Jul 19, 2008

Buy the best, pay more...

Here's this awesome quote on the Arai website. Neatly says everything I try to explain when someone asks me why my helmet costs nearly Rs 20,000

What to pay?
"It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money...that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the things it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...it cannot be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better. There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell for a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only, are this man's lawful prey"
John Ruskin(1819-1900), Economist

7 comments:

first_synn said...

Anyone who puts a price on his hear probably deserves what's coming to him.

Anonymous said...

If the lids are worth every $ we spend on them, then how is that during closeout sales third party retailers are able to shave off nearly 65% on the MRP?

I'm not very much aware of that sort of business models so some enlightment would be appreciated!

rearset said...

Okay, this isn't an ideal world. In an ideal world, the manufacturer would build the best product s/he can, price it to his satisfaction, consumers would queue up to buy it at that price and be highly satisfied with the product. Or something like that.

But it isn't that simple. You see, Arai or Shoei may make a superb helmet and price it, say, $400. Now, the dealer will mark that up to include his profit and so forth, so the lid retails for $450.

However, it may happen, and it usually does, that there may be two graphic patterns that no one happens to like. Or another helmet model proves more popular.

In any case, this leads to a bunch of helmets just lying around in warehouses or shop shelves.

These helmets are now taking up valuable space that would make more money if faster moving lids were to replace them.

So, in the case of these particular helmets, demand is far lower than supply, hence the price must fall.

The thing to remember is to check the original list price. That is closest to what the ideal price for the helmet is.

Mr Ruskin's point is well taken and I fully agree with, but it does not mean a) you cannot bargain and b) prices of well made items cannot drop simply because they were replaced by better made items, or didn't prove popular. Dig?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, helmets are one area where price has little to do with quality. Many tests have shown that some of the cheapest helmets are actually the safest. I wear a Z1R that was rated the best in a MOtorcyclist test--cost $79.95. I love it, and I feel safe. That's not to say that there aren't many cheap helmets that are no good, but you really can't tell by price alone.

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Anonymous said...

Hi

I think this helmet is so strong and it gives so better safety to other than.

Anonymous said...

Hi

Helmet gives so better safety to motorcycle riders.