipping charges, but I pay an 8.25% premium in sales tax. No matter, because their website won't let me complete an order for local pickup. Oh, I can select the local pickup option but the transaction won't complete without my selecting a shipper. :bandhead2: I have to phone in my order if I really want the kit, but I'm tired of that. I have mentioned this issue to them several times over the last year yet the problem remains and, like the flyer, probably will for another few decades.

So many others just do it so much better, it's not worth the struggle to deal with Squadron any more. Sorry but the party's over.

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As a home grown Texan I hate to see squadron in this kind of a fix, but when the handwriting is on the wall as was said earlier, and in plain sight, and you choose not to read it or to ignore the message....the fault is their own. I was a squadron fan for years, but when their shipping became more self serving instead of customer friendly...the affair became strained and the soon to come business practices brought it to a sudden untimely end. Saving them would mean another vendor to go to, but I must ask would/will they get the message and put customers before profit to the point of retaining the customers they have and bring back ones they have lost. Every business in created to make a profit, but at the expense of the customers to the point of wringing out of us every penny they can just ain't cricket mate. If they would provide reasonable pricing/shipping along with true advertising...folks would go back to them. Teasers like the mystery sale of the month/week are only good for so long, it the whole car not the hot looking paint job that counts.

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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Perfect example: look at what Sprue Bros. just did with their international shipping to help both their customers and their business. That's how you run a business. Squadron never understood that.

There it is ^^^ perfect example.

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I have bought from Squadron twice. One time was when they had the Hobby Boss HET for $50.00. The second time was when they did an 80% sale and I picked up two Hobby Boss Land Rovers for $10.00 each. Any other time, their prices have been too high. I am subscribed to their emails which seem like spam anymore than they are actually sales. Their sales prices are around most other online source every day prices. I receive their mail catalogs but only look at a couple of pages and toss it in the trash. There just isn't anything that they are doing that motivates me to do business with them. The should stop mailing catalogs and drop their prices a bit.

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I've ordered from Squadron on occasion, but not recently. As mentioned before, back in the day they were the mail order hobby shop. I remember as a teenager in the late 70s poring over their catalog, and my friends and I going together for an order of stuff you couldn't ever hope to see in a small town a million miles from nowhere. Now, though, other vendors usually have better prices and selection. Plus, I've pretty much passed my "stash building" phase, and most anything I want I can wait until I get to a real hobby shop, or the vendor room at a show.

My only concern is what will happen to the True Details resin line. I've bought a ton of their wheels over the years, and currently could use a few sets of their generic American WWII Aircraft Seats in 1/72. I used to get them from CRM, but he dumped the entire line of Squadron Products two or three years ago because they were so hard to keep in stock, and Squadron was so difficult to deal with.

SN

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In all fairness , Squadron has failed to impress me since the original owner got out of the business.

The more they change it, the less it appeals to me ( if at all ) . To think I use to look forward to the monthly flyers with anticipation.

What a dismal change. Can't remember the last time they had anything worth buying.

Cheers, Christian

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I would love to see them change and improve. You can't just buy a take name and depend on that to keep you afloat. Look at Armalite... these guys are barely recognized anymore, but Springfield managed to keep it together a little bit longer. Could it just be that SQ is just too big to stand on its own right now?

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Perfect example: look at what Sprue Bros. just did with their international shipping to help both their customers and their business. That's how you run a business. Squadron never understood that.

Squadron still charges shipping rates based on the cost of the order and not the size. That's how it used to be done back in the mail order days when the customer had to figure out the shipping charges from a chart before they sent their order and payment in.

This leads to cases where you get charged more for ordering an Eduard "Big Ed/Big Sin" set than you would if you bought a 1/72 B-36 or 1/48 B-1B.

Other companies charge actual cost and in the event their system overcharges for shipping you get a refund of the difference.

Ken

Edited by kenlilly106
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I'm not sure what you're seeing. SB has increased their product lines to the point of having thousands of different items in stock. They continue to ship quickly. If you are talking price, they have only increased their prices as the distributors/manufacturers have increased theirs. They go out of their way to find the cheapest shipping method. Much of the cost is out of their control. Many of the other online businesses are actually ordering services. There is one out east that is one day shipping from the distributor. He doesn't need to stock items, so his overhead is extremely low. SB has an entire warehouse full of inventory, so they simply can't lower prices when distributors are raising them. I'm really curious as to how they are resting on their duffs.

In regard to Squadron, they have made some really, really bad business decisions and it's coming back to bite them. They either adapt or die. It's really as simple as that. I do understand the nostalgia aspect of it, though, and wanting things to be the way they were.

Fair enough. Let me rephrase. Spruebrothers is excellent for many things. However, I find them to be lacking in aftermarket products for 1/72 aircraft. I would love for SB to be my go-to source for online purchases, but I find I have to go with Hannants for many PE and resin detail sets, and especially decals. These things at SB are typically out of stock, or just not carried at all.

Hannants is great, but shipping overseas can get expensive.

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The only allegiance I've ever had is to my family's finances. Squadron, brick n mortar store, eBay, I don't support any of them unless they're the best deal in town. Online prices I only look at with the shipping included. Otherwise the price is just a smokescreen. Squadron seems to have let the times pass them by. Others like Sprue Bros have picked up the mantle. There will always be something.

I'm in the same position as BIG and have to agree about looking at both the price and shipping cost with online sellers, ie you'll can always find a kit for $1 with a shipping of $100 on ebay. I haven't bought from Squadron since the 90's but even then it was rare because something on sale with the shipping would sometimes be the same price as getting one from my LHS which I now rarely do because of personal finances or lack of it.

Many make very good points. It is after all a business and in free enterprise it's survival of the fittest but then again if they go what shape would the hobby be in.

I can't say what to do but whatever happens is the natural course of life.

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I only buy from them during their sales, though the number of orders I've placed with them have dropped since they made changes to their shipping costs.

I did place an order with them today from their 5 day sale. Squadron's pricing is not too bad, my order was certainly cheaper than ordering from Asia.

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Those of us who've been in the hobby for 20-30 years remember the days when there were maybe four or five, large, trustworthy mail order shops, and Squadron was among them. Models were less expensive then, and scoring a bargain was a monthly occurrence. Today there are dozens literally a click away.

It's very different today, and I don't envy any of the shops seeking our business. You have to offer competitive prices, a huge product line, a great web site, fast turnaround, and inexpensive shipping. It's got to be a struggle for anyone to compete. I have to believe that even the suits at Sprue Brothers wake up every day wondering how they can continue to keep their business relevant and viable.

I've found bargains at Squadron, Sprue Brothers, eBay, Amazon, and occasionally at the LHS. We have more options than ever, so it's no surprise that anyone is struggling.

Steven Brown

Scale Model Soup

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