Speaking of "Maker Culture"
ealdthryth acquired some great books last night. One from a book swap and two she borrowed from the library. Baldwin Locomotive works! Woo! I've never been able to determine whether I am primarily a Baldwin, Lima, or ALCO fan. I don't think it really matters. If it is powered by steam, then I'll probably like it. Another one is a book about steam power in the Victorian era--it overlaps with some of my current research, and best of all, it has plenty of photographs and illustrations that I haven't seen before.
The new acquisition is a little picture book of "Eccentric Inventions". I don't consider most of them eccentric, and in fact one of the first in the book was an early solution to making sure your morning dose of caffeine was ready when you wake up. Think Mr. Coffee (or Mrs. Tea) with the built-in timer was the first automated method of creating one's morning "Go Juice"? Nope. Even putting an electric percolator on a timer wasn't the first. A Rube Goldberg-style rig with clockwork and matches was it. A windup alarm clock was rigged to strike a match and light a spirit lamp when the alarm rang. The lamp was supposed to heat up a small kettle (presumably, you were smart enough to fill it with water before going to bed). When the water boiled, the escaping steam activated a flap that extinguished the lamp so your water wouldn't boil away and so you wouldn't waste all the lamp oil. It was still up to you to pour the water over your tea leaves....
Well, I thought it was cool. The author liked to throw in little witticisms about simple, practical alternatives to using some of the devices, and they were mostly amusing. It's a cute little coffee table book. I hope to get into the more serious works this week....
Lego Thief Fu
Yet again I discover that the cats know which Lego minifigs are "villians". Yesterday, Ignatius hid a Lego vampire bat somewhere, and last night he was trying to abscond with the vampire--presumably to bury him in the litter box. Dude! You're supposed to be in the ground! Considering that these little vignettes have been out on the floor for a couple of days, I am surprised this didn't happen sooner.
Silly boy!
Cost Variation
I am sometimes puzzled about how retail prices get set. Via the web, the manufacturer sells their product at the MSRP + shipping and handling (so as not to undercut their retailers). I go into one store, and they are selling it at the MSRP + local taxes. I go into another nearby store, and they are consistently pricing the same merchandise $10 more than MSRP. I don't mind people making a profit on their enterprise, but why the big price difference? Is the difference one is a franchise and the other a company-owned store? Or is it just a blatant attempt to gouge people for a popular item (trying to manipulate the microeconomics theory of "supply & demand")?
If I recall correctly, store markup on merchandise is usually about 50% to cover the cost of buying the merchandise, all the overhead of running the brick-and-mortar shop, with some additional padding so you actually make a profit. That's what MSRP is intended to be. So why do some retailers jack the price up even more? To make bigger profit.
I'm not adverse to anyone making a profit--otherwise the free-enterprise system fails. But something just feels wrong about situations like this. At least it isn't as egregious as the "75% off All The Time" furniture dealers who claim to be putting a "sale" price of 75% off of their merchandise...that they've priced at about 300% of MSRP.
Sorry. Just pondering.
The new acquisition is a little picture book of "Eccentric Inventions". I don't consider most of them eccentric, and in fact one of the first in the book was an early solution to making sure your morning dose of caffeine was ready when you wake up. Think Mr. Coffee (or Mrs. Tea) with the built-in timer was the first automated method of creating one's morning "Go Juice"? Nope. Even putting an electric percolator on a timer wasn't the first. A Rube Goldberg-style rig with clockwork and matches was it. A windup alarm clock was rigged to strike a match and light a spirit lamp when the alarm rang. The lamp was supposed to heat up a small kettle (presumably, you were smart enough to fill it with water before going to bed). When the water boiled, the escaping steam activated a flap that extinguished the lamp so your water wouldn't boil away and so you wouldn't waste all the lamp oil. It was still up to you to pour the water over your tea leaves....
Well, I thought it was cool. The author liked to throw in little witticisms about simple, practical alternatives to using some of the devices, and they were mostly amusing. It's a cute little coffee table book. I hope to get into the more serious works this week....
Lego Thief Fu
Yet again I discover that the cats know which Lego minifigs are "villians". Yesterday, Ignatius hid a Lego vampire bat somewhere, and last night he was trying to abscond with the vampire--presumably to bury him in the litter box. Dude! You're supposed to be in the ground! Considering that these little vignettes have been out on the floor for a couple of days, I am surprised this didn't happen sooner.
Silly boy!
Cost Variation
I am sometimes puzzled about how retail prices get set. Via the web, the manufacturer sells their product at the MSRP + shipping and handling (so as not to undercut their retailers). I go into one store, and they are selling it at the MSRP + local taxes. I go into another nearby store, and they are consistently pricing the same merchandise $10 more than MSRP. I don't mind people making a profit on their enterprise, but why the big price difference? Is the difference one is a franchise and the other a company-owned store? Or is it just a blatant attempt to gouge people for a popular item (trying to manipulate the microeconomics theory of "supply & demand")?
If I recall correctly, store markup on merchandise is usually about 50% to cover the cost of buying the merchandise, all the overhead of running the brick-and-mortar shop, with some additional padding so you actually make a profit. That's what MSRP is intended to be. So why do some retailers jack the price up even more? To make bigger profit.
I'm not adverse to anyone making a profit--otherwise the free-enterprise system fails. But something just feels wrong about situations like this. At least it isn't as egregious as the "75% off All The Time" furniture dealers who claim to be putting a "sale" price of 75% off of their merchandise...that they've priced at about 300% of MSRP.
Sorry. Just pondering.