Klarinet Archive - Posting 000172.txt from 2004/06

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] scandal
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 18:32:30 -0400

At 03:05 PM 6/13/2004 -0600, Richard Bush
wrote:
>Has it crossed anyone's mind that the price of single reeds far exceeds
>the cost of the cane itself, the actual machining to produce each reed,
>the packaging costs and advertising costs to make it look seem slick and grand?
>
>My take on it is that too many people (companies) get a bite of the action
>before the consumers open their wallets screaming OUCH and buy a product
>that is marginal at bestl.

The cost per single reed is of course MORE than the cost of multiple reeds
in one package, due to the extra packaging, inventory processes, point of
sale costs, etc. Why anyone would go to a store and buy ONE reed is beyond
me, anyway, although many kids and rank amateurs do. We finally stopped
selling single reeds -- it was costing us too much!

Keep in mind, too, that music stores do not typically buy reeds directly
from Rico or Vandoren, etc, but through middlemen (D'Addario in the case of
Vandoren, many other jobbers for Rico). They get their cut, too.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org