Posted on 12/27/2011 10:58:05 PM PST by Cronos
It’s a great time to buy a television, and Ram Lall, a television salesman, isn’t happy about it. In a basement showroom of J&R, the huge electronics store in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Lall says the days of making big money from televisions are in the past. Pointing to a top-of-the line, 55-inch Sony television, Mr. Lall said it would have sold for $6,000 a few years ago. The current price? $2,599.
“We are making less money because the company is forcing us to slash prices,” ..
Televisions have become so inexpensive that the profits have largely been squeezed out of them, a result of a huge increase in manufacturing capacity that has led to an oversupply and continued downward pressure on prices from low-cost manufacturers and online retailers....
The earnings of mainstay television manufacturers like Panasonic, Toshiba and Sony have been hammered. Sony, for instance, is overhauling its television operations because of what one executive said recently was a “grave sense of crisis that we have continued to post losses in TVs.” Even newer and more nimble competitors like Samsung and LG have struggled to make much money on TVs, if any.
..For retailers, the picture is not much better. This month, Best Buy reported a 29 percent drop in net income for the third quarter, in part because the retail chain had slashed prices on televisions and other electronics.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
pricing fall is great for society. It mean the poor now have higher standard of living. We can now buy and enjoy luxuries that used to belong only to the rich
55 inches is pretty small when you consider you can get a 72 inch TV. Even when you go down to a 32 inch, those sets sell for almost less than $200, so there’s a definite price cliff.
Had the same cell phone for almost 2.5 years. Normally they would be out dated junk by now. But it still does everything I want it to (HTC EVO) and I like being able to get Sprint to jump when I say “well.. I could just cancel” because my contract is up.
Same with my TV. I bought it before Obama. You know, back when people had money. a 1080p/i 42”.. It does the job just fine. I paid 600 for it on clearance at walmart.
I see no reason to replace my TV either. I never watch it.
TVs are commodity items and they always will be.
The days of high-priced TVs are gone as quickly as they came.
IMHO, most people will be happy with 32inch HDTVs, which are about the width as the most common 27 inch tube TVs. These are the same $250-300 that tube 27inch TVs cost.
There are a few folks who will fork over the money for huge TVs, but most won’t.
True, but after a point it may not be worthwhile to manufacture any more if the prices are so razor thin. Then companies exit, a monopoly is created and prices rise again. Or everyone goes out of business. Note — I’m not an economist, but it seems that way to me. What do you think?
If the profit is razor thin, then maybe we got too many manufacturers for tv, so those industries need to die to free up resources for other sectors where profit are high which mean that consumers have a higher priority for those good/services. Forcing higher prices, which is what the central planners try to do, don’t benefit society at all
I used to watch tv, but not anymore. The market is giving businesses a signal here. STOP what you’re doing because the market don’t want as many of this product anymore. I watch tv via my computer monitor. This is where the demand is
Remove the strangling regulations on everyone and everything, and everything under the sun will become cheaper. Few people have the thousands of dollars (or tens) it takes to open a new business these days and deal with all of the red tape. So there’s little competition in anything, exactly the way the socialists intended.
I have 3 hd tvs, they are all 4-6 years old, and they are off almost all the time, because there ain’t a damn thing worth watching outside of football.
You need think outside of what you think your computer monitor is. I have PCs hooked up to my 51” plasma 3D and 55” LED TVs.
Regular computer don’t have the contrast ratios that the TVs have and that makes a bug difference with picture quality.
My BluRay player is a 3D capable model from Sony. The TV isn't 3D capable. I'm in no rush since I'm rarely home to enjoy it. Unfortunately, when I reach a point that I can be home, it will probably mean a state of unemployment. I won't be wasting money on a TV set that may be necessary for food.
Corrections:
You need to think outside of what you think your computer monitor is. I have PCs hooked up to my 51” plasma 3D and 55” LED TVs.
Regular computer monitors don’t have the contrast ratios that the TVs have and that makes a big difference with picture quality.
They had a 55” LED 1080p 3D tv with free glasses at Frys today for $700. It was tempting but we still have a great picture on our 720p Sony WEGA 50”. We don’t have cable but we do have a Roku box for streaming video and a Patriot box for movies I download. All we really watch is my wife’s British soap opera, Strictly come Dancing and Dancing on Ice. We haven’t watched a movie in over a month. If it wasn’t for Dancing with The Stars and Pandora we would cancel Roku like we cancelled Netflix.
We’ve disconnected our TV downstairs because we didn’t want to pay Comcast for two boxes. It’s a big heavy monster. It’s nice not to have that constant noise on down here. We have a TV in the bedroom. It was one my husband had when he lived with his parents in the 90’s. They got a new one and gave the old one back to him. I watch Discovery ID or an animal show and that’s about it. As long as it works, I don’t see a need to get a new TV. I’m just not that in to TV the last 5 years or so. TV was fun growing up, but it’s a little obsolete to me.
Ironic, the very common situation being on food stamps and having a huge hulking home theater TV in the living room. Whatever might be wrong with America, I don’t think OWS has a clue.
There is probably a quote from the early eighties with Mr. Lall complaining that the price dropped through the floor on VCR prices. How long did this dude think that flat screen prices would stay high?
Price, this is demand. Demand, say hello to price. And here comes Mr. Supply.
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