Great response, Jim. BUT -- the increase noted by the original poster
was that the increase was overnight!
Several possible reasons for this. One is that business operations for
the ham market are often supported by higher volume and higher margin
operations for other markets. When those other markets fall apart, they
no longer support the ham market, or contribute to economies of scale
that allow lower prices.
Another is corporate mergers, which can change business priorities,
change where products are manufactured.
But assuming corporate greed as the reason for all such price increases
is unreasonable. It certainly can be, but there are many other reasons.
73, Jim K9YC
On Mon,1/2/2017 11:13 AM, jimlux wrote:
On 1/2/17 10:50 AM, john@kk9a.com wrote:
Wow! I bought one of these new in the 80's for considerably less than
last
year's pricing from Texas Towers. It would now be unaffordable. Does
anyone else sell US Towers besides HRO? I guess used pricing will
also go
up considerably.
1985 to 2016 is 1:2.26 just from inflation. I would suspect things
made by mostly hand labor and steel would go up faster: it's not like
a radio or computer, where you get economies of scale and lower cost
from higher levels of integration. A $1000 radio today is MUCH more
capable than a $1000 radio in 1985 over a broad spectrum of
capabilities, and is less than half the price, in 1985 dollars.
However a tower is basically the same thing, but made by people whose
wages have gone up, with raw materials the price which has risen, and
trucked by companies where the vehicle, labor, and fuel costs have
gone up.
Oil in 1985 $15/bbl, today $30/bbl (and it was pushing $100/bbl not
too long ago), roughly tracks inflation
Manufacturing wages roughly doubled roughly tracking inflation-
although that's tricky, because large unionized mfrs have a large
effect on average wage calculations
Steel was $15/cwt in 1985, runs 45-50/cwt now.. the USGS analysis says
that the various finanicial crises drove this increase (that is,
mining iron didn't cost more.. making steel did, for various reasons)
(cwt = 100 lb)
Some manufactured goods have become more expensive because of debt
service: the company took on debt to expand or stay in business, so
now the end price includes interest, as well as the cost of raw
materials and manufacturing cost.
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