Inflation Strikes the Hobby

[Texas Zepher]

cambus267

At last someone was giving British modellers quality, however, the rub was the price in excess of $200-300 way above what was expected. I inquired as too why the high price to be informed by the rep "Its all about DCC". I found this a bit strange since unlike American model railroaders we dont have the space and we only run 1 or 2 locos at a time. I was then told that "That's what we have agreed with the Chinese. Every unit has to have DCC regardless".

Well I find that strange for a different reason.   DCC should only add about $20 to the cost of a unit, and that would be if they had to buy DCC decoders separately.  Seems buying them wholesale and in bulk would greatly reduce the cost.

So I think it is a big load of huzra and they are just saying that because they don't know what else to say, hoping gullible people will believe it.

[IRONROOSTER]

blownout cylinder

I guess there is going to be a fair bit of crabbiness about the cost of these things. The problem is in the handling of it. What i would like to see is a good old breakdown of what it costs to produce a locomotive--let us see--

1) Material Costs--I suspect that a lot of the problem here is that material is not as readily available in China due to certain financial situations--hence the growing costs there

2) Labour Costs--keep going up due to the wage inflation going on in China. It is no longer possible to find the el cheapo labour there as much as it was likely possible to get...

3) Currency Exchange rates bouncing around all over the map--PLUS the ongoing currency exchange wars that are now breaking out in the Southeast Asian countries as elsewhere

4)Cultural/Socopolitical Costs--Regulations are now starting to take hold in China as well as elsewhere

5) Many companies that used to mfg in China are now looking elsewhere to outsource THEIR costs--which lead to more of the above

Which all leads to doing more with less---or less with less--and going all coocoo in the bargain---

Don't forget R&D costs and tooling costs.

Enjoy

Paul

[andrechapelon]

I suppose it's inevitable that there's always going to be a wailing and gnashing of teeth about how incredibly expensive hobby products are today, so here's a quick that'll give you a quick reference for prices today vs. prices 50 years ago.

2010                                            1960

------------------------                            ----------------------------------

$10                                              $1.36

$50                                              $6.78

$100                                            $13.55

$200                                            $27.10

$300                                            $40.65

$500                                            $67.75

Just for reference, I bought an Athearn boxcar kit in 1957 for $1.29, a PFM Santa Fe 2-8-0 would have set you back $39.50 in 1960 and the current list price for a Bachmann Spectrum DCC (no sound) equipped 4-4-0 is $300 ($40.65 in 1960 dollars). When PFM released a model of the N&W class A in late 1958 or so (IIRC), they were asking $94.50 for it ($697.38) and you still had to paint, decal and add couplers.

Still, as surely as night follows day, there's always going to be people who view themselves as victims of a vast conspiracy.

I might have some sympathy if the complaint were about things that people actually need, things like food clothing and shelter, but the loudest complaints are always about wanna-haves not need-to-haves.

Andre

[Anonymous]

Andre,

very interesting table! When I started to read MR in the late 1960´s, most brass imports had a price tag of around $ 80 - $ 100, which converted to 400 Deutschmarks in those days - way out of reach for me! A Marklin German prototype Pacific was a little short of 100 Deutschmarks then, which was still out of reach. 40 years later, new brass locos sell for $ 1,500, which converts into about 1,090 Euros or a little over 2,100 Deutschmarks. This is "only" 5.25 times the price of 1968,  still out of reach, but not as bad as the increase of 15 times purely in Dollar terms.

I agree that one does not need to buy model railroading stuff to sustain his/her life and  that, for this reason, the development of pricing does not have that much of a relevance. But for us model railroaders it has become a part of our way of life - a part of our own individual "pursuit of happiness". If you are, like me, unable to pursue this hobby for financial reasons, boy, will you notice what you are missing!

[jwhitten]

andrechapelon

I might have some sympathy if the complaint were about things that people actually need, things like food clothing and shelter, but the loudest complaints are always about wanna-haves not need-to-haves.

Andre

 

That's because the people who need to have can't afford a computer, internet connection, or the time to sit and complain about it. They're too busy foraging for food.

 

John

[blownout cylinder]

IRONROOSTER

blownout cylinder:

I guess there is going to be a fair bit of crabbiness about the cost of these things. The problem is in the handling of it. What i would like to see is a good old breakdown of what it costs to produce a locomotive--let us see--

1) Material Costs--I suspect that a lot of the problem here is that material is not as readily available in China due to certain financial situations--hence the growing costs there

2) Labour Costs--keep going up due to the wage inflation going on in China. It is no longer possible to find the el cheapo labour there as much as it was likely possible to get...

3) Currency Exchange rates bouncing around all over the map--PLUS the ongoing currency exchange wars that are now breaking out in the Southeast Asian countries as elsewhere

4)Cultural/Socopolitical Costs--Regulations are now starting to take hold in China as well as elsewhere

5) Many companies that used to mfg in China are now looking elsewhere to outsource THEIR costs--which lead to more of the above

Which all leads to doing more with less---or less with less--and going all coocoo in the bargain---

 

Don't forget R&D costs and tooling costs.

Enjoy

Paul

megh-

Subsets of 1) + 2)

@ Andre

Megh--can't stop them from kvetching--they just miss it more--

[blownout cylinder]

megh.

Some of us should engage in this--then we could complain---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Z_DxU-3rQ&NR=1

[galaxy]

andrechapelon

I might have some sympathy if the complaint were about things that people actually need, things like food clothing and shelter, but the loudest complaints are always about wanna-haves not need-to-haves.

Oh, there ARE complaints about the "need-to-haves"...just not on this forum as it would be

so Here on these forums, people  talk about the "want-to-haves" of the hobby. It stands to reason that as the costs of "need-to-haves" go up and up, there is less and less money for the "want-to-haves", and the fewer sales there are of the "want-to-haves", the higher those prices of the "wnat-to-haves" go too to get the desired profit margins...

Any business, except maybe the basic need of food and shelter {leave out clothing as most of us already have way more than enough already} can price itself out of the market and go out of business, especially during times of economic distress. But Even Food markets, if not carefull,  can over price themselves driving people to seek out food pantries and free soup kitchen dinners or soup lines like in the States in the 30's. And high rents or defaulted mortgages can drive people to live in their cars or tent cities on the outskirts of town.