THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TOY SOLDIER TUNNEL.....



Dear Conte Collector

Thought I'd give you all an interim progress report/update. So many of you have written asking the same things so I'll try to cover all the topics which  seem to recur in emails and phone calls as i suspect these things are of interest to many of you.


WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS ON A DAILY BASIS & HAVE BEEN SHIPPING ORDERS AT LEAST 4 DAYS PER WEEK.  WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU GOOD PEOPLE(and it's us even though we might have a bit of a Southern drawl, y'all)

The New Digs
We're in the new warehouse and perhaps 50% unpacked and still settling in as best we can while still handling day to day orders and business.


This move has been harder & more time consumptive & expensive than I'd ever imagined yet 'at the end of the day' is going to be the smartest thang I've done in at least a decade... Nobody knows how many toy soldiers you can fill a 5000 sq. ft. space  20 feet tall with......I now have some idea...and its alot  ...and it not a simple matter to pack and ship  and then unpack and sort.........Some collectors apparently think we should have unloaded the  small 'u-haul' quite some time ago  and have no clue as to how many 53ft. long truckloads we've shipped........

Despite the long hours of back breaking packing, moving, unpacking, & sorting, it is a great feeling to at long last have the office and warehouse 5 minutes from my home. And to know that most 'issues" are behind us left in the sands of Las Vegas........while I'm too old to really be accomplishing this move, it would have been far worse to trust my labor of love to others in a distant state!

The Collector Lounge

I kinda like the 50's or early 60's sound of this...it's kind of  a Rat-Pack hangout for all of us ole  toy soldier collectors.   The 'new building' is an old tobacco warehouse with 25 foot high ceilings supported by huge wood  beams and tall brick walls and has a real atmospheric 'feel' to it that you either will love or hate. So far, I'm loving it......even the occasional roof leak we've been dealing with. (Nevada always had far too much air conditioned office space and it seemed my managers rarely ventured out of the AC'd areas....)

So many of you have asked to come visit us in Raleigh/ Durham that it's looking like we'll be seeing 50 times the visitors which might have wanted to drop in on Conteco in Vegas. Raleigh seems to be pretty centrally located to loads of toy soldier buffs  I think we might even hold Collector Club meetings at the warehouse several times a year and unveil new product along with the running of a classic film. (The Vikings--of course-- is always available 24 hours per day........). I'm really looking forward to your visits.


Speaking of My Fellow Collectors



For the past several months I've been doing my best to respond to  each & every collector's emails sent in general to any of the company's addresses or to those addressed to me at einar1eye@aol.com  and I am deeply gratified by the many kind notes of encouragement and well wishes which we've received.  I  truly am flattered that so many of you take the time to send such thoughtful words my way & especially blown away by the many offers to come and help us unpack !!!! You folks are very kind & as always provide me with my greatest source of encouragement to keep on creating toy soldiers.

My recent comments on this site regarding my unhappiness with the service (and attitude)  we were providing in Nevada unleashed a veritable deluge of emails & calls with many of you telling me your  personal horror story.  I thank you for bringing these unresolved issues to my attention and I'm glad we can at last be putting closure on some customer service problems. Negative comments are important for me to hear as well so please keep those coming in when you think you have a fair 'beef' with us.

I am personally trying to respond to each & every reasonable email .  I say 'reasonable" because  some folks( 1 in 100) send really crazy or bizarre  ones which don't merit  being acknowledged. One condition, however, is that you identify who you are by first & last name as well as providing a phone number as I might want to phone ya. You guys know my name and number so it seems only fair that I know who I'm responding to. As many of you know I've been making quite a few calls to collectors as emails just sometimes don't seem to  always 'cut it'....ALL reasonable inquiries will be responded to !! As Dean used to say, "Keep those cards & letters coming.."

Don't expect an answer if you write and ask my opinions of other company's product( I never do this as it would be ungentlemanly), ask me to get involved in some political or charitable or religious cause( I have my own & they are jealously kept private)  or if you want to have me comment  on something outlandish & bizarre which has apparently been uttered on a chat room or a web forum  or told to you by a terminated former Conte dealer at some toy show.

Despite  many of you encouraging me to get involved with the various internet forums or asking me to respond to outlandish stuff made up and reported as 'fact', I just don't have the time or inclination  to get down in the gutter & to debate nonsense with a few of these  perennial critics who have their own personal or 'corporate' axe to grind  & who apparently make it a full-time 'job' to invent Conteco  rumors .   My Granny always advised me in life to 'consider the source" when something negative is uttered about someone & I encourage you to do the same.......Life is just too good to do otherwise!
When the source is a 'shill' collector acting as the mouthpiece for a competitor manufacturer OR is a disgruntled former dealer who has been terminated by Conte OR is a collector who is angry with us for some real or imagined reason from years ago  OR is one of the  3 customers (in 10 years) we have barred from dealing with us who have turned to the internet in order to continue their curious love-hate relationship , please do as Granny advised.  Judge us by our sculpts & our product  as these things speak for themselves and question the motives behind some of the crazy stuff being said 'out there".  Our going from mere collector to an industry leader has created lots of jealousy & pettiness , and as we've taken away 'market share' from others we've created enemies.
  I've learned that attacks against me and /or Conteco are apparently going to be ongoing forever & we take it as a badge of honor that our product engenders such passion & debate.  It's actually quite the back-handed 'flattery" to see the lengths  which people will go to  in their efforts to discredit our product or to see their name associated with ours. It amazes me & mystifies me at the same time ...

For gosh sakes,  If you have a question or concern please ask us  directly rather than listening to some silliness being manufactured  by one of our competitors  or a discontinued dealer or a collector driven absolutely stark raving bonkers by the seemingly endless wait for some new Conte product they long to have..........we realize that you need your 'fix' of Conte soldiers and when they are delayed that some of you become upset & go mad. 
Help is on the way !



SERVICE/Satisfaction


In the past year we have filled over 5000 orders from eBay alone and we have a 99.5% positive rating from the thousands of collectors there. (and this includes about 1/2 of the orders being handled by the error prone former Nevada office) EBay tells us that this is an unbelievably stellar rating given the amount of traffic we receive & the many foreign countries which we deliver to . While we don't have a similar system set up to track ConteCo customer satisfaction, one has to assume that Conteco customer satisfaction is now becoming similar to eBay's numbers as the same folks are now handling both operations in scenic North Carolina....... Our goal is 100% but 99.5 is a pretty good start .......
We are human, we make the occasional error. Our employees are not perfect. All we ask is that if something has gone awry that you let me know....

Timeliness

As there are only so many hours an old sea dog can work in a day please don't get angry or critical if  I don't get back to you for a day or two.....I'm trying to accomplish a major move whilst also training new employees, and designing new product. It ain't as easy as some of you apparently think......I'm doing my best & I'm doing it with fewer employees and a tremendous amount of personal time being invested. I want to know what's going on in every facet of the business and I want to make sure that our service is in keeping with the industry leading excellence of our product!

Also, keep in mind , I like toy soldiers and the sorting provides alot of distractions. Sometimes I open a box and find something wonderful & just have to play with it.....

Two other simple facts: if the Carolina Hurricanes are playing, expect me to be gone early and incommunicado for the duration.....or if Turner Classics is airing an Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, Randy Scott, Gary Cooper, Chuck Heston or Duke Wayne film, expect delays.......a man must have certain priorities...

Was That Really The Pirate Captain On The Phone????

 
Yes, some of you have been called by the truly better half of the Conte world....the model for several of our sculpts and best known Pirate woman model in the Conte world....My wife Nancy.  She's a real trouper and has been working hard to get this move done and that really was her returning your  phone calls from time to time.  My only worry is that once you speak with her you'll have no use for me...

It's all part of trying to get this biz back where I want it to be.....


Which Leads Me To The Conte Collector Club


A brand new CCC or Conte Collectors Club is soon to be unveiled here on the web page so please do NOT attempt to renew your membership just yet.  As many of you know, we are not currently accepting renewals as we've decided to wait until the new, revamped Club debuts.   All sorts of fantastic new figures will be included as club offerings including several Gunfighters (one  a gorgeous Lady Slinger), the super Robin Hood vs Guy of Gisbourne Duel, a terrific Barbarian,  and a bunch more.......

CCC figures this time around will ONLY be available direct from us; no exceptions.
In the past we had a host of problems with dealers selling the figures individually to anyone who wanted to pay  their price instead of signing collectors up for the club....this led to all sorts of inventory & customer service problems. (one dealer bought 21 of the terrific King's Deer Robin Hood figure but signed up zero CCC memberships.....)

While On The Subject Of Dealers

We are discontinuing & cutting out a large percentage of our USA based dealers for a number of different reasons.  We invest all of the sweat and money in designing, developing  , producing, shipping & warehousing new  high quality & very collectible product and can no longer allow dealers to 'undermine' our efforts in various ways in order to make a quick buck.....

   


In the future our dealers will only be allowed to carry our product  IF they (a) own a real bricks and mortar toy soldier shop, (b) are a museum store or (c) attend at least 5 toy shows per year prominently promoting Conte product and follow our simple dealer code of ethics/conduct.

I've been shocked at how many 'dealers'  the Nevada office allowed to exist who did little more than offer the item on eBay at insultingly reduced prices or otherwise took the product to toy shows and in some cases sold the  set for as little as a $1 more than they have paid  to us.  Conversely, I cannot tolerate dealers who at the other end of the scale have been documented as telling collectors that certain sets are 'sold out" (WHEN THEY ARE NOT!!) and then charging a premium for same (in one case over 250% of the retail price of the product) thereby gouging the collector in a criminal fashion.


Recently I had a collector call to complain that our painted plastic Zulus  he had bought from 'an authorized dealer" were having serious paint flaking problems and he wanted a replacement!!  The major problem is that  WE NEVER MADE PAINTED PLASTIC ZULUS !! And the dealer in question had had an unpainted set painted and then lied to the collector saying  that they were RARE Conte product, implying that we had made & approved these.......!!!!!!

Another dealer was recently caught pulling exclusive rare figures out of blistercards and selling these at toy shows at a huge  premium---he subsequently was selling & mailing the sets (missing the figures he had pulled out) to mail order collectors. When the collectors complained of missing figures, the dealer told the collectors that they should contact the manufacturer (us) to get a replacement.....it didn't take forensic science or a Columbo to trace this recurring problem to one dealer doing the same thing time & again......shameful.

Another took Conte figures, converted them & subsequently was advertising that the conversions were "Rick Conte" approved.........I know several collectors who bought thinking they were acquiring a rare, official product.  Please beware and contact me directly if you are offered something unusual as I can quickly let you know if it is for real.......

I won't bore you with any more examples. Suffice it to say the streets of Conteville are being cleaned up....the responsible dealers will still be around while others depart.......


Sales/Pricing

I've recently had a few calls asking me to 'honor' sale prices which were in effect before the move/relocation. I'm sorry but the sales are over and we clearly warned you &  indicated this on the web site. We had sales in effect so that we wouldn't have to relocate all of our product; we were trying to pass savings on to you rather than spend the $$$ packing, trucking, shipping and then unpacking, sorting and reshelving.  The whole point was to avoid shipping what we could sell......NOW that the relocation is done please don't expect us honor discontinued sale prices.......they are done, finito, over..

Please don't call & attempt to 'negotiate' prices with us as we are not selling Rugs in the Casbah or the Souk...although this might be a fun occupation.

That said, I am concerned for the entire industry that costs of toy soldier sets has spiraled out of control due to a number of reasons including rapidly rising prices in China. I hate seeing companies make beautiful figures which are beyond the price range  which many collectors can afford. Part of the rationale behind our move was to be able to make a massive lowering  of our 'overhead" so that we could do our best to keep our figures affordable & fairly priced.

Conteville Back Orders / Out of Stock  Items / Items which were never produced

A few comments  are in order about this apparently important  & recurring topic.  Twenty or so collectors have brought to my attention his or her backorder for an item or set which was unavailable at the time when the collector tried to order it. (And their concern or unhappiness in still awaiting the order to be filled). Some of the issues raised below may seem outlandish to most of you but they reappear on a regular basis.....

(a) items which were  announced  or prototyped by us but never made
Most toy companies display or 'show" prototypes of planned , announced product every year in Jan/Feb at toy shows and it is estimated that only about 1/3 of the items shown are EVER MADE and reach store shelves.  We've managed to make and deliver well over 90% of the items which we have prototyped/announced over the years yet despite running so far ahead of industry averages we constantly hear from a  a few collectors  who are very angry about the failure of certain products--which they REALLY WANTED -- to make it to their collections & this issue of unfulfilled dreams pops up time & again, occasionally in an angry & naive tirade or lecture from a collector about lies or broken promises.


A  few classic cases  of proposed sets which were never produced are (a) the 'interior parts' for the War Lord tower which included staircases  which sadly were never made when  Universal Studios who owned the rights to the movie refused to approve our selling the product, leaving it dead in the water. (b)the 4' long Pirate Ship which has been hoped for for years. Sadly three different factories have agreed to produce this gorgeous set but have never delivered. Two of the companies went out of business and the third abandoned the project when they couldn't engineer and replicate the complex masts & rigging properly. It also was looking as though the retail price of this behemouth was going to exceed $1000  . While this dream project is still on my to-do list, please don't call and try to order...(c) the plastic figure play set based on The Patriot film never made it  and was cancelled when Sony failed to honor their contractual agreement to promote the Patriot figure range by including a small sheet inside each dvd and vhs of the film.   Folks still occasionally ask about these and a few other projects which have gone by the wayside for reasons beyond our control & amazingly, these ancient topics are regularly wheeled out on the internet as alleged evidence of our dishonesty!!!

b) items which were made but which were not restocked

Despite the obvious reasons, we are constantly asked by collectors why we don't have in stock sets which were made 2, 5 or 10 years ago. We also get all sorts of requests for particular 'colors" of plastic  While most collectors understand the concept of production run minimum quantities & the retirement of older product as new product is developed, others surprisingly are unaware of the realities and complain.  Simply put, most factories  have minimum order quantities which must be agreed to . In the case of plastic figures, this may be 10,000 blistercards or higher.  AS much as we'd like to, we can't order a production run to fill a handful of backorders...

So when( as an example) cream colored Mexican Army is presidio hats set #4 is sold out, we can't order 10,000 sets of #4 just to be able to fill your order for 1 blistercard in the particular. I hear this alot about our terrific  plastic GIs as collectors want one particular color despite 3 other colors  of the SAME SET being in stock........a collector recently told one of my staff that he'd pay $40 'up front' to defray the production run cost for his 2 blistercards !! ( a nice gesture but laughable in light of  the production run  costing  $50,000)


The important message is that if you think you might want one of our sets, buy it when it first comes out or reasonably soon thereafter as there are no promises that we will ever rerun any of our sets. Cash flow, shelf space and factory time do not allow us to endlessly reproduce and restock older sets.........Other sets were 'limited editions' with only enough parts made to fill the edition size......some were 'licensed product' and when the license ran out so did our right to run the items again... Just as you can't go to your local car dealer in 2009 and place an order for a new 2001 model car, you can't do this with us......and when a limited edition sells out, it is gone.....done.....we're awfully sorry but those are the realities

That said, some of our older sets may be restocked  in the future and labeled as Conte Classic sets from time to time.  Most new sets being released in 2009 and thereafter will be limited edition sets and ONLY produced one time. Factory capacity in China is at a premium and we need to concentrate our efforts on producing the hundreds of new figures which we have ready to go rather than tying the factories up with production of older sets. We'd like to do 'both' but again the realities are forcing me to direct our efforts into the new product

Please do not write and tell me that I have some legal or moral duty to rerun sold out sets which you have missed.

(c) items which were made and restocked  at least one or more times.

I add this category because i recently had a WW2  plastics collector lecture me about his inability to purchase one of our WW2 play sets which was first sold in 2001/2002.  It was restocked in 2004, 2005 and 2007.  The collector was aware of each of the restocks from its first release in 01 but never actually decided to buy it  until early 2008 when he placed a 'back order" . Said differently, he could have purchased the item pretty much at any time during an 8 year period but did not. Now he is unhappy and demanding that I rerun the set yet again so that I can fill his order...


About a month ago, a different collector wrote and DEMANDED that we produce Zulu play set #2 as he 'needed it" to complete his series of 3 Zulu play sets.......we reran that play set several times over a 3 year period before our license with Canal Plus ran out in 2003/2004. Five /six years AFTER our license expires is too late to place an order!!!

Another complained/was upset that he couldn't buy our Spartacus Slaves Fighting metal set which was made and sold in 2000 and 2001 only and claimed he had a backorder on 'file" since early 2008.......

Yet another told me he wanted  a CCC figure which was sold out in 02 or 03 and that he had been waiting for it to be restocked.  Please note that CCC figures will ONLY be produced once and that when they are gone, they are gone....
If/when you join the collector club your set choices are always limited to what is in stock or what is forthcoming in the upcoming club year.....we will not accept backorders on sold out CCC figures. Anyone awaiting a sold out CCC figure to be restocked needs to contact us to make another selection.

Said differently, the era of our hoping to restock most sold out items is over. We are concentrating our efforts and those of the factories on producing beautiful new soldiers.  The Collectors Club is no exception. We have so many new CCC figures awaiting production that we will NOT be rerunning ANY old and sold out CCC sets.That said, we are coming across a few of many sold out sets as we organize the warehouse--so please let me know ASAP if there is any partiucalr set which you are looking for as you might be in luck.. 
The new factories are going to concentrate on making new sets rather than rerunning old sets. It will be the exception rather than the norm if/when an old set is restocked as we have so many new sets awaiting production. Said differently, do NOT expect  us to accept or take ANY backorders in the future. If/when it is in stock , better buy it....


WHAT'S UPCOMING?

As previously announced, Zulu War sets are coming next in Metal followed by American Civil War Zouaves and ACW hand to hand, Peppered in will be our first Wild West sets, a whole new batch of Collector Club figures, Medieval Scots, more Vikings (always room for more Vikings) & Normans,  explorers, some Alamo and quite a few new 'Ancients".


In plastic, we are at last working on the poses of Immortals which will be sent to the factory. Details coming soon..and yes they will be multipose like the Spartans...



A General Comment

Each month I receive an email or letter addressed 'the design" or to the 'market research' departments or some other  branch of our operations.   I smile when I see these......The funny thing is that we are apparently perceived as being a very large operation by some of you despite the reality being that we have a very small staff and that I am wearing most of the 'hats".  Apparently the high quality of our designs, sculptures and products as well as the huge number  & excellence of products released over the years has led many of you to conclude that this is some huge toy company with loads of employees. Nothing could be further from the truth.

ConteCo continues, now more than ever, to be a 'labor of love' on my part to continue to deliver the kinds of products which I couldn't (and still cannot) buy from the big toy soldier companies --as a collector.  I started the company as the "Collectors Company" and never imagined how fast it would grow and expand, for which I thank you.  I also never predicted how our rapid growth would carry with it all of the negatives ...and then some .

The relocation to North Carolina has been difficult, tiring & expensive but I am convinced that 'the move"( it sounds so simple until you attempt it) is the best thing I've done in years. Despite the days being overly long and the pile of work never ending,  I am really enjoying the personal contact with all of you by phone or email and am finding that I've been transported back to the early days of Conteco when I was able to dabble in 'it all'.

Getting back to basics  is an oft used phrase which is really applicable with us.  I no longer want Conteco to be one of the biggest toy soldier companies. I simply want it to be the best which I can make it become under my direct day to day involvement while still having some fun while I'm doing it..   I never again want to rely upon distant managers (who do not share my passion for history, the movies, toy soldiers and treatment of fellow collectors) or worry about large numbers of employees or to feel that I am on some never ending 'treadmill" where I have to meet deadlines or develop a certain amount of new product by a certain time, just to keep revenues up so I could keep dozens of others employed--who showed little love or interest in toy soldiers. Designing & delivering approximately 50 new metal sets (maybe 150 new figures per year) plus 2 or 3 play sets  plus all ads and packaging and so forth--as I did for almost 10 years-- is so time consumptive that it forced me to rely upon others to run the business aspects of the business while I concentrated on the creative......I'm finding the balance now whereby I can oversee the business, still do ALL design and importantly find some time to actually play with toy soldiers myself...The changes I've made to the business during the past 6 months have cut a substantial amount of our overhead and ongoing expense and will position us to be even more competitive in the future.

I want to continue designing the most exciting sculpts, pushing the limits of what the factories can do (like our plastic Spartans) and advancing our hobby.
I could easily  & quickly pump out plastic figures done in  the traditional sort of two dimensional /blocked out way as others do  at a fraction of what our molding costs are  or try to pass off cheaply spun cast resin figures as 'plastic figures"  or have mediocre sculpts done and then 'paint the detail on" but I've never wanted to take the cheap way out. I also could also transfer all key jobs to Asia as many have, but this  is not something which I am willing to do despite a tremendous admiration for the excellence of the work done by many of the people I have met  in China.  I have well over 100 new sculpts  in or ready for production and I'm working on a  complete production schedule now. Details will be posted shortly.
When we have finite delivery dates we will announce same...but it's safe to say you will see some Zulu and Zouave sets first.....

"This" needs to be fun for all of us--but especially for me-- if I am to continue the long hours and expense of designing & producing these dream sets for my fellow collectors
Reports of our demise, largely spread by competitors and dealers who have been terminated by us, have been greatly exaggerated....these folks are going to look somewhat silly when the new product arrives......

Our approach continues to be that if we can't advance the hobby
then this ceases to be fun.


Thanks for your patience ,
Hail Ragnar's Beard


RC

PS:

Armed Forces / Law Enforcement, Fire & Emergency Services Discount

In processing orders , I've discovered to my dismay that  the 15% discount which I thought we were still processing for full time active duty military and/or police, fire and emergency professionals has somehow disappeared from our system--possibly years ago !!  (It's amazing the things I'm discovering by doing all sorts of tasks which I haven't performed in years)

In any event, as our 'thank you' for what you do (or have done in case you are retired) we are putting back in place  a 15% discount for those of you working in these professions.
You will, of course, need to provide evidence of your status.

Memorial Day weekend seems a great time to have caught this.....