I've become convinced that Manufacturers feel they can charge any price

[A HERETIC I AM]

they want for almost anything they want. I just paid $15.00 for TEN Gillette Razor blade cartridges. The Gillette "Sensor" type. FIFTEEN FUCKING DOLLARS! They didn't have a store brand for that type and i realize they are cheaper but DAMN! 15 bucks for forty five cents worth of plastic and a dollars worth of sharpened stainless? (If that)

How many things do you buy in your life that you look at and think "How the hell do they justify this price?"

Now i know a large part of that is marketing, etc. but it just seems to me that there are so many areas where the consumer is just simply raped. CD's for example. Anything that is injection molded out of plastic. The 1st one is the most expensive (Cost of the die, startup, etc.) but after that, most small plastic items are literally made for pennies.

I'm just sayin'------

End of rant

[wuushew]

1. I suggest an electric razor

the lifetime costs are much lower than a traditional razor.

[Kansas Wyatt]

2. Welcome to Bush World.

[dweller]

3. they will charge any price the public will support

when you stop buying, the price will come down.

i'd suggest a beard.

dp

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. I have a beard AND a mustache but not a full one.....

but your point is well taken.

[hector459]

36. Capitalism: Whatever the market will bear.

We don't complain. We don't ask for price or PROFIT controls. We continue to buy. No one will sacrifice for the good of all. SOoooooo
there you have it! When we, the people, decide that we have had enough and are willing to give up some of our creature comforts and survive on only necessities, then some changes might be made. Otherwise, we will keep on keeping on until some major disaster rocks our foundations.

Peace!!

[donco6]

4. You paid it, right?

Guess they weren't TOO expensive.

(You kinda walked into that one.)

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. Yes I did.

So yes, i did walk right the hell in. But i am still asking the question. Isnt there ANYTHING you buy that you look at the price of and scratch your head?

[zanne]

39. I pay for my prescriptions, too, and they're too expensive, so....

I have to borrow money anywhere I can. I sat down with my husband last night and we went over our budget, to see where we could possibly save another nickel. I'll probably have to give up the Internet soon. It's a heartbreaking choice, but we have to eat.

[walldude]

5. I wouldn't mind paying inflated

prices if the money went to the workers. It's paying these ridiculous prices to line the pockets of CEO's who's 5mil a year just doesn't seem to cover his bills :eyes:

[yorgatron]

6. ever notice the price stays the same or goes up

even when they outsource?
GM builds a lot of stuff in Mexico now,but they never dropped their prices,did they?

[Deja Q]

7. Bingo, to you both.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. PRECISELY!!!! General Motors build Suburbans in Wisconsin AND

Mexico. They built the plant down there ostensibly to save money. Is the mexican built one any cheaper than the US built one? Nope, in fact, they also build the Cadillac Escalade down there (Same basic chassis as the Yukon/Short Wheelbase Suburban) so you KNOW the profits on it are huge. I read somewhere they had a built-in profit of better than $15,000 per unit. If you own an Escalade, you got as raped as i did on my razor blades, just to a much greater degree!

[JoseC]

27. All electronics, especially VCR's, through the roof.

[newyawker99]

34. Hi JoseC!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[nine30]

9. Unfortunately, Gilette is the best

I know the blade prices are simply outrageous. I have tried Schick and hated it, even their 4 blade model. Gillette uses only 3 but they do an awsome job.

Even as few as seven or eight years ago I could get as many as 25 shaves per blade (the original sensor) before it wore out. Now everytime a new model comes out with more blades in it, it shaves better and I can't even get 12 smooth shaves.

You should shave only in the shower and only when you are almost done. Thats when the beard is the softest and causes the least wear on the blade !

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. I almost always shave in the shower.......

and the last set of blades lasted me probably 6 or 7 months.

Perhaps that is why i was so surprised.

[nine30]

31. Well you have nothing to complain about then !

;)

[dsc]

10. Razors are damned expensive

and no matter how many times I shave with them I don't look like those hunks on TV. I just don't get it.

[JoseC]

11. Economics

Manufacturers can charge as much for an item as the market will bear. You paid $15 bucks for $1.45 product, this is capitalism. Don't forget product liability in this equation, the first teeney bopper to slit it's wrists will have a parent with a multi million dollar lawsuit. Welcome to a judiciary in need of serious overhaul.

[wuushew]

13. Frivolous lawsuits are thrown out as a matter of fact

Do you believe McDonalds should not have been sued over extremely hot coffee?

[JoseC]

20. Thats right

Coffee in this part of America is sold extremely hot. I want hot coffee, coffee hot, cocoa hot, tea hot etc... We are raised to be carful though, it will burn ya.

[AlCzervik]

16. Really? Well lets see since caps were put in place in many states on

medical lawsuits malpractice insurance hasn't come down at all, maybe big business is in need of serious overhaul.

[JoseC]

21. Really

They have not even began to get close. We need tort reform that will allow people who bring frivolous to be sued along with their lawyers.

[AlCzervik]

29. ya, really.

[firefox]

19. tort deform already passed

The scenario you outlined is absurd anyway.

[oppositionmember]

14. Bic disposables, $3.99 for 12

It's just a shave, right?

[dsc]

15. For some reason if I use those

I cut myself all to hell.

[A HERETIC I AM]

26. Me too. If i use those disposable ones i get shredded

I used them when i was much younger when my beard waas....well...thinner. Now i think you could run electric current through it!

I have tried almost every type of razor (Including electric shavers) except the old fashioned hand-held straight razor. I had thought of buying one of those but i am not sure if i am that brave!

[faithnotgreed]

17. pox on gillette anyway. animal cruelty from way back and i dont abide

that at all.

but as to what you posted i think it was just included in the time article re inflation "officially" here (what a joke) that manufacturers feel in general they can pass along increasing costs to the consumers

we keep buying and theyll keep stealing

[JoseC]

24. Just buisness

Passing along increased costs is how to run a profitable buisness. If you don't the company loses money then you must lay people off or close down. When there are no more jobs then all will be well, I guess???

[faithnotgreed]

30. hi jose c. i dont think were talking about the same issue

huge corporations such as gillette are not in danger of laying people off or closing down due to lack of any profit

its due to a series of things of course but none more glaring than the constant drive for as much profit as possible with increasingly little regard for their workers etc

its a fallacy of sorts that people use that argument. we have pretty much seen (esp with layoffs announced every single day in the late breaking news section here on du) that its not the lack of profit margin that is the problem for these mega companies. its the profit at all costs agenda (and the disregard of most everything else) that is hurting all of us whether we work there or not.

i certainly dont want companies who care at all about their community or their employees to have to lay anyone off. ever
and its those companies (and politicians) with the greed-only motto that are helping to drive away the jobs

best wishes to you josec

[solinvictus]

22. Bic disposables, 12/$1.25 at Big Lots..

I hate the upper end razors because they make the blades where it's impossible to clean them for reuse.

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. Get a straight razor.

You only need to buy the one, and as long as you learn to use it and keep it sharp you'll never need another.

[A HERETIC I AM]

28. Thought of that in the past (See above post)

Do you own one? I know i could learn to use it properly but there HAS to be a rather painful learning curve!

[Spider Jerusalem]

32. No...

want to get one, but for now I alternate between disposables and my grandfather's old WWII-era Gillette safety razor...seriously considered it, though. I've GOTTEN a straight-razor shave, at a barber shop, and it seems to do a pretty good job.

[Charon]

35. Straight Razo

Love them. Have used a straigt razor for 15 years. Have had to have it professionally sharped once.

[B Calm]

33. For a lousy fifty dollars more you could have bought a

television with the ability to recieve transmissions from outer space.

[babylonsister]

37. Razor blades are my pet peeve.

So expensive, for what? Same applies to tampons. Can't live with them, can't live without.:grr:

[lonestarnot]

38. Grow a beard....Buy a theft monkey...