[Michael R. Kesti]

Mike Rivers wrote:

Romeo Rondeau wrote:

How the hell can they make this stuff so cheap?

I think they pull a lever and just stamp it in one operation. g One
thing that cuts back on the costs is manufacturing engineering. They
put some time into designing the machinery (that they can re-use) and
get the build cost way down. And when they get it down far enough, they
can push sales way up. And of course by making something that's not
designed to be serviced, they cut way back on technical support and
sustaining engineering.

But then how do they make all the functionality of a multitrack
recorder and mixing console so cheap? Same thing. And if you don't
think they've cut back on tech support costs, just try asking for some.
g

I agree with most of the above (the lever pulling and stamping being the
execeptions ;-) but there are other factors, too. To really get costs
low, however, one must manufacture "off shore" which is a euphanism for
"in countries that burden manufacturers with little to no environmental
regulations and have millions of people willing to work for very small
fractions of the pay and benefits that the consumers of these goods enjoy."

Another fctor is that the corproations behind these manufacturing operations
realize that the real money is in the sale of media for these products and
are therefore willing to sell the latter at little or no profit.

There are probably other factors, too.

--
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Michael Kesti | "And like, one and one don't make
| two, one and one make one."
mrkesti at hotmail dot com | - The Who, Bargain