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White’s Electronics Done After 70 Years


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Sad indeed, especially for someone who has been a user for 37 years and a dealer for 31. Yes, many factors contributed, but not to be overlooked are the negative effect of counterfeit machines, produced "you know where." I cannot tell you how many times I lost genuine GMT sales when the potential buyer opted for a $150.00 machine from overseas. Often I got vilified for asking an "exaggerated, ripoff artist" price, but a month later, when the $150.00 counterfeit arrived, the victim "cried bloody murder". "I'll never buy a White's detector again!". But the problem was that it WASN'T a genuine White's product. 

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Thanks, Simon, but I am 67 and have been battling Parkinson's Disease for 8 years now. When I told Jeanie about the probable closure (not a total certainly yet) she happily exclaimed "You an retire now and enjoy your life!" Maybe so... 

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Sad Day......I was looking forward to the new Waterproof V3I that was floating around on Utube .....Hopefully they can come back soon.

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50 minutes ago, Jim McCulloch said:

Sad indeed, especially for someone who has been a user for 37 years and a dealer for 31. Yes, many factors contributed, but not to be overlooked are the negative effect of counterfeit machines, produced "you know where." I cannot tell you how many times I lost genuine GMT sales when the potential buyer opted for a $150.00 machine from overseas. Often I got vilified for asking an "exaggerated, ripoff artist" price, but a month later, when the $150.00 counterfeit arrived, the victim "cried bloody murder". "I'll never buy a White's detector again!". But the problem was that it WASN'T a genuine White's product. 

No doubt a factor, one many companies deal with... and most do deal with it. I'm a real hard ass when it comes to business failure though, having been a business owner my entire life. Businesses fail for one reason only in my opinion - bad management. Good management can overcome nearly anything. At the end of the day the buck stops at the top.

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1 hour ago, Jim McCulloch said:

Sad indeed, especially for someone who has been a user for 37 years and a dealer for 31. Yes, many factors contributed, but not to be overlooked are the negative effect of counterfeit machines, produced "you know where." I cannot tell you how many times I lost genuine GMT sales when the potential buyer opted for a $150.00 machine from overseas. Often I got vilified for asking an "exaggerated, ripoff artist" price, but a month later, when the $150.00 counterfeit arrived, the victim "cried bloody murder". "I'll never buy a White's detector again!". But the problem was that it WASN'T a genuine White's product. 

I’m struggling to find anything more frustrating and blood boiling than the scenario you have described........

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1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Once CEO Alan Holcombe left however, right around the time the V3i came out... that is when the end really started. White's just never found anyone capable of really replacing Alan.

Steve, I totally agree with you and would add that they didn't listen to there dealers and distributors in what the consumer and market was asking for and was riding on what they had built on in the past. It's sad to see the people who have remain loyal to White's as customers, dealers, distributors and employees that it has come to this. Hopefully they can gather themselves and become innovative and competitive again in a tough market, but it will be difficult if not impossible if the decision makers within White's are not willing to accept change and a new direction

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Not a good time to lose your job.  I feel especially bad for the White's employees.  This in some ways is the tip of the iceberg -- a wave of things to come, maybe not in the detector manufacturing world, but what is their share of Gross Global Product (GGP)?  And, yes, much bigger companies have already gone under the last few months.  If you've been listening to economists this kind of thing shouldn't be a surprise.  But it seems politicians are louder, bigger bullies -- another example of the squeeky wheel getting the grease = listening audience.

By the same token, why would a solvent company want to take the risk of buying out a failing company in a market that is potentially soft industry (leisure activity being part but not all of the space, although most of White's?) in this depression?  FT, Garrett -- they have their own detectors to sell.  Intellectual Property could easily be an exception, I get that, but besides the Goldmaster 24K which has stiff competition anyway, who has been lining up to buy White's detectors lately?

I still really like my TDI/SPP and especially my Bullseye TRX.  Just hope they hang in their because if they go on the fritz there may not be a fix....

There are some cheery thread topics (e.g. the Fisher Impulse) here right now, but this sure isn't one of them.

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17 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

By the same token, why would a solvent company want to take the risk of buying out a failing company in a market that is potentially soft industry

For the same reason some funny fellows in Texas bought Bounty Hunter, Fisher, and Teknetics. The White’s name has quite substantial value if somebody out there wanted to bootstrap into the industry. The half sine patent has real potential, or would have if the engineers that could develop it had been retained. Bottom line is solvent companies buy failed companies all the time. It’s all about the price - my partner and I used to call it “picking the bones”, every time one of our competitors went out of business, and we’d buy stuff for 10 cents on the dollar. Having lived through a few of these down times, we came to see them as opportunities. Good companies plan for bad times, and have sufficient resources to take advantage of opportunities that arise during bad times to not only survive but to thrive.

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Sad to see them go, but I believe that they will be bought out by someone else for the reasons that so  many have already stated.

Last year I almost bought a Whites, but decided on the 800 because of things it will do.

 

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17 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The story of White's the last 15 years is the story of missed opportunities and undue faith in big box machines.

I completely agree Steve, the opportunities and possibilities were there - begging them to progress and so were the customers.

 

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