Poll- Affordable Steel Flares |
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Poll- Affordable Steel Flares |
bulitt |
Oct 25 2011, 03:36 PM
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#1
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Achtzylinder Group: Members Posts: 4,188 Joined: 2-October 11 Member No.: 13,632 Region Association: South East States |
There seems to be several lines of thought on how to market and sell goods. You can sell low quantities at a very high price, or like the Walmart model sell tremendous volume at very low price.
Observing the success of Walmart over the years some (people smarter than me) may reason this is a good model. High volume with small margins = alot of net income. So with this in mind I struggle to believe that four steel flares sell for so much money $$$ C'mon man- material cost can't be over 60$ for all four flares? So I realize that there are many costs with running a business and I realize the costs are spread out over the product line. I don't pretend to know the business, maybe they really do cost so much? The reason for this poll is- If enough 914 owners vote to buy a set at reduced prices then just possibly the seller's will see the wisdom of volume pricing. Plus I will be looking for a cheap set...LOL |
RON S. |
Oct 25 2011, 07:39 PM
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#2
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9140430841, FINALLY RUNNING Group: Members Posts: 1,212 Joined: 22-May 03 From: WALTERBORO,S.C. Member No.: 724 Region Association: South East States |
So with this in mind I struggle to believe that four steel flares sell for so much money $$$ C'mon man- material cost can't be over 60$ for all four flares? Bob, I'm not sure what you are looking for in a straight answer. I can however give you some clarification on your perceived value of the $60.00 worth of metal in a flare set. Having worked in manufacturing, and metal fabrication in particular, for all my adult life let me try to help you understand some basic manufacturing economics. Lost in looking at the metal alone, you are not including the cost of all the equipment required to make that $60.00 worth of metal morph into a nice repo flare set. Guy's like George at AA, and Pete at Restoration Design have spent the upfront money on the most modern equipment needed to produce parts that are high enough quality to merit consumer interest in buying their products at a retail level. let's start with 40k for a Romer arm to digitize a copy of an original part. Then 7k for Solidworks to convert it to a vectored model. Then how about 2-300k for a multi axis horizontal or vertical machining center to mill out the punch and die blanks. Then another 2-300k for a 500ton press to hammer out he flare. Not to mention the labor for the skilled people qualified to operate this equipment. Do the math, and anyone can quickly see that the asking price for the repo sheet metal parts is more than fairly priced. After all, these guys my love 914s, but at the end of the day they still have to feed their families. That means they have to turn a profit. Some of us can remember that George at AA began teasing us about selling steel repo flares way back in the late 90's. It took him about 10 years to get it right, and when he did, around 2007, I jumped at it at $700 a set. A lot of us did, and I'll bet very few of us regretted it. One should never put their own value on someone else's efforts unless you've been there done that themselves. Just my 2cts. worth, Ron |
underthetire |
Oct 26 2011, 04:54 PM
Post
#3
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 5,062 Joined: 7-October 08 From: Brentwood Member No.: 9,623 Region Association: Northern California |
So with this in mind I struggle to believe that four steel flares sell for so much money $$$ C'mon man- material cost can't be over 60$ for all four flares? Bob, I'm not sure what you are looking for in a straight answer. I can however give you some clarification on your perceived value of the $60.00 worth of metal in a flare set. Having worked in manufacturing, and metal fabrication in particular, for all my adult life let me try to help you understand some basic manufacturing economics. Lost in looking at the metal alone, you are not including the cost of all the equipment required to make that $60.00 worth of metal morph into a nice repo flare set. Guy's like George at AA, and Pete at Restoration Design have spent the upfront money on the most modern equipment needed to produce parts that are high enough quality to merit consumer interest in buying their products at a retail level. let's start with 40k for a Romer arm to digitize a copy of an original part. Then 7k for Solidworks to convert it to a vectored model. Then how about 2-300k for a multi axis horizontal or vertical machining center to mill out the punch and die blanks. Then another 2-300k for a 500ton press to hammer out he flare. Not to mention the labor for the skilled people qualified to operate this equipment. Do the math, and anyone can quickly see that the asking price for the repo sheet metal parts is more than fairly priced. After all, these guys my love 914s, but at the end of the day they still have to feed their families. That means they have to turn a profit. Some of us can remember that George at AA began teasing us about selling steel repo flares way back in the late 90's. It took him about 10 years to get it right, and when he did, around 2007, I jumped at it at $700 a set. A lot of us did, and I'll bet very few of us regretted it. One should never put their own value on someone else's efforts unless you've been there done that themselves. Just my 2cts. worth, Ron I agree, been on the manufacturing side since I was 15. Ill go one step further. Foundation to put said 500 ton press on 300K, Tooling for the mill, 10K minimum. Electrical drops to the machines ~10K, tool steel blanks to make the dies with ~5K, Large shop compressor 10K, coolants/oils/haz mat 3k, power bill to run 500ton press, ~50 per strike, machine shop time to make the dies, 200 hours. On and on. I thought it was a good cheap deal at the time, just couldn't swing all the other crap to go with them. |
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