*Tony, An aging product can be adversly affected by another manufacturer releasing a product that is superior to the aging one and to generate more sales the original manufacturer may well decrease the margin to stimulate their sales numbers.
Wayne has a valid point, BUT, there are many, many variables at play in the commercial world. The board of directors also bleat as do the accounting divisions of major companies. What Elecraft have is the advantage of being a tightly held company with all the figures at their fingertips and this makes it an easier task to monitor cost and sales margins. Comparing transceivers is always fraught with danger as no two transceivers are the same and the market is broad when it comes to customer requirements. For me it's always been "bang for your buck" and in my case at least Elecraft are at the top of the list and have been since I first stumbled my way on the internet and discovered the name. I had no idea (and some will say I still don't) who Elecraft were. But I read about the K3 and got hooked!...for this I blame Wayne and Eric! My dwindling savings are testament to this...:-( 73 Gary * On 17 August 2012 12:09, Tony Estep <estept...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 8:32 PM, N5GE <li...@n5ge.com> wrote: > > > ...You cannot buy a rig directly from the giant rig manufacturers. ... > > ---------------- > This has nothing to do with the original point, which was the perfectly > true observation that the price of some radios comes down over time. It is > probably correct, as was conjectured in the first post, that the marginal > cost of production declines as the company goes up the learning curve with > its tooling, etc., and perhaps order quantities can be managed more > cost-effectively as well. These gains may be passed along in the form of > price decreases. Moreover, there is the very real possibility that a new > design may have a premium value when it first hits the market, and that > premium may decline over time. This is very familiar in the semiconductor > business, where chip makers actually post future price curves showing > planned declines. > > But if production costs are mainly a function of components whose costs > rise over time, the manufacturer has no cost savings to pass on, and in > fact may have to raise prices to maintain margins. > > In the final analysis, price is a function not only of costs and desired > margins, but of demand. In particular, if a manufacturer is selling all he > can make of some item, and there is an order backlog, then clearly the > price is satisfactory to customers. The most relevant considerations to a > consumer of any product are performance, suitability, and competitive > alternatives. Some manufacturers earn dazzling margins, but are able to > sell all the gadgets they can make; others can't sell their products even > at prices at or below manufacturing cost. The price declines seen in > certain sectors of the ham market may simply be a reaction to dwindling > demand. In all cases, > the discipline of the market is a lot better way to set prices than > someone's impressionistic hunch. > > Tony KT0NY > > > -- > http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > -- *Gary* *Start the day off slow, then taper off.........* ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
