There has been a lot of complaining and intense examination taking place on the Internet concerning the recent Kodak Alaris’ price increase. In some cases prices have gone up by as much as 30%.
The following is a statement from the company:
“2019 has been exceptional year for film, Kodak Alaris has seen increasing demand for film with new interest in traditional photography growing and a decline in the volume of film our key competitor has released to the market. Our market share has grown and levels of positivity towards shooting film not seen for many years has returned. These changes have also come with some problems, in recent years film supply has only just kept pace with market demand during the peak season but this year the increased demand has resulted in the highest level of Kodak Alaris film sales for some years leading to supply issues for most of our film lines. We have had to prioritise production of the most important film types, for example Professional film which is critical to many Professional Photographers. Overall we have seen the level of customer back orders increase to an unprecedented level, we understand this creates a difficult issue for our customers and end users but film production has been limited by a finite supply of one of the key components used to produce film.
Alaris’s film supply comes from a single dedicated supplier, we are beholden to this supplier for all the film we sell across the world. Our supplier has recognised the increased demand for film and started to initiate plans to increase their volume capacity. A large ongoing financial investment has been made to increase production capacity but unfortunately the benefits of this investment will not be realised until much later in 2020, with some additional benefits being delivered in 2021.
As the level of customer orders has increased every step has been taken to supply film as promptly as possible to our customers, with nearly all film and the components needed to produce film being air shipped around the world. These actions have come with a fiscal cost and despite our and our suppliers best efforts we have not been able to keep up with demand resulting in the extraordinary level of customer back orders we now have.
Partly due to the investment cost related to increasing film capacity and other increases in operational costs our film supplier has passed on a significant price increase to us for all film products. This price increase is far bigger than Kodak Alaris can absorb and we are forced to announce a price increase will be made all of our customers across the world from the 1st January 2020.
Kodak Alaris’s Management Team have agreed to absorb some of the price increase but we cannot absorb all of the price increase, therefore a significant increase will still be passed on to all our customers.”
So here are my thoughts. If you have a problem with this, it’s time get over it and start moving on. In fact, you should thank your luck stars and be happy that Tri-X is still available! Be happy that Kodak’s other black and white films are still available. Be happy that D-76, HC-110 and Dektol are still available. Be happy that a company that provides fine products manufactured with strict quality control is making them available to us so we can pursue our vision. Don’t like Kodak, then use Ilford or some other manufacturer’s products, but Kodak’s continued well-being is important to all of us!
Film, paper, and chemicals are expensive. I get that. Almost seven bucks for a roll of Tri-X certainly isn’t cheap, but I’ll gladly pay it. I know I won’t convince everyone. Still not happy; the next time you go through the Starbucks drive through think about how lucky we all are as you fork over nearly that much for a Venti of your favorite designer latte.