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are most detectors overpriced?
- Thread starter peter-d
- Start date
When you figure a price.How many hours in development? How much an hour 40./60 dollars an hour.? Cost of the equipment to build and test?, How much does the assembly person get/overhead for that person.? What is the cost of the tooling to make that detector? In the early 60's a T-20 cost about $125.oo which was damn near two weeks pay take home.Factor in inflation at ten times and that T-20 would be $1250.oo.today....Electronics are cheap when you make hundreds of thousands.. But, your detector was hand wired, and someone had to get a living wage to do it..What you bought is not just the detector, it is the years of experience, the customer service, the warranty.. Ask how much off if you say no warranty?How much off if there is no customer service of any kind.How much off with no manual? If something is not right, you going to say that it is OK? When you work, do you give an honest days effort? Companies have to figure a price that will allow them to exist..You work for a company and bid on a contract, labor was 65 dollars an hour twenty years ago.Then there is a cost for the work area, materials.,shipping. Damn , you name it and it has to be paid for...All the companies making metal detectors? Go back in time and see how many were and aren't anymore..Enjoy the fact you can afford and enjoy what you have..And, if you want us to have a cheaper detector, go out , design, debug, advertise, and sell it, of course with an excellent life time warranty...I'll bet you couldn't even come close to present prices...NAD.
DrJoeprime
New member
Mirco said:
You come by that "humbleness" very naturally and deservedly.
If $1 clad per hour is what you consider normal than why are you still doing it?
You neglect to consider design and development costs of metal detectors also.
HH Joe
Uncle Willy
New member
Distributors price is nearly 50% off list so you can start there. Everything is overpriced. I remember many years ago when you could buy a new Chevy fully loaded for $2500 GM put them out the door for $300 per unit. Back in the thirties you could buy a new car for $300-$400. The new cars today that cost $30,000 only cost about $3000 or less to put out the door. The markup on some things is mind boggling. A lot of designer clothes are made in sweat shops and sewn together for twelve cents a garment. The clothes WAl-Mart sells are made in their factories in third world countries by people earning eighteen cents per hour. Nike has a kazillion factories in third world countries employing 800,000 people and a pair of $250 Nike shoes costs about two bucks to make. That's why all these folks are billionaires.
Bill
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
Garrett is USA made. Many of the internal parts for many detectors are made in China or a similar country A lot of parts in your new car, including engines, are made in Mexico and other places. Our government even farms out some of our most critical and secret stuff to foreign countries. Most of the hi-tech electronics for our fighter jets are made in Mexico. There is very little that is completely made in the U.S. anymore Even stuff with MADE IN USA labels attached ain't made here. That's another con job.
Many designer clothes with MADE IN THE USA labels are made on the island of Saipan where huge factory complexes exist employing people who make pennies an hour. 95% of the produce in your grocery store comes from foreign countries.85% of prescription medications sold at your pharmacy comes from China. A lot of your meat comes from foreign countries. Same with most over the counter vitamins. The American people are ripped on a daily basis and most don't have the remotest clue. How do you think these big corporations can pay their CEO's a $100 million a year and GM can give their Execs $200 million a year in bonuses.
Bill
Many designer clothes with MADE IN THE USA labels are made on the island of Saipan where huge factory complexes exist employing people who make pennies an hour. 95% of the produce in your grocery store comes from foreign countries.85% of prescription medications sold at your pharmacy comes from China. A lot of your meat comes from foreign countries. Same with most over the counter vitamins. The American people are ripped on a daily basis and most don't have the remotest clue. How do you think these big corporations can pay their CEO's a $100 million a year and GM can give their Execs $200 million a year in bonuses.
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
Yeah all TV's, computers, VCR's DVD's, cell phones, anything electronic, are made in the Asian countries or Mexico. A lot of stuff is made in Viet Nam where theaverage salary is $500 per year.
Bill
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
BINGO!
Bill
Bill
About over priced detectors: would you say the Prizm's by Whites to be over priced?
I've looked at their catalog and for what you get I would guess they could lower their price by at least $100.
The Prizms don't have much by way of coil selection either.
Katz
[size=x-small]Did someone say "lets go metal detecting?"[/size]
I've looked at their catalog and for what you get I would guess they could lower their price by at least $100.
The Prizms don't have much by way of coil selection either.
Katz
[size=x-small]Did someone say "lets go metal detecting?"[/size]
Uncle Willy
New member
In the old days there were probably a hundred outfits in this country making detectors. When I get around to it I'll post some pics of some of the ones that used to be on the market - some priced as low as $16.95.
Bill
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
I think the Exec fibbed to you. Standard wage in Mexico for hi-tech workers ( and making vacs ain't hi-tech ) is $4.00 per day and no benefits and they live in company housing and can't even afford the stuff they build.. If Mexicans could make $25.00 ( a fortune in Mexico ) a day they wouldn't be coming up here by the millions.
Bill
Bill
Uncle Willy
New member
BINGO!
I think with a 30% cut on current prices manufacturers will still get a nice profit, but as long as people keep paying current prices , they won`t change.
Law of market.
It is sad that MD manufacturers do not have this much power like auto makers or insurance companies or arm sellers and cannot put pressure on legislatures and to lobby for our hobby.
With a bit of will it will be easy to present MDing as the most good, noble and environmental activity on this planet.
But there is no vested interests...
Law of market.
It is sad that MD manufacturers do not have this much power like auto makers or insurance companies or arm sellers and cannot put pressure on legislatures and to lobby for our hobby.
With a bit of will it will be easy to present MDing as the most good, noble and environmental activity on this planet.
But there is no vested interests...
Doctorcoinz
New member
I have no doubt metal detectors are over priced , the garretts are made in china it says so on the circuit boards. A 600 Dollar detector will cost 50 dollars to make.
Big juicey profits for the manufacturer and dealers. The CTX 3030 costs about 2 thousand pounds to buy new , I would be amazed if it cost a penny more than £200 to make.
There is plenty of suckers buying top end machines and that includes me!
Big juicey profits for the manufacturer and dealers. The CTX 3030 costs about 2 thousand pounds to buy new , I would be amazed if it cost a penny more than £200 to make.
There is plenty of suckers buying top end machines and that includes me!
Its not just the costs of detector materials involved in detector costs. You have other actual costs like payroll, (try designing one yourself) and its not just cost for engineers. Other expenses are rent or other types of building costs, advertising, shipping and receiving costs, personnel, building and merchandise insurance costs, just to name a few of the expenses that go into the cost/retail prices of a detector. HH jim tn
You got that right.
Example: I run a street sweeper company. And I've had potential customers bristle at our rates ($140 to $170 p/h). They can't fathom that, since obviously labor (even union labor) runs at only $40-ish for the entire "package" (benefits, etc...). And diesel is certainly only $3-ish per gallon. So how can I have the gall to quote such prices ??
But it's as you point out: The "behind the scenes" costs of "getting that product to market" are a beast ! The building we work/dispatch out of, the maintenance of those units, the bureaucratic permits costs put on us, the depreciation of the unit over time, my cost and time in paperwork, A/P, A/R, supervision, etc....
And quite frankly, let's assume for the moment that the day comes where the md'r company or I ever (heaven forbid) made a profit ! Yes, clearly above-&-beyond all costs associated with the product -to-market ? Ok, what's wrong with that ? Business people are oft-times cast as "greedy" or whatever, if their bank account gets bigger and bigger. Which clearly shows their charging more than the product/service costs involved. But THAT'S JUST THE POINT of business, isn't it ? If that person "takes a risk" to do it, he's running the risk he could fail and go bankrupt (lots of businesses fail in their first couple of years afterall). Conversely he could succeed. And if so, he SHOULD be rewarded for his risks.
And at any point, that "big nest egg" could evaporate via some big un-forseen expense. Like a competitor with a better mousetrap, or ..... whatever. So by golly he SHOULD have a "big nest egg" to prepare for the ups and downs of business.
Example: I run a street sweeper company. And I've had potential customers bristle at our rates ($140 to $170 p/h). They can't fathom that, since obviously labor (even union labor) runs at only $40-ish for the entire "package" (benefits, etc...). And diesel is certainly only $3-ish per gallon. So how can I have the gall to quote such prices ??
But it's as you point out: The "behind the scenes" costs of "getting that product to market" are a beast ! The building we work/dispatch out of, the maintenance of those units, the bureaucratic permits costs put on us, the depreciation of the unit over time, my cost and time in paperwork, A/P, A/R, supervision, etc....
And quite frankly, let's assume for the moment that the day comes where the md'r company or I ever (heaven forbid) made a profit ! Yes, clearly above-&-beyond all costs associated with the product -to-market ? Ok, what's wrong with that ? Business people are oft-times cast as "greedy" or whatever, if their bank account gets bigger and bigger. Which clearly shows their charging more than the product/service costs involved. But THAT'S JUST THE POINT of business, isn't it ? If that person "takes a risk" to do it, he's running the risk he could fail and go bankrupt (lots of businesses fail in their first couple of years afterall). Conversely he could succeed. And if so, he SHOULD be rewarded for his risks.
And at any point, that "big nest egg" could evaporate via some big un-forseen expense. Like a competitor with a better mousetrap, or ..... whatever. So by golly he SHOULD have a "big nest egg" to prepare for the ups and downs of business.
And $4.00 for a pint of Blueberries ------back to the over priced detectors, I have no idea as to what it cost to make or design one, the prices are high for some and if you can pay what your wants are, go for it. I can't think of any other hobby that can pay for itself and that is very possible in one find. So are prices going to go down? No ----------Why? Because we don't stick together as a voice!! ---One more thought -- Happy that I can detect!!!!------------------after1-----
bigtim1973
Well-known member
I wonder if the Chinese does make the insides and ship them back and slap them into another housing they mold over there too and ship them back and assemble them here in the USA? Then it is not wrong when it says MADE IN THE USA!! I thought about this for several months when the bogus propointer hit the market. And also the fake T2 units a while back. How is it that the products looked exactly the same? Perhaps it is because the same molds were used to make the housibgs in those fake units. Just something to think about.
The metal detectors made my Garret, Whites and First Texas Products are all sold with imformation as to where they are made - it's on the box that they are shipped in.
The rules on what,claims of origin they can make are governed by US law and regulation and are published and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Here's a link to a detailed description of what claims of US origin can be made - depending on whether the product is described as "made in the USA" or "made in the USA of US abd imported parts" or some other claim. Using a "claim" which does not comply with these rules would likely constitute fraud.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-made-usa-standard
The rules on what,claims of origin they can make are governed by US law and regulation and are published and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. Here's a link to a detailed description of what claims of US origin can be made - depending on whether the product is described as "made in the USA" or "made in the USA of US abd imported parts" or some other claim. Using a "claim" which does not comply with these rules would likely constitute fraud.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-made-usa-standard