Mike Up wrote:
Presently none of my local dealers are selling pop ups because they aren't selling.
I just talked to one dealer who has no standard model pop ups or even larger 12' models. They only sell the cheapest pop ups because the higher end models don't sell due to their higher prices.
As a former longtime Coleman / Fleetwood retailer my local dealer took on Somerset for awhile but found them nearly impossible to sell due to their excessively high prices, and once he finally did get rid of his last lot model he decided to drop the line entirely. It's hard to believe Somerset is running multiple shifts just to produce these things as I rarely if ever see
any when we're out camping - rare as hen's teeth in these parts. As a Coachmen dealer his alternate offering has been Viking camping trailers but a couple of years ago he decided to drop those as well as it often takes just as much effort to sell one of those as it does a hybrid or travel trailer which offers a much wider profit margin. His salespeople however objected as they view popups as a loss leader that will bring those owners back a few years later wanting to upgrade to a travel trailer so he relented and restored his stock. However, time proved him correct after all so once the last lot model was sold last year he decided that was it - no more. The reality simply is that upscale popups are just way too expensive, less well equipped models don't offer sufficient margin to justify the work involved in selling them, and way too many come back for repairs.
