On 3/5/07, Robert Rolf <Robert.Rolf@ualberta.ca> wrote:
>
>
> > So, plain economics at work. If they were actually screwing the
> customers
> > (too much) certainly a third party would pop up offering cheaper
> replacement
> > bulbs.
>
> Except that the third party hasn't invested the million or so dollars to
> build
> a bulb plant. And bulb specs are closely guarded secrets. Things like the
> gas
> mixture and pressure are important to correct operation.


Doesn't that prove my point? $100M for a plant that builds 1M bulbs, thats
$100 per bulb. Add labour, materials, packaging, testing, profit of the
factory, profit of the retailer... Not far fetched.

Our local glass workshop (chem lab) could build a new bulb for about what
> mass produced ones cost (a few hundred dollars of time) so I KNOW we're
> getting
> hosed.


If you had to build 100k bulbs, how much would each one cost? Things that
you take for granted for small scale production (the lab itself, materials,
electricity, equipment) wouldn't be free anymore.
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