Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/04/23

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Subject: [Leica] (was Coenen) now: buying Leica new vs. used
From: schroter at optonline.net (schroter@optonline.net)
Date: Sat Apr 23 20:42:01 2005

Being a special fetish, there is no shame in the Leica culture to buy used.  
It happens a lot and think of it as being good environmentalists in that we 
are reusing old equipment.

It's almost a fetish to find good buys in the used Leica market, like 
finding an old XKE or Rolls and "CLA"ing it.
:)
Regards,

Andrew Schroter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick (Washington, DC)" <patrick@photo.net>
Date: Friday, April 22, 2005 3:16 pm
Subject: [Leica] (was Coenen) now: buying Leica new vs. used

> I'll gladly admit that it was probably an off-line conversation 
> that Joseph and I had that
> triggered that reaction! And I have apologized for that to him.
> 
> Stepping on cultural faux-pax is part of an increasingly global 
> world (like doing the circled
> thumb/index finger sign as ?OK? or showing the bottom of your 
> sole/feet towards another person
> e.g. when sitting down on a floor/carpet are big no-no?s in some 
> cultures). I think it is helpful
> if both sides of the argument shows some understanding.
> 
> I?m curious to know actually as I tried to explain the purchasing 
> behaviour/line-of-thoughts of a
> US/European-born Leica user to Joseph.  For example, one is to buy 
> a Leica Summicron-M 35/2 APSH
> to USE, not collect or polish.  I tried to explain that one 
> considers all variables in that
> purchasing decision: comparing new US prices with passport to used 
> from dealer, to new from third
> party, to new from foreign source like Joseph?s authorized Leica 
> dealership, to a used but mint
> one like from a trusted source like a LHSA and/or LUG member.  
> Apparently I performed a great
> insult for comparing a ?used? product to a new?!?!
> 
> I do understand the difference between buying new vs. used 
> equipment, but I am actually very
> curious to know how it may be insulting to bring it up in the same 
> argument.
> Cheers,
> 
> Patrick
> - who did take some courses in Inter-cultural communication at the 
> university and do have an
> interest/fascination of the subject being an ex-pat myself
> 
> 
> --- Joseph Yao <joseph@yao.com> wrote:
> > Thank God someone understands me!  Yesterday I had someone who 
> compared my
> > price for a NEW Summicron 35 ASPH against that of a used/demo 
> one.  I was so
> > hurt/insulted I almost fell off my chair. ;-)
> > 
> > Joseph
> > 
> > 
> > on 23/4/05 2:46 am, Richard at richard-lists@imagecraft.com wrote:
> > 
> > > That's true in Chinese society, isn't it? I remember having a 
> great deal of
> > > difficulty to tell my family that, yes, while we can afford 
> new clothes for
> > > our children, it makes so much more sense to buy used clothes 
> since they
> > > grow up out it so fast... When I was growing up, we were so 
> poor that you
> > > passing down the clothes to another person in the family or to 
> your friends
> > > until there's no fabric left is the norm :-). So the stigma is 
> "why> > wouldn't nice clean clothes be in the store? Did something 
> happen to the
> > > child?" etc.
> > > 
> > > Of course with the Leica, if you find a 50 year old Leica, 
> chances are that
> > > the owner did finally go to the Big Leica store up there... :-)
> > > 
> > > At 11:14 AM 4/22/2005, Joseph Yao wrote:
> > > 
> > >> Little does Coenen know that there is a taboo/stigma 
> associated with buying
> > >> used/second hand in certain cultures.  By not offering (I am 
> not saying they
> > >> should or should not) an entry level model, Leica is turning 
> away many
> > >> potential customers.  This is where Cosina/Voigtlander have 
> succeeded and I
> > >> expect the Zeiss Ikon camera and lenses will accomplish the same.
> > >> 
> > >> Joseph
> > >> 
> > > 
> > > // richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me 
> directly, please
> > > use richard at imagecraft.com)
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Leica Users Group.
> > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more 
> information> > 
> > 
> >  
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> > 
> 
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