The Price

There was me thinking that all of the extra hundreds of thousands of vapers would press down the cost of stuff as companies tooled up for larger production runs. There’s me believing that, with all of the new entrants into the manufacturing game, competition would push down the recommended retail prices.

We went off to the Lake District in September, being the family and me. It was lovely and all that but notable for two main things: sat-navs and signposts can never be trusted.

We were in the car on our way back to the youth hostel, having had a bracing hike across Hardknott Pass, and, at a junction, were being advised to go back up a mountain. Even though my mind was telling me that it was logical to descend – the signpost was indicating a return to going up.

Lies. Just like the lies the sat-nav told us when entering the Lake District and we found ourselves aboard the world’s most expensive (per mile travelled) ferry. £4.30 to travel a distance I usually cover when leaving the lounge and going to bed. I’ve not actually checked it’s the world’s most pro-rata expensive ferry but I believe that if you scaled up the distance to a cross-Channel ferry you’d need to be David Beckham rich in order to catch one.

I could be wrong, like the signpost and the sat-nav.

Loads of children, my Dad included, were evacuated to the Lakes during the war (clearly not a war on prices if the ferry is anything to go by). Our Hardknott sign must have been turned around back then to confuse German spies and someone forgot to put it right again. That, or some errant sheep up to mischief.

I swear I remember some politician or economist or someone telling me (in the 80s) that increased competition leads to a squeeze on prices. I’d put money it being one of the reasons given for selling off the railway system so private enterprise could ensure everyone travels cheaply, in comfort and on time.

Like they now do so it must be true.

Well, if you’ve laboured through “Consumer Benefits from Increased Competition in Shopping Outlets by Jerry Hausman and Ephraim Leibtag” like I pointlessly did for this article, it is true.

Ish.

The thing is, and I could be well wide of the mark here again with me not being an economist, I’ve been waiting for a price drop on mods and attys. We’ve all seen the flood of new manufacturers coming to market; we’ve all had a good online browse and the overall price appears static or even going up.

I give you exhibit A: the regulated device that does the same as every other regulated device, as seen on a popular auction site. Or how about exhibit B: the ever-increasing prices of each new release from the company who put the sting in ray?

Just to clear up any confusion, I’m not angry with this; my therapist has cleared up all of my cognitive dissonance-related temper issues. I’m perplexed. I don’t blame makers for finding the price the market will bear, it is just that it seems as though the market will bear almost any price for new mods whereas the second hand market is far less forgiving. How often have you seen someone struggling to sell a much-loved Megan 318 or a Paps X? Both being outstanding mods.

Roll on a time when I don’t have to be troubled over such thing. Roll on a time full of jetpacks and hover cars. As long as they are free, worrying about residual values is enough to drive me to holiday in Butlins and read Jeffrey Archer.