Pricing Madness

Go buy a printer then look at the price of replacement ink cartridges.

It's cheaper to keep buying printers when the ones they come with run out of ink.

Del, forgive me for asking this question as I just couldn't help myself this morning.....

Are you looking for Italian, Spanish or Greek olives? LOL

These guys are like spiders waiting for Del the innocent fly....

Personally, I prefer Italian olives but Greek will do in a pinch, don't see too many Spanish olives around here. Try boiling those brass ones for awhile, about 1200'C should do the trick, softens them right up but swallowing is a bit tricky.

Try all types of electronics transformers, power, audio, etc., we've been getting hit with double-digit percentage prices hikes for several years, makes me wish for transformer prices back in the 1950s when you really got your money's worth!

I bought a couple of audio power output transformers a few years ago, the price was about $74 each, now they're over $100, makes amplifier projects awful expensive these days unless you can find some good surplus (and even those have gone up and harder to find!).

Don't get me started on shipping costs either!

As a matter of fact, some of the really nice stuff we import from Great Britain and Europe is also getting rather pricey and I know some of it is due to all kinds of fees being added on! I've had to lay off some of my favorite cheeses, $20+ per pound , it is sad!

I needed two button batteries for a meter. They were priced at $6.25 each. A small disposable flashlight for sale in the same Radio Shack was $2.95 and contained three of the batteries. All I had to do was to break open the light and remove the batteries.

GA rickwil: but by the way, was the flash light made in China?

Yes, made in China, I just looked. Imported into U.S. by Dorcy, a well known flashlight company and retailed by Radio Shack -(The Source)

I can buy a brand-new long-handled shovel for about $7; a few feet away I can buy replacement handles for $9. Same sort of relationship for cheaper hammers, rakes, hoes, etc. Two weeks ago I went into a convenience store to purchase cold drinks for a friend and myself. 1-liter bottles of Coke Classic were $2.27; in the adjacent cooler section, 2-liter bottles of Coke Classic were $1.89. This, by the way, is not particularly unusual, though typically the pricing is closer than this. But paying less money for twice the amount of the identical product is routine in some convenience stores. I can buy an emergency car starter unit for about $40, but replacing its battery costs over $50 plus shipping. Three days ago I bought 14 ounces of "black onion seeds" (food item) from an oriental grocery for $1.49; the adjacent spot on the shelf had 6.7 ounces of the same brand for $1.29. Both were in cheap fill-&-seal plastic bags of the same width (i.e., from the same roll stock).

Talking of bottled drinks.
On those motorway service stations, bottled water or soft drinks are ridiculously expensive. I buy a pint of semi skimmed milk instead, about 1/4 the price, tasty and prob better for you too.
Del

Hi there ,

How many are you looking for? I am a small hydraulic sourcing company and although they are a little on the pricey side i can do them for £1.18 each exluding postage.

Kind regards

Hate to be an advertiser for ebay but.... 99p...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-X-15MM-BRASS-COMPRESSION-OLIVES-/120773024448?pt=UK_DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item1c1ea21ac0

jt

www.mycall.mobi (free) Mobile Directory.

It helps if it would be a 22mm olive and not 16 x 15mm brass olives for copper pipe...

It's only a sample price - not specific. - there are thousands on the site.

jt

Enough already with the olives... I bought 3 for £1.99 at the time. I've finished the job now (which I shall blog up in a day or so) Solar hot water returns and more efficient than before.
Del

Sorry just trying to help...Won't offer our examples next time. My apologies.

No need to apologise.
Just a linguistic misunderstanding!
I didn't want examples of olive prices, I wanted examples of 'pricing madness'
Sorry if I appeared rude.
Del
(I try to use the smileys to help avoid misunderstanding, the whole thread was meant to be for amusement)

Awww.
Del

On a serious note;

Noticed ^{_(innocently)} recently

Johnny Walker 700ml - $32.95 = 4.70/100 ml

Johnny Walker 1 liter - $46.95 = 4.70/100 ml

Johnny Walker 1.125 ml - $42.10 = 3.74/100 ml

such hard choices

The overheat protection thermistor/bimetallic strip thingie burnt out on my shower*. Cost £20-30, if it were available (I couldn't find one).

Result: 9 yo shower in the WEEE bin and £72 for a new shower...I spent a bit extra to get on with an on/off button at the bottom...where l'il me can reach it! Cheapest alternative shower I found was £53....

*There was quite a spectacular flash from inside the casing one morning when I switched it on. Caused a bit of consternation, as I was standing in the bath at the time - remember what I said about being able to reach the on/off switch....

We use cable grips in very small quantities, just the plain fibre bar fitted with 2 screws. The only way we get them a a sensible price is to buy a complete plug for around £1, use the grip & throw the rest away.

Where I worked, we needed a very short power cord with the female connector on it. I could buy them in the length actually needed, with a minimum quantity requirement and six-week delivery. Or, I could buy complete 6-1/2 ft (2 meter) power cords for roughly 0.6 the price, off-the-shelf, no minimum buy. I have dozens of 4 ft hospital-grade power cords with male plugs in my barn to replace those on the power drills I collect; they'd have been thrown out otherwise. Many were, in fact.

Several times while I worked there, I needed to make up quantities of cables to go between instruments, often with a common type of connector on one end and an oddball on the other. I routinely found double-ended cables with the common one at both ends and in twice our required length, and our Bill Of Materials called out "0.5 Each". We'd cut them in half and install the oddball ends in-house. It was far cheaper than buying raw cable, two types of connectors, and installing both, in every instance. Worth remembering if you do similar work!

Planned obsolescence keeps the monetary world turning. If we cannot keep the factories running full speed (new items) then they will barely run at all (spares/replacements).

I buy larger 'O'rings in packets of 100. As long as I use 6-8 of them I save on the price of buying them in the pairs I really need.