I'm inclined to agree with Joe here. It used to be that Yaesu would send
you small parts gratis (things like dial light bulbs for rotators) but
recently the ante has gone way up and nothing's free any more. Another pet
peeve of mine is the amount of stuff that they are buying from outside
suppliers - that seems to include all of their rotators, the insides of the
FP-29 power supply, etc. That makes replacing anything in them pretty
stiff. It could be that their supplier is gouging them on the connector.
73, Pete N4ZR
At 10:55 AM 3/26/2007, Joe Giacobello wrote:
>Jim, with all due respect and deference to your experience in the
>industry, the price for the plug penetrates the envelope. I would have
>to guesstimate that the cost of manufacture and bulk shipment for the
>plug is around $1-2 per unit. A markup of 2300-4700%, barring special
>situations, is gouging in my lexicon.
>
>As frame of reference, my experiences with Yaesu's competitors are
>relevant. I have received difficult-to-obtain precision metering shunt
>resistors from Tentec and MFJ and a microphone wind screen from Icom at
>no charge whatsoever . Admittedly, in each of these cases - and there
>have been others, but these are the recollections that immediately come
>to mind - I was relying on the good nature of the individual employee to
>slip the item into an envelope and address it to me. Nevertheless, even
>if they had to go through normal processing channels, a typical supplier
>either has some kind of minimum charge or simply adds on a nominal
>handling fee of $5-10.
>
>Of course, given that Yaesu USA is in California and given the price of
>housing, real estate and routine living costs there relative to most
>other parts of the country, $48, on further reflection, may have been a
>bargain. :-)
>
>73, Joe
>K2XX
>
>Jim Lux wrote:
> > At 02:47 PM 3/25/2007, Joe Giacobello wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> During the installation, we damaged the seven pin rotor plug and had to
> >> buy a replacement from Yaesu for $48!!!! I was really appalled at such
> >> blatant gouging. I have since done a search for the plug's Japanese
> >> manufacturer (Nanaboshi) and found a posting from some equally incensed
> >> hams who apparently identified a US distributor where they could be
> >> obtained for about $7/ea. in lots of 50. If anyone knows of a source
> >> for these plugs or an equivalent at a reasonable price, please let me
> know.
> >>
> >
> > I think gouging is too strong a term.
> >
> > If the only distributor requires a minimum order of 50, at $7 each,
> > then Yaesu is doing you a favor by zapping you for $50.. it could
> > have cost you $350.<grin>
> >
> > I don't think it's so much Yaesu charging too much (their "per order"
> > handling and stocking costs could easily be $30, and a part that
> > sells for $7 in qty 50 could easily sell for $15 in qty 1), but that
> > they happened to select a part that isn't readily available at low
> > cost. But then, that might not be on their list of design
> > objectives, either.. (things like manufacturing availability,
> > compatibility with existing fixturing, etc. would be higher on the list)
> >
> > It's a truism that building a car from retail replacement parts would
> > cost 10 times as much as buying the car already assembled, and you'd
> > supply the labor. Same applies to most anything else.
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
>
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