How Much Does A Flash Drive Cost To Make

I got a temp job at a computer store and we are giving away coupons in the mail for a free flash drive 4gb or a free 4gb sd card.

I was wondering any idea what it costs to make these?

Since one can buy these retail for around $6, they probably only cost a dollar or two to make.

Well we sell them for $5.49 retail in our store, so I figured if they can just give them away, and all the customer has to do is give an email address, so we can put them on our mailing list, that it has to be really cheap

Have they cut the quality of the flash memory chips signifcately?

I recall buying two Kingston flash drives in 2005 for $30 each. I still carry one of them in my pocket every day at work. I’m not sure I’d trust any important files on a $6 one.

The Kingston brand of flash drive in our store is $7.99 for 4gb. That is $2.50 more than our store brand which is 4gb for $5.49

While there may be some quality - cutting going on, it’s most just Moore’s Law in action - the density of commodity microelectronics doubles every 18 months, moore or less. So, in 5 years, the same chip is now less than 1/4 the size it was, so it costs 1/4 as much to make.

They still make the good ones too for people that need them. Most people just want something to carry files around on and it isn’t the end of the world if they fail or get lost. There are higher quality flash drives made by Corsair and others for a higher price for those who have sensitive data and more constant use but they aren’t super expensive and the price has dropped a lot in general since 2005.