Dis-Obedient Die Crap, Part II

Viking Magic: Pick a village to rape and pillage, any village to rape and pillage...

(By the way, check out the pick-up trucks in the background of that photo. Really contributes to the authenticity, don't you think?)

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Magic Maker's "Obedient Die" and the problems with the magic community that allow such shit to make its way to the market. Along the way I blamed Penguin Magic (the distributor of Obedient Die, who I believe is equally culpable because (a) they should not be selling pirated tricks and (b) they should have tested the trick and, finding that it was unperformable, decided that they should not be selling it) and Viking Magic (the owner of the rights to the original trick, Badlands Bob, who I accused of overcharging for their effect and forcing customers to look other places to find a similar effect for a reasonable price). I described Badlands Bob as a "rip off" to which Ian, one of my readers (I really love my readers and I really do read your comments!), commented:

I think you're severely misusing the phrase "rip off" to describe Viking's handling of Badlands Bob. To "rip off" means to exploit, swindle, cheat, or defraud (source: www.dictionary.com). Sure, Viking seem to be seriously overpricing a gimicky little die - but that's a business mistake - not a rip off. The advertising isn't misleading, it's pretty clear what you get - it's just expensive for an effect that's not particularly impressive. But they key thing is you don't have to buy it. It's not like it's a drug you need to stay alive that they're overpricing, or a monopoly service you can't do without - it's a shitty little trick. We don't have some sort of "right" to be able to buy every trick we want. As magic consumers our sanction if we think a product is overpriced is not to buy a cheap copy - it's just to refuse to buy the overpriced original.

Ian

He has a point, although I could argue that overcharging for a "gimicky little die" does involve an exploitation of the customer who purchases it expecting some kind of correspondence between his or her expense and the purchase he or she made.

That being said, I received an e-mail today (actually, the e-mail was sent on July 8th, but, because my junk mail filter thought "Badlands Bob" was some kind of porn site, I didn't get the e-mail until today when i checked my junk mail folder) from George Robinson, the owner of Viking Magic, which I now print in its absolute entirety:

From : George Robinson
Sent : Friday, July 8, 2005 8:47 AM
To :
Subject : Badland's Bob

I'd like to answer your statement about our pricing practices regarding Badland's Bob and possibly other item we manufacture. It would be nice if you contacted us first to get the facts before you slandered us with your remarks. In the case of Badlands, this was invented by P.H. Postma of the Netherlands, and NO ONE disputes this.

We PURCHASED the manufacturing rights from MR. Postma plus we pay him ROYALTIES. These royalties add to our cost. We also wholesale this item; please work backwards with us: $45.00 retail less 50% to dealers. now it's $22.50. We pay ROYALTIES of $5.00 ea., now that's $17.50, then take off for production costs and overhead and I am sure you will see that we are not getting rich. (We don't make our stuff in Thailand for $2.00 and I guess you can see why by your own statement regarding Magic Maker's/Penguin knock-off) PLUS we offer a lifetime guarantee on this product should it for any reason stop working properly, etc. And OURS WORKS! Doesn't that have some value?

Our customer service is the best in the business and we try to make the best products possible. All this adds VALUE to our product. PLUS we have the right to charge what we want, fair value for a decent product that WE OWN. We have never had a complaint on this item that we have not corrected, a policy we add to everything we make.

I hope you print this so that your site can be, to quote "fair and balanced'.

Sincerely,
George Robinson Jr.
Viking/Collectors' Workshop
info@vikingmagic.com

Well, let's just say that I've been, to use a videogame term, owned. Here's my response:

Dear George,

I'm sorry if you took my remarks as slander. Your e-mail was truly illuminating as to the breakdown of where all that money goes for the tricks you produce and I really appreciate that. The $45 you charge for Badlands Bob (which I never disputed was your - and only your - right to produce) seems more reasonable in that light. The one question I have is this: is it standard for a retailer to sell their tricks for 200% of the price they purchase them at? It seems weird to me (although this could just be my naivete in the area of selling magic) that the retailer makes just as much as you do for the trick which you purchased the rights for and produced.

I still think that you and Mr. Postma were wronged by both Magic Makers (who blatantly stole your trick) and Penguin Magic (who has the gall to sell a trick they clearly know was stolen and unperformable). That aspect of the post I stick to and I believe you agree. What can we do to combat this egregious wrongdoing? Is there anything I or my readers can do? I think it is our responsibilities as magicians to protect magic inventors and the companies who deal honestly with the magic community.

So, let me again apologize for not coming to you first to get "the skinny" on Badlands Bob. While I stand by my opinions ($45 still seems expensive for the effect), I don't think the fault necessarily lies with you as I insinuated (I realize now that retailers contribute largely to the price tag, which I hadn't considered and partially blamed you for).

I'm really glad you opened up this dialogue. I hope we've resolved our viewpoints!

Magically yours,
P.

Writing my thoughts in this blog is as much a learning experience for me as I hope it is for you. And, thanks to George Robinson, I've really learned a lot today.