Posted by Lee Stofer on December 12, 2002 at 08:50:30:
In Reply to: Re: Re: tuabs (AT) cost posted by ;-) on December 11, 2002 at 14:07:20:
Mr. Smiley-face,
I'm sorry, but that just makes no sense at all. Getting an instrument "below cost" means that someone is losing money to provide you with a product or service, and the economic world just does not operate that way.
To keep 4 daughters in school, feed, clothe, etc., a family of 6, pay the debt and utilities on the shop building, pay county, state and federal taxes, insurance, keep in tires and gas for my delivery van, and generally pay all the bills, I need to make a fair profit.
Let's put it this way - if someone offered you a playing job that cost you $10 per service instead of paying you anything, or it offered minimum wage, would you think that job offer is fair?
Tubas are expensive, and always have been. In 1978 when I bought my first tuba, a 3/4 Rudi CC, it cost me $3,500.00 throught Custom Music, $100.00 more than the sticker price of a compact car I had been looking at. The equivalent line of car costs $12,000.00 now, so proportionally, the price of tubas may have actually dropped.
Lee Stofer