Atom Packs

ZenTrekker

Section Hiker
There seems to be a misunderstanding, I'm not begrudging Atom Packs or Tom Gale anything and I have no reason to believe he spends his Sundays polishing his Bentley nor that he will as a result of the price increase. Price increases are a legitimate business decision and one that is usually made once a young company has established itself on a market.

It's just that using VAT registration as a reason doesn't float because it ignores the fact that the company can now deduct the VAT it pays on material (even imported one), electricity, accountants etc.
Apologies, I wasn't suggesting that you were incorrect, just that maybe the value of Sterling is having a greater effect. My bad wording.
 

Balagan

Thru Hiker
Anyway, VAT or no VAT, I hope Atom Packs successfully negotiates the transition as it is now two people I've heard of recently who were poised to buy their dream 200-and-something quid pack and have switched (after realising the price was now quite a bit more) either to a much cheaper Liteway pack or a slightly cheaper Hyberg Cuben Bandit.
 
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oldweathers

Day Walker
My pack arrived this week!

I originally ordered the Atom 35 but the lead time allows time for reflection! I emailed Tom and requested an upgrade to the Atom+, he must get have people asking for this quite often as he wasn't bothered and just let me know to pay the difference by adding a Custom backpack charge to my basket. The pack was complete by week 11 so their lead time estimation is spot on at the moment.

The pack looks great, all the stitching and materials are perfect. I've taken it out round Buttermere yesterday carrying all the food, water and spare layers for 3 people. For a quick test it was a great fit and comfortable throughout (make sure to measure your torso using the instructions published on the website). Onward now to plan now to plan something a bit more adventurous and really give it a test!

Atom+ 35 litre in VX07 came out at 650g on the scales, the hip belt is 100g and I haven't removed the frame or pad yet but for now I'll be leaving everything on the pack.
 

Atom packs

Day Walker
Hi All - Tom here from Atom Packs. This would be my first ever post!

Firstly - huge love and thanks for all of the support that this forum has given our company over the last 18 months. We get about 5% of our daily traffic from this site so thanks for representing.

You'll not see much action from me on here - I likely won't reply to messages or comments not because I don't care but I honestly don't have the time to monitor so many channels of communication: between instagram, my personal email and the website it's all already too much to manage! If you need advice or have a question messaging via the website is 100% the way to go:

https://www.atompacks.co.uk/contact

RE the recent price change - we now have a team of four working full time here: Laura, Jen, Phoebe and Em (bio's of everyone coming to the site soon) - they are my absolute saviours and deserve paying as much as I can afford to hand them. There are no bentleys on the horizon for me at this time (perhaps a nice rusty transit). The price was kept as low as we could for a long time and this was a big reason for our early growth, especially overseas. Along side this we also recently became VAT registered, this is a complex and grown up affair that I never wanted to have any part in but we're lucky to have seen enough early success to be having to make this choice at this time - this decision (along with a b@llocking from my accountant) was also a prompt to for the recent pricing action - along with an effort to slow down a pretty unsustainable growth curve that was in danger of outstripping our production capacity

You'll see a smart new website soon, along with more off the shelf packs, a few more jazzy accessories and then a customisation corner where you can do whatever you want to whatever you want (within reason, please). Custom work is a wildly inefficient way to do business (it's a huge barrier to productivity and it's actually amazingly wasteful with fabric as you end up scrapping MUCH more than you would if you offered a standardised item) so it will come at a price that reflects the time involved in finalising the design with the customer, the cost of the wasted material and also extra manufacturing time involved in creating something non-standard.

I will always offer custom work, it keeps me interested and is a sort of forced product development that helps drive our product forward, after all, some of our best ideas have come from custom work. At some point we just have to be realistic about how much we can take on and what people pay for it.

Thanks again to all - I'm off to the long trail next week for some much needed R+R and also some product testing :)

Tom
 

Ally

Ultralighter
Anyway, VATr no VAT, I hope Atom Packs successfully negotiates the transition as it is now two people I've heard of recently who were poised to buy their dream 200-and-something quid pack and have switched either to a much cheaper Liteway pack or a slightly cheaper Hyberg Cuben Bandit.

He has definitely done very well and plenty to be proud of particularly building his business in this financial climate . There are plenty highly skilled and passionate people but not all have good business skills too.

When Atom packs where first released they where a bargain, after the first price increase i think they where still a fair price. However, they where / are the only UK based option for such things, the alternative being the US with postage, custom and Import tax.

Now the prices ( for whatever reason ) are pretty much in line with the US ?

For me personally not worth the money now..grams V ££ although they are very good looking packs.

As for the customisation argument, I will bet eventually that will be stopped and just an assortment of options same as Zpacks have done. Or the custom work fee will be silly high to represent the the time it takes up in emails, craft work and holding stock.

If another UK based cottage company pops up with good quality packs it will be even less of a monopoly
 

fluffkitten

Moderator
Staff member
Hi All - Tom here from Atom Packs. This would be my first ever post!

Firstly - huge love and thanks for all of the support that this forum has given our company over the last 18 months. We get about 5% of our daily traffic from this site so thanks for representing.

You'll not see much action from me on here - I likely won't reply to messages or comments not because I don't care but I honestly don't have the time to monitor so many channels of communication: between instagram, my personal email and the website it's all already too much to manage! If you need advice or have a question messaging via the website is 100% the way to go:

https://www.atompacks.co.uk/contact

RE the recent price change - we now have a team of four working full time here: Laura, Jen, Phoebe and Em (bio's of everyone coming to the site soon) - they are my absolute saviours and deserve paying as much as I can afford to hand them. There are no bentleys on the horizon for me at this time (perhaps a nice rusty transit). The price was kept as low as we could for a long time and this was a big reason for our early growth, especially overseas. Along side this we also recently became VAT registered, this is a complex and grown up affair that I never wanted to have any part in but we're lucky to have seen enough early success to be having to make this choice at this time - this decision (along with a b@llocking from my accountant) was also a prompt to for the recent pricing action - along with an effort to slow down a pretty unsustainable growth curve that was in danger of outstripping our production capacity

You'll see a smart new website soon, along with more off the shelf packs, a few more jazzy accessories and then a customisation corner where you can do whatever you want to whatever you want (within reason, please). Custom work is a wildly inefficient way to do business (it's a huge barrier to productivity and it's actually amazingly wasteful with fabric as you end up scrapping MUCH more than you would if you offered a standardised item) so it will come at a price that reflects the time involved in finalising the design with the customer, the cost of the wasted material and also extra manufacturing time involved in creating something non-standard.

I will always offer custom work, it keeps me interested and is a sort of forced product development that helps drive our product forward, after all, some of our best ideas have come from custom work. At some point we just have to be realistic about how much we can take on and what people pay for it.

Thanks again to all - I'm off to the long trail next week for some much needed R+R and also some product testing :)

Tom

Welcome to the forum. :D
Thanks for the update and enjoy the hike. :)
 

Balagan

Thru Hiker
At those prices, really?
The price isn't completely barmy when compared to similar pack makers. Of course, nowadays this is the price for a bog standard bag. If you choose to customise, it's going to cost you even more.

Money well spent.

You can buy 3 or 4 different slightly cheaper packs trying to find a good one or you can just get an Atom Pack up front.
Pah! The packs are made with Chernobyl radiation-contaminated water from the Lake District! ;)

More seriously, there are plenty of very good pack makers out there. Atom Packs is just one of them.
 
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