[Christ]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Old Tele man -

(I think luvit beat me to it)



Are you trying to say they make the more expensive part and pass the cost on to the consumer? From a UMC (unit manufacturing cost) POV, I don't think that would fly. Instead I think they would make the cheaper part and pass the cost of the more expensive part on to the consumer. In some instances, that's what they did when 3rd party vendors moved manufacturing from the USA to Mexico. The cost to *produce* a steering wheel in the the maquiladora would go down, but the charge to the auto company that assembles the steering wheel into the car would be the same or slightly less. In that case the 3rd party vendor pockets the difference, but the consumer pays the same.

CarloSW2

This is currently what goes on with "green" technology, as well. It's a very common practice, and though it seems like it should be the exception, it's actually the norm, in many cases. They find a way to chop their cost, while making it seem like something is "value added", to justify the consumer having to pay more for the same, in the best case, and pay more for less, more likely.