Tarheel pricing too high?
Bob John
purchasing a little Tarheel II during our local Hamfest last weekend in
Aurora, IL. The dealer informed me the price had once again gone up and they
are now $289.99. Add to this amount the sales tax, auto-controller and mount
and you are way over $600.00. This is more then I paid for my FT-100D, which
I purchased new. At this point in time, the Hustler antenna is working fine
and I don't have to worry about theft.
Bob, AA8X
Art Clemons
> The dealer informed me the price had once again gone up and they
> are now $289.99. Add to this amount the sales tax, auto-controller and
> mount and you are way over $600.00. This is more then I paid for my
> FT-100D, which I purchased new. At this point in time, the Hustler antenna
> is working fine and I don't have to worry about theft.
Why not build your own? Screwdrivers are not all that hard to build frankly
although they do take some patience and skill. The auto-controller or at
least similarly based items also have been described in QST for less than
you seem to be paying, and as for a mount, well, I suggest you get the 2000
WorldRadio CD which features Don Johnson's books for a description of how
to build your own mount. The same "books" also describe how to build a
working screwdriver antenna. Scaled down, you can build the equivalent of
the Little Tarheel.
JIMMIE
Check out fair radio sales, they had some surplus screwdriver antenna
parts.
Jimmie
Bob John
now sells for $389.99 which is way too much money for this small antenna.
Bob
"JIMMIE" <JIMMIE...@YAHOO.COM> wrote in message
news:1184449053....@x35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
james
I think the prices for USA manufactured antenna of this quality
is about right, compared to others in this class.
the Tarheel series is a production antenna, you can take a dozen or
so of the Tarheels off individual vehicles, disassemble them and mix
the parts up in a box and put it back together and each one will fit and
work as designed. They are not tossed together from random parts rund.
The original poster could order one from Tarheel and save the sales
taxes
if you live out of NC.
JIMMIE
Bob John wrote:
> Thanks for the information as I will check into it. BTY, the Little Tarheel
> now sells for $389.99 which is way too much money for this small antenna.
> Bob
>
> "JIMMIE" <JIMMIE...@YAHOO.COM> wrote in message
> news:1184449053....@x35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Bob John wrote:
> >> Is Tarheel pricing their products out of the market? I had consideration
> >> purchasing a little Tarheel II during our local Hamfest last weekend in
> >> Aurora, IL. The dealer informed me the price had once again gone up and
> >> they
> >> are now $289.99. Add to this amount the sales tax, auto-controller and
> >> mount
> >> and you are way over $600.00. This is more then I paid for my FT-100D,
> >> which
> >> I purchased new. At this point in time, the Hustler antenna is working
> >> fine
What I saw in the catalog was the coils for about $70. I dont see it
online. I think it still needed the stinger and a motor plus the
control box.
Jimmie
Jim Lux
> Is Tarheel pricing their products out of the market? I had consideration
> purchasing a little Tarheel II during our local Hamfest last weekend in
> Aurora, IL. The dealer informed me the price had once again gone up and they
> are now $289.99.
Seems a reasonable price for a retail thing. Someone has to buy the
parts, someone has to pay someone to assemble it, someone has to store
it in a warehouse, someone has to sit in a store to sell it, etc.
All those steps add up.
When I worked in product design, we used to figure that retail selling
price (w/o discounts) would be 5-10 times the raw parts (Bill of
Materials, BOM) cost.
So, based on that, the parts cost for that antenna would be somewhere
between $25-50. Considering that most manufacturers avoid buying their
parts surplus (unless it's for a one-off), the motor alone is going
account for a significant fraction of that (unless they buy motors by
the pallet load, and even then, that might make them 30% cheaper, at best).
Then they have to buy finger stock, coils or wire to wind them, tubing
of various sizes, etc. Then, have pieces machined.
Add to this amount the sales tax,
Sales tax is something you can take up with your elected officials.
They have to get revenue somewhere to pave streets, run schools, pay
firemen, operate libraries, etc. Sales tax is a easy way for them to
collect it.
Roy Lewallen
> Bob John wrote:
>> Is Tarheel pricing their products out of the market? I had
>> consideration purchasing a little Tarheel II during our local Hamfest
>> last weekend in Aurora, IL. The dealer informed me the price had once
>> again gone up and they are now $289.99.
>
> Seems a reasonable price for a retail thing. Someone has to buy the
> parts, someone has to pay someone to assemble it, someone has to store
> it in a warehouse, someone has to sit in a store to sell it, etc.
> All those steps add up.
>
> When I worked in product design, we used to figure that retail selling
> price (w/o discounts) would be 5-10 times the raw parts (Bill of
> Materials, BOM) cost.
>
> So, based on that, the parts cost for that antenna would be somewhere
It makes absolutely no sense to apply one rule of thumb for pricing to
all industries and situations. First, most rules of thumb are based on
what it takes for a given business to make a profit on an item, and this
varies tremendously on the volume, amount of R&D required for
development, and a large number of other factors. What do you think the
price of EZNEC is as a multiple of the cost of the CD -- or a printer
ink cartridge based on its parts cost? How about a $3.00 calculator? But
this doesn't have anything to do with what a product is worth, anyway.
What a product is worth is what people are willing to pay for it, no
more, no less. It's senseless to spend time figuring out what a vendor
*should* charge based on some contrived rule based on only one of many
factors determining its manufacturing cost. Vote with your pocketbook.
If people find that the value of the item is worth the price, they'll
pay it. Otherwise, they won't. And anyone thinking an item is overpriced
should jump at the opportunity -- use the time you would have spent
grousing and make it yourself and sell it for less. You'll be on your
way to your first million. . . or, more likely, on your way to learning
a few basic rules about business.
Roy Lewallen, W7EL
Jim Lux
> Jim Lux wrote:
>
>> Bob John wrote:
>>
>>> Is Tarheel pricing their products out of the market? I had
>>> consideration purchasing a little Tarheel II during our local Hamfest
>>> last weekend in Aurora, IL. The dealer informed me the price had once
>>> again gone up and they are now $289.99.
>>
>>
>> Seems a reasonable price for a retail thing. Someone has to buy the
>> parts, someone has to pay someone to assemble it, someone has to store
>> it in a warehouse, someone has to sit in a store to sell it, etc.
>> All those steps add up.
>>
>> When I worked in product design, we used to figure that retail selling
>> price (w/o discounts) would be 5-10 times the raw parts (Bill of
>> Materials, BOM) cost.
>>
>> So, based on that, the parts cost for that antenna would be somewhere
>> between $25-50. . .
>
>
> It makes absolutely no sense to apply one rule of thumb for pricing to
> all industries and situations.
This is true, but I figure that building small quantities of antennas is
comparable to what we did in my former employer, which made small
quantities of special effects equipment.
First, most rules of thumb are based on
> what it takes for a given business to make a profit on an item, and this
> varies tremendously on the volume, amount of R&D required for
> development, and a large number of other factors. What do you think the
> price of EZNEC is as a multiple of the cost of the CD -- or a printer
> ink cartridge based on its parts cost? How about a $3.00 calculator? But
> this doesn't have anything to do with what a product is worth, anyway.
> What a product is worth is what people are willing to pay for it, no
> more, no less.
This is generally true.
It's senseless to spend time figuring out what a vendor
> *should* charge based on some contrived rule based on only one of many
> factors determining its manufacturing cost. Vote with your pocketbook.
> If people find that the value of the item is worth the price, they'll
> pay it. Otherwise, they won't. And anyone thinking an item is overpriced
> should jump at the opportunity -- use the time you would have spent
> grousing and make it yourself and sell it for less. You'll be on your
> way to your first million. . . or, more likely, on your way to learning
> a few basic rules about business.
which is why the 5-10x sorts of rules work.. they're based on the
realities of small scale manufacturing and retailing. If you had some
really nifty device that is in great demand AND nobody else can make it
(due to trade secrets needed (e.g. Coke) or patents) then you can charge
substantially more, and people willlingly pay for it, because it has
value. However, in the case of something like a screwdriver antenna,
where there's no "special sauce" nor patent protection, that would leave
the field open for a competitor to sell essentially the same item at a
cost closer to the basic cost of manufacture and sales. So, in that
sense, it's easier to figure out what a "fair" price might be.
In the software business, one has a great advantage (and a curse too, in
some ways) because one can price it at what people perceive it's worth,
independent of the manufacturing cost (although, presumably, one prices
it at least high enough to recover the original development cost).
This, of course, fits in the "you can't build it yourself cheaper"
category (at least if you abide by copyright laws, etc.), and, most good
software has some unique "value added" that is non-trivial to do in some
competing software.
>
> Roy Lewallen, W7EL
Dave Oldridge
news:f7ishk$bom$1...@nntp1.jpl.nasa.gov:
While we are on the subject, could someone post a comparison of the
Little Tarheel II vs. the High Sierra Sidekick?
I'm thinking of getting one or the other of these for my visegrip mount
out on the balcony, but could sure use some experienced advice.
--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667
David G. Nagel
A number of years ago a friend of mine worked for a company that made
oem patch antenna's for GPS receivers. His company sold them for $10
each. The retail sales price for these antenna's was $100.00. This is
quite in line with the above mentioned markup.
Dave WD9BDZ
BTW: I bought two and still have them somewhere.
Craig Buck
any expensive interface boxes. You can't work 80 with it but you couldn't
possibly have been considering 80 with the little Tarheel anyway. The
FT100D and ATAS are a great mobile combo. I have two of them in two
different vehicles.
"Bob John" <AA...@wowway.com> wrote in message
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