bi-polar, or am i nuts

[rick bell]

boy, that is genesis economics - ah let see, my sales are going in the tube so i'll doubble my
prices to generate more revenue. every look at the FBO auctions? there inventories are immense
and they have gone broke and now the parts are sold at 10% of their reasonable value and
at 1% of the value before they went broke - this is not supply and demand, it's supply with
NO demand.

here is a nice antidote: lived in Belize and at the veggie market a vendor brings in a beautify
cabbage; but he wants five times the going rate. as you can imagine it does not sell right away.
as the cabbage starts to wilt the vendor starts removing the bad leaves and so on and so on
till finally the cabbage becomes the worlds smallest cabbage, but never reduces the price of the cabbage (still five time the market rate).

tell me if i'm wrong; but i do not see any difference. several years back a batter box was $100
and it's $ 200 just for the lid.

i appreciate source suppliers, however at a purchase i should be able to sit down without
feeling pain.

[Ernie Martin]

I didn't suggest, Rick, that they double their prices, only that they can't reduce them and also stay in business. If you've talked to Don Neiser recently -- as I have -- you would know where I'm coming from. They are struggling. Yes, once a supplier goes under his inventory sells for peanuts. But while he struggles to stay in business, he can't afford to sell at a lower price.

Ernie

[jchronic]

And to Ernie's earlier point, my use of the phrase "over a barrel" was a poor choice of words. I don't think that most suppliers are necessarily gouging us (pilots); the situation is simply a reflection of the economic realities of the market as it is.

Maintaining an inventory of scarce items for what is essentially a niche - and diminishing - market, i.e. Skymaster owners, isn't a robust business model or a formula for getting rich. With many/most parts either out of production or otherwise hard to find, as long as we want or need to keep our airplanes flying paying the price of admission is going to be a fact of life. And the suppliers are in business to try and make a profit, not to subsidize our avocation.

Joe

[SkyMac]

I strongly recommend the use of Ernies list of suppliers as a key starting point for parts, this along with other information that Ernie has taken the time to compile provides us all with relevant information, enabling choice.

Don should always be the first supplier you contact. He has been a source for a number of parts for my project.

Dave

[Ernie Martin]

I just updated the list last month (it's in the Purchasing Parts page of my "backup" Skymaster website at www.SkymasterUS.com).

Incidentally, at the bottom of the page is an annotated picture of the attendees of the 2004 Skymaster Fly-in, so you can put faces with names for some of the people who participate on this Message Board (e.g., Don Nieser).

Ernie

[Skymaster337B]

I'm blaming Obama for the higher cost of parts, avgas, and lower hull values....oh, but everyone will get free healthcare.