If you've recently traveled overseas, purchased goods made in Europe, or even filled up your gas tank, you have experienced firsthand how the weakness of the U.S. dollar is affecting your wallet. Five years ago, the Euro was worth about 80 cents. Now one Euro is worth over U.S. $1.60, and the Euro continues to climb.

This might seem like a windfall for European companies like Schmidt & Bender, but the exact opposite is true. A European-made product that cost one Euro to manufacture and sold for $1.50 in the U.S would, a couple of years ago, have returned a good profit. Now, the manufacturer would lose money on every sale.

Because of this, Schmidt & Bender has reluctantly had to raise prices on all of its riflescopes. We sincerely wish this were not the case, but virtually any overseas company that does business in the U.S. is facing the same dilemma. Until the U.S. dollar regains some of its lost ground, we can all expect to pay more. That's the bad news.

The good news? Even with our price increase, Schmidt & Bender scopes still represent the highest quality, most desirable optics available anywhere in the world...and as you know, the very finest of any product always delivers superior long-term value and return. Every Schmidt & Bender riflescope is an investment for a lifetime; amortized over the decades a Schmidt & Bender will serve you, it remains an intelligent purchase indeed.

If you wisely purchased Schmidt & Bender scopes in the past, their values continue to grow. At the time, you may have thought they were very expensive...now, they look like quite a bargain. Chances are, ten or 20 years from now we will all be saying "I wish I'd bought a Schmidt & Bender back in '08, when they were really cheap!"

We regret having to pass on these cost increases to you, but we simply have no other choice. As much as we might like to offer you a Schmidt & Bender at 1957 prices—the year we were founded—we want to be certain we'll be around in another 50 years. Chances are, the scope you purchase today will still be in business then, too.

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