Leonard Erickson wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 TW>  Yuo are not looking them. first the Very Limited Production no
 TW> matter whjat you think Raises the Price of an Item Significantly.
 TW> FAR more than one would think actualy. Check some time in the
 TW> Industrial Market and see what the difference is in pricing between
 TW> lots of 100 and 100,000

 RJT> I've noticed that sort of thing before,  but have never been too sure
 RJT> about how much that was a factor of distribution and how much it was a
 RJT> matter of manufacture.  When it comes to distribution,  it costs a
 RJT> certain amount to process an order,  no matter what,  so the more of
 RJT> whatever you order the less per item it costs.  Packaging enters into
 RJT> it too,  with the prices per small quantity being understandably more
 RJT> expensive than for large quantities,  or "bulk".  But cost to
 RJT> manufacture?  I'm not so sure. 

 LE> You have to set up "tooling". Circuit board layouts, injection
 LE> molds for plastic cases and parts (at around $10k each!!), etc. The
 LE> cost of those has to be spread over the expected production run.

That's why I keep seeing cheaper and cheaper construction in stuff that's
commercial,  and it seems to get further and further from anything I'd ever
build or assemble myself...

 LE> For a run of of 100, that injection molded case is going to add
 LE> $100 *per unit* to the cost. For a run of 10,000 it adds *1*
 LE> dollar/unit. (actually, closer to 2, since there's a limit to home
 LE> many times you can use the mold).

Ain't it nifty that computer stuff has gotten as cheap as it has?  :-)

 TW> There is NO buying parts from Radio Shack.

 RJT> No?  Some stuff is pretty standard,  no matter where you get it.  I
 RJT> remember getting into one kind of repair a number of years back,  and
 RJT> the guy I worked for was paying four bucks and change (plus shipping
 RJT> and time delays and other overhead) for a standard 4013 CMOS chip.  I
 RJT> started getting them from RS,  for around a buck something.  Same
 RJT> part... 

 LE> Yeah, but parts from RS aren't *certified* as usable in that sort
 LE> of gear.

Well,  when you talk about parts that need certification,  that's a whole
'nother ball game.

 LE> On the other hand, I seriusly doubt that these are considered
 LE> anywhere *near* that critical since many folks *still* use the TTYs
 LE> and handbuilt modems but together for them out of surplus gear by
 LE> ham radio operators. 

Yeah,  anyway.

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