Trx tax… I just don’t get it.

[Fifty]

A company just released their “no tune” kit. Pulley, intake and exhaust.

About $6k installed.

That comes to about $2k in labor.

I’m seeing suspension parts that are double what they should be… heck, the king shock package which is awesome is about 25% more than I think it should be. The equivelant rear 4 tube 3.5x12 full race with a finned resie doesn’t cost near what the trx rear shocks cost.

The company I’m helping has a bunch of cnc etc machines and I asked, what would our cost be to machine 4 rear arms, and then spec in uniballs and derlin.

It will only take about 20 mins to design it up, and then making fixtures, the material and time on the machine… we were looking at $300-400.
Retail is 20x this.

I mean I get business is business but the dang mark up on some stuff is silly. And then the company’s wonder why stuff isn’t selling.

For 4 Rear arms, I’d pay $2k if they had the derlin sliders like one of our vendors here offers. His is probably the best design in my mind.

Front arms, again, the market has just gotten out of control.

And yea yea yea. Stop complaining and do something about it. I am. I’m finishing the R&D on the carbon shocks. The drag shocks had such a reaction we put them first. So they should be done this week. And then back to the finishing touches on the two rear options and exactly what size front. Large or stupid.
But the pricing is going to be ideal.

 

[Jesse56]

But it's a 100K truck of course things are more right?

 

[Fifty]

I’m just grumpy and poor with no good ideas to get Rich.

And all my ideas that I have I want to make affordable enough so everyone can have it…
Hence… I’m poor and grumpy lol. (So poor I’m driving a trx… go cry me a river)

 

[AZDinoPwr]

I’m just grumpy and poor with no good ideas to get Rich.

And all my ideas that I have I want to make affordable enough so everyone can have it…
Hence… I’m poor and grumpy lol. (So poor I’m driving a trx… go cry me a river)

I feel ya.

 

[Louk]

A company just released their “no tune” kit. Pulley, intake and exhaust.

About $6k installed.

That comes to about $2k in labor.

I’m seeing suspension parts that are double what they should be… heck, the king shock package which is awesome is about 25% more than I think it should be. The equivelant rear 4 tube 3.5x12 full race with a finned resie doesn’t cost near what the trx rear shocks cost.

The company I’m helping has a bunch of cnc etc machines and I asked, what would our cost be to machine 4 rear arms, and then spec in uniballs and derlin.

It will only take about 20 mins to design it up, and then making fixtures, the material and time on the machine… we were looking at $300-400.
Retail is 20x this.

I mean I get business is business but the dang mark up on some stuff is silly. And then the company’s wonder why stuff isn’t selling.

For 4 Rear arms, I’d pay $2k if they had the derlin sliders like one of our vendors here offers. His is probably the best design in my mind.

Front arms, again, the market has just gotten out of control.

And yea yea yea. Stop complaining and do something about it. I am. I’m finishing the R&D on the carbon shocks. The drag shocks had such a reaction we put them first. So they should be done this week. And then back to the finishing touches on the two rear options and exactly what size front. Large or stupid.
But the pricing is going to be ideal.

It really is dependent on the vehicle. X pipe for a mustang is under 150 but for an M5 it starts at 500.
Majority of Intakes for a mustang sit between 150-400
M5…. You can get a super cheap one for 500 but the decent ones are 1,800.

they charge more because they can, pure and simple.

 

[RoNiN]

It really is dependent on the vehicle. X pipe for a mustang is under 150 but for an M5 it starts at 500.
Majority of Intakes for a mustang sit between 150-400
M5…. You can get a super cheap one for 500 but the decent ones are 1,800.

they charge more because they can, pure and simple.

A bigger portion of this is the number of mustangs on the road with people modifying them vs the number of M5s. Same reason raptors have a larger market then our TRX’s. Not that I agree with it but companies have to recoup their research and development cost.

 

[FP3]

A bigger portion of this is the number of mustangs on the road with people modifying them vs the number of M5s. Same reason raptors have a larger market then our TRX’s. Not that I agree with it but companies have to recoup their research and development cost.

this. there aren't as many of them as say a raptor. and not as many people actually using them, so the market is even smaller. So it costs more to make, because you cant dilute the cost with quantity. Was in manufacturing for quite some time and this is what we ran into with some projects, its not that the demand wasn't there per se. But to maybe sell 50-100 of them in a year is nothing to the ones we sold that many of in a week.

 

[BuckeyeROC]

I remember this happening back when the 3rd gen Camaro/Firebird shared some parts with the Corvette. The Corvette guys would pay a bit more for the same parts, lol.

 

[Fifty]

Yea. I get that the larger market. More sales for other markets etc… But still.

Carbon was approached to make upper arms for a few different vehicles for a brand name. So we priced it out. And man, that’s when I threw my hands up in dispair.

I was chatting with a TRX guy who is smarter than me, and he brought up adding the cost of the machines and the r&d time. But the r&d shouldn’t be recouped 100% per item . And the hourly or really the minute rate on the machines is based upon a predetermined age and maintenance and cost of consumables etc rate. Even if we made 20 sets arms for a platform. The cost was soooo low. And we were doing adjustable heims, nice uniballs, uniball caps with cap screws and an o rings. All the bells and whistles.

I guess I’m complaining right now because I’m talking to so many vendors and everyone is crying that sales are down. Well maybe if the mark ups weren’t so high.
And it’s not even the dealers. The parts cost $300 to make, and the wholesale price is $2500… and the retail is 3900-4500.

A brake company reached out to me and offered me a set of brakes at their premier dealer pricing. Less than $4k for a retail price of almost $8k

And it was not a great caliper and rotor. I’ll bet they sourced it for about $1500… maybe less.

Just crazy.

 

[RoNiN]

Yea. I get that the larger market. More sales for other markets etc… But still.

Carbon was approached to make upper arms for a few different vehicles for a brand name. So we priced it out. And man, that’s when I threw my hands up in dispair.

I was chatting with a TRX guy who is smarter than me, and he brought up adding the cost of the machines and the r&d time. But the r&d shouldn’t be recouped 100% per item . And the hourly or really the minute rate on the machines is based upon a predetermined age and maintenance and cost of consumables etc rate. Even if we made 20 sets arms for a platform. The cost was soooo low. And we were doing adjustable heims, nice uniballs, uniball caps with cap screws and an o rings. All the bells and whistles.

I guess I’m complaining right now because I’m talking to so many vendors and everyone is crying that sales are down. Well maybe if the mark ups weren’t so high.
And it’s not even the dealers. The parts cost $300 to make, and the wholesale price is $2500… and the retail is 3900-4500.

A brake company reached out to me and offered me a set of brakes at their premier dealer pricing. Less than $4k for a retail price of almost $8k

And it was not a great caliper and rotor. I’ll bet they sourced it for about $1500… maybe less.

Just crazy.

I agree with everything you’re saying but when everyone has their hand in the pot looking to make a buck things will get crazy.

Fuel prices being up raises shipping costs, wage increases at each level raise the cost at each stop. Tax increases raise costs, and most owners or board members won’t take a pay cut to save the customer a dime. Which I don’t blame them since I’ve never turned down a pay raise either.

I’ve found that working directly though some of the companies directly has been beneficial cost wise but with that requires a lot of patience and a willingness to work with them and their time line. We’ve talked privately about one company, and I continue to work with them because I’m getting kit from them at cost but it’s on his schedule.

 

[Fifty]

Yea.
The company I’m talking about I think has only been mentioned once and the product was returned because it did not fit

 

[Nick797]

I saw this too. that was alot in labor when you add the parts up even at full price.

 

[DirtMcGirt8732]

Yea. I get that the larger market. More sales for other markets etc… But still.

Carbon was approached to make upper arms for a few different vehicles for a brand name. So we priced it out. And man, that’s when I threw my hands up in dispair.

I was chatting with a TRX guy who is smarter than me, and he brought up adding the cost of the machines and the r&d time. But the r&d shouldn’t be recouped 100% per item . And the hourly or really the minute rate on the machines is based upon a predetermined age and maintenance and cost of consumables etc rate. Even if we made 20 sets arms for a platform. The cost was soooo low. And we were doing adjustable heims, nice uniballs, uniball caps with cap screws and an o rings. All the bells and whistles.

I guess I’m complaining right now because I’m talking to so many vendors and everyone is crying that sales are down. Well maybe if the mark ups weren’t so high.
And it’s not even the dealers. The parts cost $300 to make, and the wholesale price is $2500… and the retail is 3900-4500.

A brake company reached out to me and offered me a set of brakes at their premier dealer pricing. Less than $4k for a retail price of almost $8k

And it was not a great caliper and rotor. I’ll bet they sourced it for about $1500… maybe less.

Just crazy.

Agreed man. Greed has gone through the roof. I get that there are other costs associated with running a business, but you can’t explain away a gap like that.

Companies just keep raising prices and well, they’re starting to find the ceiling.

 

[Rawwr]

Welcome to the world of Market-Based Pricing, where the conventional formula is turned on its head. Here, profits aren't simply defined by adding a desired margin to the production cost. Instead, profits are calculated by what consumers are willing to pay minus the cost of production. Consider this: would you prefer to sell 1 million widgets with a profit of $1 per widget, or 100 widgets with a profit of $10,000 each? I think, and I may be jaded here, that more and more companies are choosing the latter. How long with this trend continue? As long as the market can bear it. There will be those who ride the wave until they get burned.

 

[Fifty]

I agree and understand.

But it’s crazy when I have discussions with 2-3 shops a day and a manufacturer a week over the summer and everyone is hurting for sales.

One would think that the prices would go down… not up… hoping that one carefree or unknowing client will come and pay the electric bill.

Idk. It’s mostly just me crying and complaining and whining like a baby because I can’t afford the toys I want.

I want everything….now… me me me me meeeeeee mmmmmmmeeeeeeee

 

[TRXMIKE]

This is all dubiafication! Fuck that place and how it set the world in greedy ass fire. Corporate saw that and had the wettest dream. Now everything has to cost a million bucks. Stuff is made for pennies sold for thousands at some point the dam will burst. Reminds me of Indian made sandals sold for less than 2 bucks in India costing thousands there. It's a sham, time we stop paying. I have said it before and I will always stand by it if you need more than 15% over what it cost you to bring it to me your a theif making this world we are all stuck in worse. We all want to have money just think we can stop stepping on others throats to get it!

 

[mtbr]

Are we in commy china or merica? Markets will do what markets do to settle on a price. If they are priced 'too' high, then they won't sell. If they don't sell, they will either lower the price or eat their product. Simple economics. Your personal preference for what a company should mark something up as has no say.

 

[Fifty]

Yea. But they aren’t selling.

 

[mtbr]

Yea. But they aren’t selling.Then

Then they will lower their price or eat their product. Simple as that. Maybe it ain't worth their time and they are ok with eating it.

 

[Tut]

Are we in commy china or merica? Markets will do what markets do to settle on a price. If they are priced 'too' high, then they won't sell. If they don't sell, they will either lower the price or eat their product. Simple economics. Your personal preference for what a company should mark something up as has no say.

View attachment 134618

Well, we all drove up demand when we had extra cash, hence inflation. Companies jumped on the band wagon and raised prices for everything. We all got comfortable paying the new high prices even after supply shortages were corrected so, companies are now making profit (stock market at all time high yesterday). Everyone needs to stop buying shit. The country needs to stop buying shit they don’t need and wait it out. Stop buying toys, stop taking trips or going out, and pretend it’s Covid again. Then we should see disinflation. In other news, I just bought a bmw r1250gsa and I love it. Can wait to mod it.