(TripodBill) wrote in
:

Subject: Garmin too big for their britches? (Fixed Pricing)
From: (TripodBill)
Date: 7/14/2004 12:09 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Many readers appropriately picked up on one of the most important
issues in my earlier post: Minimum Retail Price Policy (i.e.,
controls). For those that are still interested in the subject and are
of the "pilot persuasion" here's an update of what you can expect at
the Oshkosh show this year. You may recall from my previous post that
I relayed information from a friend Garmin's new price policy on
the GPSMAP 296 at SunNFun. Well, if you are headed to EAA's Oshkosh
show this year, there is good and bad news. Good news: The older
GPSMAP 196 will be cheaper this year at about $795. More Good news:
There will be new low-end handhelds in B&W and color to replace the
aging GPS III Pilot and GPSMAP 295. The new handhelds will both be in
the GPSMAP 76 form factor. (Not sure if that's a great design for yoke
mounting, but I'll leave that to pilots to decide.) Bad news? ALL
MODELS will now be under the Minimum Retail Price Policy, meaning no
dealer at the show will be competing with another dealer. Buy from
whoever you like, 'cause they can't sell it to you any cheaper. Any
dealer that screws up and offers free shipping, a package deal, or
discounted accessory will be canceled by Garmin. Garmin has now fixed
prices on all their aviation products. It will be just a matter of
time before they do the same in the automotive, outdoor and marine
product lines. Happy shopping!

-Bill


(for more info, see sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup)

Minimum retail pricing is not illegal. It's called MSRP, under another
name. For example, all the video game console manufacturers have been
doing it for years. What stores do is tell people to call for special
pricing when they have it available. Garmin would be making a big
mistake if they were to cancel dealers who sell product at anything
below their min pricing guideline, or who offer incentives that have
nothing to do with the price of the units, because the media (myself
included) would not look kindly at such actions.

I will make it a point to check on this at OSH. If anyone has evidence
that a dealer has been cancelled or otherwise penalized for offering an
incentive like the ones described above, come to the Aero-News trailer
at the Media Center and let us know.

Juan