We are delighted to welcome Peter Bier, Tony Melton and Steve Pavarno in
New Zealand to the Unicycle.com family! This team of unicycle
enthusiasts has been working diligently for months to get their business
and Web site up and running, to serve the needs of unicyclists in their
geographic area. Amy and I were fortunate to meet Peter and Tony at
Unicon 11 last summer. They are personable, friendly, and great
competitors in their respective Unicon events.
The New Zealanders are starting off with an impressive array of
products, and plenty more will be added as quickly as possible. If you
need specific items that aren’t listed yet, be sure to send an email
request to them.
This is a significant announcement for the Unicycle.com family. Peter
Sandström will be joining us in Sweden very soon, and more announcements
will follow in the coming months. These milestones have been made
possible through the combined efforts of unicyclists Roger Davies in
England, a pioneer and innovator in franchising; and Neil Dunlop in
Scotland, as our official Web site developer. Amy and I appreciate them
very much for their ability to multi-task, achieving these exiting
results while managing day-to-day business.
As you may have seen, someone beat you to the announcement, official though yours may be.
But I think it is worth noting that many will benefit from your expansion into New Zealand, Sweden and wherever else you wind up setting up shop. (And maybe there will be fewer posts here kvetching about the shipping charges).
While it is to be hoped that it can never be said of you that you’re the Microsoft of unicycling, it may be hoped that your presence throughout the world will be an impetus to many to take it up and so to others to make and sell unis.
When we were in NZ for 10 months about 10 years ago, there was a significant NZ-imposed tariff on imported sporting goods, such as backpacks, backpacking stoves, performance clothing, and diving gear. This made the gear in question nearly twice the cost it would have been in the States, taking the exchange rate into account. This was designed to protect NZ businesses which have somewhere around 1/30th of the population pool to draw on for skills. For example, our stove was about $100 in the USA; in Auckland at Pack and Pedal it was around $180 (US dollars). This may have, in part, reflected shipping fees as well; I’m not sure. I wonder what the situation is now and what the effect on the cost of unicycling gear will be.
US $180 is an expensive backpacking stove. The prices of decent unicycles in New Zealand just got a whole lot cheaper. Shipping is the main charge and GST is 12.5%. Previously a Video from America would cost maybe NZ $40 and about NZ $140 to ship here. Now from Unicycle.com NZ I can get the same video for $NZ 50 + $7 postage. Because it is such a good deal I ordered UNiVERsE tonight. I got all ready with my Dads credit card only to find that it is not (yet?) an option of payment. If I go deposit some money in Unicycle.co.nz’s bank account tomorrow they will hopefully send me the Video. Right now the exchange rate is very good for New Zealanders buying stuff from USA. When I started saving for my Unicycle it was around US 44 cents for every 1 NZ dollar. Now it somewhere around US 57 cents for every 1 NZ dollar, but it will not stay like this forever since it costs us in exports. I can’t wait for the impressive array of products to be increased by plenty more. Thanks again Peter Bier, Tony Melton and Steve Pavarno - welcome to the New Zealand Unicycle racket.
