This little plastic part to my weed eater cost $10.50! This is a great example of my claims of over-pricing. I'll bet they would still make a profit if they sold it for $2.00 (I'm told the spring costs that much!), I would consider $2 fair pricing. This is just greed.
12 comments:
I know!
I just filled up my tank and it cost over 25 bucks. We've never had to pay that much to fill up our Prius.
Miles to next fill up? 503. whoo hoo!
Lisa in Indy
I was shocked at the $55 it cost to fill my VW GTI! Especially since I read an article last week that the Middle East uprising hasn't caused the inventories of oil to go down as expected. It's all just speculation. In other words, they can raise the price for any reason they want and we just have to pay. As I said before - we are paying for a BP oil spill now - "They" never pay for anything.
$389 miles to the next fillup! :)
I think that extra $ in front of my 389 miles was some type of a Freudian slip! It won't be long.....
It's not some conspiratorial dynamic of "they can just raise the price for any reason they want and we just have to pay." Speculation is motivated more by perceptions, and expectations for the future, than it is necessarily by any present reality.
Whether or not the uprisings in the Middle East have had any effect on current inventories of crude isn't the main consideration. It is enough that such an interruption is a reasonable possibility.
Speculators look at the current facts on the ground and try to predict the future. If they predict accurately they stand to make a huge profit. If they are wrong, they can loose their shirts.
BP has payed HUGE for the Deepwater spill. 32.2 Billion in directly related outlays just through June of last year (it must be far, far more by now) , and that doesn't include a single penny of the countless civil suits they will doubtless be paying out for years to come.
In the first fifty days of the spill, BP's stock fell 52%! It plummeted from 60.27 to 29.20 ( it closed last Friday at 44.96).
You are correct though,if by "they" you are referring to corporations in general. The operating costs of corporations are mostly passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices (within competitive marketplace constraints). That's why raising taxes and regulations on big corporations is so regressive: it just further shifts the economic burden onto the poorest members of society.
Like I've said before,Den, you are more than halfway to being a free-market conservative. You just haven't connected all the dots and fully realized it yet.
Mileage on my Surly LHT:
53 mpb
fifty-three miles per burrito
Andre - my LHT gets similar mileage! I use it whenever the car is not truly needed.
Also Andre - it is you who hasn't connected all the dots yet and realize that there is no free market the way our system is set up. It's more of a "free-for all" with a few greedy taking WAY more than their share without consideration for the rest of society. It's sad. My BECi model would help fix it in a short while though. It will likely never happen though because those greedy few that have the money - and therefore the power - will never allow something like that to pass.
I just had a great idea! -
If you are so sure that little plastic thingie that you paid $10.50 for could be manufactured, marketed, and sold at a profit for just $2.00...well then, what are you waiting for?
Heck, you could sell them for $5.25 a pop, and you would still be only half what the greedy people are charging. You would very quickly capture a huge share of the lucrative Little Plastic Thingie market!
I wonder why no one else has done that?
Seriously, I'd love to hear your answer to that question.
The thing is - and this is important Andre - there is very little chance of me being able to get out there and make one on my own because of 2 things.
1.A patent.
2.A market controlled by a major corporation who has bought up competition that makes it impossible for me to compete.
Oh there are other brands of weed eaters but their parts won't fit my late model. The idea that whenever we come across something that is too expensive we should just make one on our own and sell it cheaper is very delusional.
First of all, I prefer the term weed-"whacker" to weed-eater. I don't know why.
Secondly,you completely missed the point I was making (or I completely failed to make it).
I wasn't literally suggesting that you go out and make the part yourself. What I was suggesting was that if it was truly economically possible to manufacture, market, and sell that part for significantly less than the retail price you paid of $10.50, then that would be a money making opportunity, and SOMEBODY would be doing it (most likely some corporation already involved in the manufacture of similar items).
Making replacement parts for products that you don't manufacture is an enormous industry. If there is not a cheaper generic part available then it's probably because they can't be made and sold significantly cheaper then the name-brand manufacturer is already doing.
I suspect that even at $10.50 for that part, the manufacturer is probably losing money on it (or at best, just barely breaking even), but they know they have to make those replacement parts available to the consumer in order to keep competitive with all the other weed-whacker manufacturers that also make replacement parts available (If there is a weed-whacker cartel out there , I guess I've missed it).
Sure, there is a lot of greed out there, but it's not necessarily the only explanation for everything. So stop being such a paranoid, anti-business,whiner: just get your tool fixed and get out there and carry on with your whacking.
So that's your solution - just pay whatever price they charge. I don't think that is the solution - but it is, unfortunately, the only option I have if I plan to pay my bills by doing lawns on the side.
Let it go, man. It's not that big of a deal. It's certainly not something to get all bent out of shape about.
Don't let it ruin your day.
Besides, doing lawns is a good gig. You get to be outside in the fresh air, get some exercise. If you have a pair of those ear muff style hearing protectors, you can wear them over your ear buds and listen to music (or talk radio!) while you mow.
Cheer up...life is good!
Don't forget the sunscreen.
Andre - chill out. This is one EXAMPLE of MANY incidents of over pricing. I'm not losing any sleep over a bump knob. In fact the right kind of bump knob might help me sleep better!
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