Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Price Increase

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Gotta go with Seth. This is life. These recycled complaints seem silly  and 
do get old. I never see similar posts every time other products go up  in 
price. Are there boards/lists on the internet where people do this about  
every product imaginable? 
 
People complain about the price of harmonicas while paying $4.00+ every  
morning for a cup of 'special' coffee at their local coffee shop(make it at 
home  and in 2 weeks you'd have saved enough for a harp)... think nothing of 
paying $6  - 8.00 for a favourite magazine they'll later toss, electricity 
bills are  enormous; gas prices per gallon are huge (on this side of the pond 
anyway while  people in other Countries think we have it easy), and yet 90% 
of those  complaining that harmonicas are expensive happily pay 
cable/cellphone bills  and talk on an inordinately expensive device all day because they 
must now  stay in touch with family and friends every minute, even texting 
and  emailing/sending photos and videos using those phones compared to  20 
years ago when no one was similarly 'linked-in'. FTR I still prefer  my home 
phone and rarely use a cell, considering it for emergencies or  when I'm out 
of town.
 
If you've opted out of the electronic age and don't own either  a cable 
box, cell phone, Satellite Dish, GPS, Sirius Radio, IPod, Wii, the  latest 
computer or netbook/notebook and download the latest tunes and apps to  your 
computer while paying for all of their increasing monthly bills on top of  the 
initial cost of the main item and its peripherals(which rapidly become  
obsolete so you're forced to 'upgrade' within a couple of years), then  you do 
have the right to complain about the cost of harmonicas going up so  their 
manufacturers can make a reasonable profit. 
My .02 cents.
 
Elizabeth
PS:Seth - I could pretty much guarantee you that I'm likely your 'elder'  
and I completely agree with you about the cost of other instruments. We want 
to  have harmonicas taken seriously then decry their cost. Can't have it 
both ways.  I certainly don't expect to pay for them what I did when I began  
playing as a child or their price to stay static. Why should they when 
nothing  else does? 
 
"Message: 10
Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:22:12 -0500
From: Seth  Galitzer <sethgali@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Price  Increase
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:  <4E0E2C74.9070504@xxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Every time this comes up (maybe every  six months or so lately), I have a 
hard time getting worked up about  it.  Yeah, maybe if I had been playing 
for 50 years and saw the price  multiply by 10 (or more), I *might* feel 
different.  But if you ask me,  much like guano, inflation happens. 
Nothing has stayed the same price over a  long period of time.  It's the 
nature of economics.  And frankly,  compared to the price of a new 
professional tenor saxophone (my main  instrument), a couple more bucks 
for a harp is peanuts.  Even if you  only buy custom harps, you could 
have a whole set of 12 for the starting  price of a pro tenor sax.  Yeah, 
yeah, plus amps, plus mics, plus  <other gear>. $$$. <cha-ching>.  I get 
it.  But guess  what, being a professional (or even semi-professional) 
musician costs  money.  So does living in a post-industrial world.

I don't mean to  sound rude or disrespectful of my elders here, because I 
truly do respect  those I learn from.  I just hear about "price 
increases" and the  griping that follows, and I just think it's all a bit 
silly.

Ok,  there, I said it.  You get to rant, I get to rant, we all get to  
rant.  Gotta love them Internets.  I'll go back to lurking  now.

-- 
Seth Galitzer

The beatings will continue until morale  has improved."