Re: The problems of living outside the USA

["Matthew A. Cenzer" <mcenzer@nwu.edu>]

>     Hi  Luggers   Ah the misery. Here in Africa we have a few problems
>getting  Leica equipment and the reason given is "the backorders from the
>USA get  first priority!". Now what I find strange is that most dealers in
>the USA  seem to advertise that they have stock of all the usual lenses,
>but my order  >from Leica for a 35mm F2 ASPH Summicron will "take weeks or
>months to  arrive as they have all been pre-ordered by the USA, our
>biggest market."  Is this really the case, and do other buyers in the
>far-flung corners of the  world suffer from this problem or is it unique
>to Africa?  Best wishes to all the LUG   Harold   My e-mail addresses are
>as follows: haroldgess@journalist.com gess@icon.co.za Please use either of
>these to reach me and, lest  you lose sight of it, have a nice day!

You in South Africa have it lucky, when I lived in Kenya it was basically
impossible to get new Leica equipment. It had to be specially ordered and
was subject to 100% import duty from the Kenya governement. My solution was
to purchase equipment in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) which has to be the
world's greatest duty-free shopping paradise. The camera counter at the
Dubai airport was better stocked than most camera shops and the prices were
better than any I have found. Dubai was a relativly cheap flight from Kenya
and I would usually route my London-Nairobi flights through the Emirates
and save my shoping until then.

- --
Matthew A. Cenzer
Department of History
Northwestern University
mcenzer@nwu.edu