Thread: Just a thought, but shouldn't the price of razors be going down?

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

They do not need to come down until people stop buying. With companies like Dovo and TI not being able to meet demand, even in today's economic crisis, why would they lower prices?

When people stop buying, whatever the comodity, then prices will (should) drop. Until then it is still a sellers market.

Tony

tony is correct, it's economics 101. if you can sell everything you produce, then demand outstrips supply. accordingly, you should keep RAISING prices until you are not able to sell all you can produce, then lower just a tad and you have reached what is known as "profit maximizing equilibrium".

if demand continued despite continuous price increases, an argument could be made to increase production, but clearly dovo and TI are not willing to dump that much capital right now to train artisans and build facilities.

As the economy gets worse people don't want to spend money continuously on disposable razor cartiges. So they are turnng to straight razors. As more people do this there is more demand. More demand means the price goes up. A poor economy doesn't mean everyone loses money. I work as a teacher. I a bad economic climate people want their children to have a good education, so teachers jobs are secure. My father-in-law owns a construction company. The economic recovery package for Thailand is based on construction. My father-in-law is doing quite well out of it.

The law of supply and demand will determine the price. There may be some out there that think prices can keep going down. However I think that sometimes the buying public over-estimate the amount of profit there is in manufacturing,distributing and selling a high quality product.
Or as McGinty said; "The goat was just getting used to going without food when it died"

Razors are low ticket items. They also have a practical everyday function and not purely recreational. It's the big ticket items people forego in bad economic times.

Very good points from everyone so far. I agree with all of them.

I'd also add that I think there are some hobbies and pastimes that aficionados (you know, all of you guys; the group that seems large enough to keep me from bidding on most any auction these days) will continue to spend money at largely unaffected by an economic downturn. Acquisition Disorders are stronger than saying "no" to non-essential items.

Chris L

Its a funny thing and I agree with everyone who has posted here on some level. I noticed on the bay that you can buy a 5/8 Dovo Inox stainless for $110 with the "buy it now". I paid $60 for the Dovo carbon I bought from knifecenter.com when I got started. Now, I have since sold ($40) it to another person because I like the Sheffield blades more. I am about to start dealing only in Sheffield blades because I like them so much and they are easiest to handle and hone for me. The fact is though, every razor I refurbish (not restore per se) I sell within a matter of days. My free honing option helps a little, but I am doing that to build a base of people whom I can buy , sell, or trade with later. Right now I literally have people wanting razors that I haven't finished and will not be listing. I also look in the classifieds each day and it seems 50% are sold. I hate this because I only want to look at one I can possibly buy, but that is a matter for the moderators. SO as for the economy goes it doesn't appear to be hurting in the razor market though if some of the companies would lower their prices a little it would allow for more people to get into it.
My Two Cents (probably worth less than a penny!)

I agree with all of the posts, and would like to add a couple of points. Sale prices of vintage and antique razors on e-bay do not seem to be going down, nor are there any fewer for sale than there were 3 years ago, unless we are simply recycling the same razors over and over. ( I know this is true of some of them!) However, Thiers-Issard has really cranked up their prices. I bought a white Super Gnome 3 years ago at Classic Shaving. Today, a "pre-sharpened" Super Gnome will set you back $173. My feeling is that their sales are down and that they hurt them even more by raising prices so much. It is a poor strategy, in my opinion, for the long term.

Another point, is that in tough economic times people look for other places to invest than stocks. Be it guns, pipes, coins, or razors.

I really don't think sales are down for TI or for Dovo but at some point the constantly rising prices may take them there. Labor costs went up last year as did certain raw materials. Right now many are dropping so the higher prices may just catch up with certain vendors. As demand increases the suppliers prices go up but at some point the small dealer may be sitting on high dollar stock just as the end consumer stops buying. With suppliers like TI and Dovo having a nearly 1 year lead time on orders now this could easily happen.

A year ago in my day business in aerospcae we were looking at aluminum prices of well over a dollar a pound, right now we are buying at 75 cents a pound or less while several of our long term suppliers have paid more than this for the stock sitting in their warehouses.

Right now with demand being what it is prices do not need to drop but rasing them may be a bad choice over the long haul.

Tony

It's said, buy land while you can because it's not being made anymore. Many of the razors we buy,collect and use fall into that category.