Comment by luqtas
20 hours ago
> Any idea why something like this costs $5,000? It seems like manufacturing costs would justify 1/10th of that maybe?
welcome to Capitalism and Niche Products sir
20 hours ago
> Any idea why something like this costs $5,000? It seems like manufacturing costs would justify 1/10th of that maybe?
welcome to Capitalism and Niche Products sir
What does it have to do with "Capitalism" per se?
If you have a well made, but very niche product that sells in very small volumes it will be expensive.
If any of the labour & assembly happens in US that turns it into unavoidable inevitability.
If it was cheaper, it would be a loss making hobby.
A country without "capitalism" wouldn't make such product for sale to begin with.
maybe a society which has laws and regulations voted by citizens (anarchy for example) commercial products shouldn't profit over 700% or some absurdity which caps the 5000 usd number... it's not like velocity sensible keys are expensive or overly complex to produce
micro-tonal instruments are prevalent in various cultures which weren't flooded by Europe and then North America by hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. it's pretty easy to find examples on countries inside Africa and Asia
> maybe a society which has laws and regulations voted by citizens (anarchy for example) commercial products shouldn't profit over 700% or some absurdity which caps the 5000 usd number
No problemo. The consequence of that law is you'll simply not get those products on the market because there's not enough profit to justify someone spending the time to make them.
See also: Rent control, minimum wage, price control (e.g. maximum price of gasoline during a shortage).
> micro-tonal instruments are prevalent in various cultures which weren't flooded by Europe and then North America by hundreds,
They're probably most prevalent in Europe, though. That's where most microtonal instruments come from.
Where are you getting your numbers - profit over 700%? If so I want in!
Unless you know how many units they sell per month, and what are their expenses exactly, and how many people are employed, and amortized cap ex and R&D cost, you're just making shit up on the spot.
Lets say this thing moves two units per month, and each brings $4000 in pure profit (costs per unit $1000). If company has one employee. Now you've made $96000/yr.
Which is way less than a single competent engineer or entrepreneur in US is worth. Ie. they are losing money.
This is fundamental quality of very low-volume, very niche products. They are almost never priced anywhere near their bill-of-materials cost.
> micro-tonal instruments are prevalent in various cultures which weren't flooded by Europe and then North America by hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. it's pretty easy to find examples on countries inside Africa and Asia
So buy one of those then?
> it's not like velocity sensible keys are expensive or overly complex to produce
Oh, my sweet summer child; music instrument keys are mechanically not the same thing as a computer keyboard. There are moving parts involved that need to handle routine forces that easily break a normal computer keyboard. 𝆑𝆑𝆑 calls for your whole arm and torso.
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