Just chiming in with cforc, gr8, and lovingmybags.
Coach's last ten years (and more) can be summed up as follows. And this is not just about 1941 as so many old-timers here can tell you. 1941, or "the new and improved Coach" is just following the same standard formula:
1) Coach makes a change like a big new overhaul (1941), big new style (Borough), or big new line (the big Legacy revival of ... was it 2004? 2005? don't recall, but I still love my Molly's and clutches).
2) Word goes around that new style, line, or even overhaul, will not go to outlets. Or that PCEs will back off/disappear. Or that PCE/sale will not apply to new style/line. And people rejoice.
3) For a while, the PCEs did slow down, .... but then, gradually, they came back again, with some of them replaced as multi-months-long SAS sales twice a year.
4) For a while, no, you couldn't get the new line/style/overhaul bags on PCE/sale ....... but then, gradually, you could.
5) There is a brief lull in styles going to outlets. People think "the change has finally happened". ....... But then, sometimes in one almighty sweep, the bags fly wholesale to the outlets. (One change here did seem to occur, a few years ago, where a lot more bags started going to the *online* outlet instead of so many brick and mortar outlets. Once SAS was introduced twice a year, the bags started waiting to pass through SAS first, and *then* make their way to online outlet or a fewer number of brick and mortar. But they still get to one or another form of the outlet. And many filter to ebay those routes.)
6) People get annoyed. Sales drop. Coach comes up with it's new line/style/overhaul, and the cycle literally repeats.
The point is, there is always much rejoicing ... "Coach has finally changed their ways! Coach has finally changed their ways!" ...... but then, gradually, the gnashing of teeth comes. (I'm trying to be comical here, I promise.
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It's routine. It's a story as old as the hills.
When 1941 was introduced and a lot of new people suddenly turned on to Coach, I did think to myself, "Ok, Coach, here's your make or break. Actually make the changes you've been threatening/promising (depending on how you look at it) for years, of you're going to get a lot of *new* people ticked off. People who have no idea of the traditional cycle." And sure enough, here it is.
If you have a bag that you love, then you love it for the bag, right? If there's a certain color or style that you want, then try to get it on PCE or SAS ... or if you absolutely want exactly that color, and you're worry it'll sell out, get it before it reaches the PCE level of the cycle. But the thing is to get the ones you love.
And the more desperate you are for a particular color/style, then the sooner you get it in "the cycle".
But that cycle is not going away. Years and years and years ... it's not going away. They've proven it, because from their perspective, it's the bottom line of the sales, in the end, that matters. And that will always, *always* win out over whatever they "claimed" will change in the above cycle.
Sorry for the ramble. I honestly hoped that the situation wouldn't reach this stage, especially because there were a lot of new people to Coach (many of whom wouldn't even be posting on this board). But as the petunia's in Hitchhiker's said, "Oh no, not again."
(Disclaimer: I'm not complaining. Some of my items are from outlet deletes, some are from PCE or SAS (30%-40% ain't bad, if you don't like having items shipped to your house, a drive to a nearby boutique is shorter/more pleasant than outlet trips, and you like the ladies at your boutique ... I have a lot of stuff through PCE/SAS, and love all of it).
Just ... weigh how important a color/style is to you, weigh your risk-taking level, consider things like outlet-drive-time-enjoyment, boutique-drive-time-enjoyment, percentages where and when, buy accordingly, and love the leather you're getting.
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