[Elecraft] Screws,etc.

[w7aqk at cox.net]

James,

Sorry to say, but Jim Brown, and others, had it right.  I'm not trying 
to insult your intelligence, and neither was Jim.  However, I am 
challenging both your knowledge and experience in matters such as this. 
I'm pretty certain that Elecraft has it a lot closer to right than you 
think--they may even be low!  I also doubt you can buy just this 
quantity yourself for anything very close to that price!

As an example, a number of years ago businesses were somewhat shocked to 
learn that it cost them something like $6 per page just for a secretary 
to write a simple one page letter.  It's even more today obviously. 
Point is, there are costs most of us don't even think about when it 
comes to doing just about anything in a business situation.  In this 
case, and I won't even try to recite all the steps--the items have to be 
identified, a vendor selected, they have to be ordered, they have to be 
packaged (in the proper types and quantities), and orders have to be 
processed (no small task)!  In all of that, the cost of the screws is 
miniscule comparatively!

It's fascinating to see how many businesses, seemingly put together on 
an otherwise sound idea or product, nevertheless fail to survive.  More 
often than not, it's due to failure to pay attention to detail and 
adequately understand all the costs of doing business.  I'm what you 
probably call a "bean counter", so I know this to be true.

You do have an alternative, of course.  You could go down to your local 
Ace Hardware, or wherever, and buy the same items.  However, you'd 
probably pay about 25 cents for each item, burn a bunch of gas, and 
spend at least a couple of hours of your time in the process.  I don't 
think that computes!

Or, maybe you see an opportunity!  Why not start a little business on 
the side and compete with Elecraft on the package?  But is there enough 
of a market out there to really make any money?  Probably not!  Which 
brings us right back to the problem Elecraft had in that they had to go 
through all the process to make these items available, and there really 
wasn't enough demand to make it even profitable, or spread their costs 
very effectively--it was just an extension of their support 
process--customers needed/wanted it, and they felt obliged to provide 
it!

The bottom line is that, in today's world, anything that costs $20 
probably has little to do with the "hard" cost of the item itself.  What 
it does represent is the allocated cost and overhead of how many hands 
it had to pass through to get to you!

Dave W7AQK







--------------------------------------------------
James, K2QI wrote:

Yes I've worked in a business.  I also don't work for free.  I do 
however
know the difference between a value-added product and something that may 
be
a bit more than that.  I wasn't born yesterday, so please don't insult 
my
intelligence.

My point is this.  Stainless steel screws don't cost much more than 
standard
hardware.  I'm not asking Elecraft to go out of business, so that sort 
of
talk is ridiculous.  All I'm saying is that if the difference in cost is
marginal, why doesn't Elecraft just include stainless hardware with all
future K3s?  At the very least, they can give you that option at 
ordering
and charge for the difference.

Maybe some of you guys don't care what you do with your money, but in 
this
lousy economy, I can't justify spendingl 20 dollars for a 5 dollar bag 
of
screws.

73 de James K2QI