Re: [Harp-L] Prices of Harmonicas

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One time a while back, it's in the archives, I'm sure, I actually looked at it some detail a while back. Since the 1990s... JUST the 1990s, there's been a huge shift in what your U.S. money will buy in Europe. When I looked at this last year, I did a bunch of fancy math. The fancy math said that if a German company charged $99 for a harmonica in 1999, they would have to charge $170 for in 2009 to make the same profit. 

Dave 



 
----- Original Message ----
From: joe leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, March 19, 2010 1:28:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Prices of Harmonicas


On Mar 19, 2010, at 12:23 PM, David Payne wrote:

> 
> 
> It's a fairly complicated dynamic.

Supply and demand. If we don't demand them, they can't supply them.  lolol

> IT's not only inflation, but inflation in two countries, the one of origin and the one of sale.

That's quite true. Everyone talks about the exchange rate. What a maroon. It isn't so important as to WHAT the rate is but what a sum of money will buy. Example: Not only is the Euro rated at $1.36 (right now), BUT, but but, a Euro will never buy $1.36 worth of what it will buy in the U.S. Sooo, not only does the Euro cost more, it also buys less. Soooo, we get a DOUBLE hit. For instance: something costs a dollar in the U.S. The same thing 'SHOULD' cost a Euro in the E.U. ( a net loss of 36 cents for the dollar), BUT, but but the cost for the same item costs 1 & 1 HALF Euro. Net result is that a $1.oo item in the U.S. will actually cost you $2.o4 in the E.U.. This is RIDICULOUS, as I know of NO European product that is worth more than double JUST because it was purchased in Europe.

I lived there off and on from the mid 40s till the late 50s. I SAW the change. At one time they were like the Caribbean. They were begging you to buy their stuff. Now, it's as if they're doing you a favor.

> Two different inflation dynamics... but that's not all.... then factor in the strength of the currency in the country of origin and the country of sale.... All adds up in the case of the U.S., we enjoyed some artificially low prices for a lot of decades, based on what was going on in the German economy was doing.

Artificially low only because before WWII, the American worker made more than his European counterpart. In the last 65 years this has all reversed. The American system is to keep the American worker paid as low as possible while going for more productivity. Ergo: the quality of American products has suffered due to rush rush tactics. Then to exascerbate the issue, American engineering went to planned obsolescence in order to increase repeat sales. Workers can only make what the engineers design. And if they design junk, you GET junk. The American worker gets blamed, and it all goes down hill from there.

England is hurting today because they made their stuff SO good that it rarely broke. Their 'lifetime' of use meant that repeat sales were non existent.

>  Had the world wars never happened, a set of harmonicas would have cost the same as a saxophone many, many years ago.

I agree. For some reason the European manufacturers must think that their products are gold. I (personally) don't see it. But now that nothing is built in America any longer, people can stop blaming us.
> 
> 
> Dave
>