Jim, with all due respect and deference to your experience in the
industry, the price for the plug penetrates the envelope. I would have
to guesstimate that the cost of manufacture and bulk shipment for the
plug is around $1-2 per unit. A markup of 2300-4700%, barring special
situations, is gouging in my lexicon.
As frame of reference, my experiences with Yaesu's competitors are
relevant. I have received difficult-to-obtain precision metering shunt
resistors from Tentec and MFJ and a microphone wind screen from Icom at
no charge whatsoever . Admittedly, in each of these cases - and there
have been others, but these are the recollections that immediately come
to mind - I was relying on the good nature of the individual employee to
slip the item into an envelope and address it to me. Nevertheless, even
if they had to go through normal processing channels, a typical supplier
either has some kind of minimum charge or simply adds on a nominal
handling fee of $5-10.
Of course, given that Yaesu USA is in California and given the price of
housing, real estate and routine living costs there relative to most
other parts of the country, $48, on further reflection, may have been a
bargain. :-)
73, Joe
K2XX
Jim Lux wrote:
> At 02:47 PM 3/25/2007, Joe Giacobello wrote:
>
>
>
>> During the installation, we damaged the seven pin rotor plug and had to
>> buy a replacement from Yaesu for $48!!!! I was really appalled at such
>> blatant gouging. I have since done a search for the plug's Japanese
>> manufacturer (Nanaboshi) and found a posting from some equally incensed
>> hams who apparently identified a US distributor where they could be
>> obtained for about $7/ea. in lots of 50. If anyone knows of a source
>> for these plugs or an equivalent at a reasonable price, please let me know.
>>
>
> I think gouging is too strong a term.
>
> If the only distributor requires a minimum order of 50, at $7 each,
> then Yaesu is doing you a favor by zapping you for $50.. it could
> have cost you $350.<grin>
>
> I don't think it's so much Yaesu charging too much (their "per order"
> handling and stocking costs could easily be $30, and a part that
> sells for $7 in qty 50 could easily sell for $15 in qty 1), but that
> they happened to select a part that isn't readily available at low
> cost. But then, that might not be on their list of design
> objectives, either.. (things like manufacturing availability,
> compatibility with existing fixturing, etc. would be higher on the list)
>
> It's a truism that building a car from retail replacement parts would
> cost 10 times as much as buying the car already assembled, and you'd
> supply the labor. Same applies to most anything else.
>
>
>
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