T
Trevor Wilson
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I purchased a few dimmers last week, at Turks. I get a 22% discount at my
local store, which I understand is pretty close to regular wholesale prices
charged to contractors. I purchased three different, Clipsal (450W) dimmers:
* Orange - Fan speed controller type.
* Green - Trailing edge type, for electronic transformer halogens.
* Blue - Leading edge type, for standard incandescent.
All are encased in transparent plastic cases and make extensive use of
surface mount technology. I didn't take note of the country of manufacture,
but:
1) It was probably China.
2) It probably doesn't matter all that much, given the level of robotics
used in SM stuff.
3) Labour costs in manufacture would be minimal.
Anyway, I haven't purchased a dimmer in nearly 20 years, but I'm pretty
certain that they cost me less than $20.00 way back then. Imaine my surprise
when I had to fork out $44.00, $43.00 and $33.00 respectively, for what is
around $2.00 in materials. What gives? Why are these things so damned
expensive? Hell, I bought a 5 disk, carousel CD player on Friday for $59.00
from K-Mart and it is considerably more elaborate than any dimmer.
local store, which I understand is pretty close to regular wholesale prices
charged to contractors. I purchased three different, Clipsal (450W) dimmers:
* Orange - Fan speed controller type.
* Green - Trailing edge type, for electronic transformer halogens.
* Blue - Leading edge type, for standard incandescent.
All are encased in transparent plastic cases and make extensive use of
surface mount technology. I didn't take note of the country of manufacture,
but:
1) It was probably China.
2) It probably doesn't matter all that much, given the level of robotics
used in SM stuff.
3) Labour costs in manufacture would be minimal.
Anyway, I haven't purchased a dimmer in nearly 20 years, but I'm pretty
certain that they cost me less than $20.00 way back then. Imaine my surprise
when I had to fork out $44.00, $43.00 and $33.00 respectively, for what is
around $2.00 in materials. What gives? Why are these things so damned
expensive? Hell, I bought a 5 disk, carousel CD player on Friday for $59.00
from K-Mart and it is considerably more elaborate than any dimmer.