Someone I know is working for a distributor of expensive vacuum cleaners. These devices retail for upwards of $1800 US.
This got me to thinking… precisely how much can a flipping vacuum cleaner cost to engineer, manufacture and market?
Does anyone know what the wholesale prices look like on let’s say a Rainbow, Kirby, Filter Queen, etc?
Is there any resource out there that you can use to procure this kind of information, short of becoming a distributor for such items?
Not to hijack the thread but just yesterday I was looking at an ad for the Oreck 8 lb. POS. Although they were begging you to order the junk there was nowhere in the ad that said how much it cost. If someone is begging you to order something and they won’t tell you how much it cost you KNOW they are ripping you off.
What is it about vacuum cleaners that so closely associates them with rip-offs? It’s as if more effort goes into designing them so they suck up suckers money than to get them to suck up dirt.
That is a hi-jack, but it is also something that had crossed my mind. That would be more of a psychological or sociological question.
<yet another hi-jack>
Yeah, I’ve yet to see how much “Ingles Sin Barreras” really costs. No where on TV or on their web-sites is it mentioned. When you call (aside from speaking Spanish) it’s about impossible to get them to mention a price. Instead they ask how much you can afford to send “right now” and then go on about payment plans.
FWIW – the appeal to what is generally the lowest class of society – desperate immigrants who’ll do anything to learn English. It’s a shame they’re taken such advantage of by such disgusting tactics.
</yet another hi-jack>
So back on topic – what’s the difference between an $1800 vacuum cleaner and the $200 vacuum cleaner we have? Given that, what’s the difference between the $200 and $50’s that are at Wal-Mart?
Ok. Several hours of researched has allowed me to determine that the probable wholesale cost of $1800-2000 vacuum cleaners is in fact in the vicinity of $395-500, based on the following URL:
http://tom.pohl-family.net/archives/000024.htm
and some other research. Solved my own problem.
On a Kirby. The Factory Rep pays a couple of hundred for the vacuum. The vacuum is then sold an Area Distributer for about 800 bucks, who in turn sells it to the poor schmucks who knock on doors for about 1200, who in turn try to sell it to the customer for 1700-1800 dollars or sometimes more. It is very tightly controlled and worth huge amounts of money to a Factory Distributer (who gets his cut on every machine that goes out in his territory).
It’s a vicious, lucrative business.
More on the Kirby scam:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/in_home/kirby.htm
http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/kirby_salesman.html
Don’t know about the expensive schtuff, but I can pick up a nice Eureka at Wal-Mart for $50. Warehouse prices on home appliances are usually 50% of showroom, so call it $25. Can’t imagine that any vacuum cleaner could cost more than four times that to make unless you’re building out of some fairly exotic materials…