Dennis - rightly so, a person needs to expect to pay for a service. The hidden costs are amazing.
I do highlights at home. I like paying less than $3.00 for each time I do it. Of course, I'm not factoring in the gas, the water, the electricity, the cost to wash the towels.......
I also cut my own hair!!! Now that's scary, hack hack.

trust me...as a college student...cutting my own hair is a necessity!

-Dennis

Lot's of good business info in this thread, but let me add one more: I work in the communications department of a large plumbing manufacturer and we've had 4 price increases this year (normally only one) because the increased cost of fuel increased the cost of everything else, from the obvious (i.e. transportation of raw and/or finished goods) to the not-so-obvious (increased cost of commodities involved in production). We couldn't eat those increases, so we passed them on to the consumer. There are lots of variables involved in pricing; that's why we hire talented sales/pricing analysts to do the forecasting!

I am well aware that the price of a product is greater than material + labor. BUT, I base my initial question/query on the price difference between two flutes that are otherwise identical, i.e. a student and a step up model from the same manufacturer. In other words, where shipping. labour, etc are allready accounted for.

They technically cannot be identical and have different prices. If you are talking about from one step to the next step...a lot can be assumed. I would assume that going froma student model to the next step would take the headjoint from silver plated to solid silver. It might even have hand carving of the embouchure hole. Even in lower end models there are differences that cause the price to be skewed. Better pads, more handwork, different material. Each model has its own "cost" associated with it. Then depending on what the profit margin you need to make is...you take the cost plus any fees you will take on (i.e. a free shipping promotion), and get a final value and multiply it by your profit margin. The only time two "like" models should be priced different is when they change model numbers, and are trying to get rid of the older ones...they should be priced a little lower.

I still think that uneven distribution of "black art" or secret knowhow, among different models accounts for the big differences in price for higher models.

Dennis said: If you are talking about from one step to the next step...a lot can be assumed. I would assume that going froma student model to the next step would take the headjoint from silver plated to solid silver. It might even have hand carving of the embouchure hole.

Sorry, but no....ONly the highest level flutes get that type of attention. A 200 and 300 series yamaha get the same machine treatment...

Even in lower end models there are differences that cause the price to be skewed. Better pads, more handwork, different material.

Sorry, wrong again. a 200 and 300 use virtually the same quality pads if not the same pads from the same supply bin, same handwork, but yes...different material (obviously)

Each model has its own "cost" associated with it. Then depending on what the profit margin you need to make is...you take the cost plus any fees you will take on (i.e. a free shipping promotion), and get a final value and multiply it by your profit margin. The only time two "like" models should be priced different is when they change model numbers, and are trying to get rid of the older ones...they should be priced a little lower.

Sorry, But I still don't think you completely "get it". Flutes like this go down the same production line for the body tubes. The keys go through the same stamping press albeit, the machinist may have reached for the mold on shelf B rather than shelf A before stamping however many thousand.. Assembly is done by the same exact people. The ONLY difference at this level is that the original stock material came out of two different supply bins...one of nickel, the other in silver...The rest of the work is exactly the same for two flutes of the same level but differing in material...

Joe B

I WAS right in stating that the headjoint material was different going from student (200 series) to the step up (300 series). After checking the site the difference in these models that the 200 series has a silver plated headjoint, and the 300 series and a solid silver headjoint. I was mistaken about the embouchure cutting, but I don't feel that made my statement that you highlighted totally wrong. I am positively right regarding the pricing structure of items. This is how it is done in every restaurant, store, wharehouse I have seen. You have a certain profit margin that your company sets...then you add up the cost of everything involved, and then multiply by the margin you need to profit by. That would make my last statement correct. By two "like" models...I did not mean one silverplated and one silver...I meant the same material, just different model numbers. Most companies offer reduced rates on those so they can get them out of their inventory. Who wants to buy the "old" model number for the same price as the "new" model number if they are the same? Everyone would buy the new one. Yamaha would be left with a ton of instruments that would never sell.

-Dennis

that's right Joe

There is also the price point for a particular product. If you are aiming for two different markets with essentially similar products, you may set the price point of one lower than the other just to have a entry in that particular price point market, even if your profit margin is lower. I suspect that Yamaha probably makes far more on the 300 series than the 200 series, but they keep both on hand because each serves a slightly different market demographic. They can up-sell the 300 series for those with deeper pockets by appealing to the "prestige" of a solid silver head, but the 200 series will do the trick just as nicely for less money.

Actually, as someone who has had a first-hand up-close tour of the Jupiter flute factory in Taiwan, Joe is absolutely correct, they all come down the same line, the difference is in the tube, and they use very good tubes there and discard ones with too many blemishes, etc.

The difference in price there is in the various headjoints and options offered for a particular line within the factory.

have any of you thought that the cost difference could have something to do with the fact that flutes actually sound better when they have more silver? That fact is widely known within the flute-playing community. Student flutes generally are plated, while you do not usually find professional flutes that are.

Silver actually has very little (and some would say nothing) to do with sound. The "fact" that you mentioned is actually a widely held misconception, and is beginning to disappear within the more informed parts of the flute community. It is the differences in quality between a professional flute and a student flute that make one sound "better" (depending on a players level, and how well the given instruments suit them, a student flute may sound much better than a professional one). You actually can find silver plated professional flutes quite easily, and their sound will far surpass that of a plated student model. Try looking at Muramatsu, Louis Lot, etc. for such instruments. You can also very easily find solid silver student/intermediate line instruments that aren't worth the time that was put into them through eBay and other resources.