Price of the basic stamp 1 project board!!!
Taylor1672
Posts: 8
·The price of the basic stamp·1 project board has gone up $10 on the website!!!!
i was going to use it a project but, unless they lower the price i am going to order it from mouser (their price hasn't changed
)i think it was the webmasters mistake at the keyboard does anybody have a sure answer????
if so post it!!
·
Comments
I'd recommend·springing for a·BS2, like a BoE or better·a Homework Board.· BS1 just isn't where most everybody is at.· Some are into it, but most all the inquiries and examples are BS2.
Hopefully there'll be lots of dissent!
Competitors start reading here for bad advice.
As you know, we used to offer them at $14.99 each. At the time we were manufacturing them at our China factory for around $8.00. That's a whopping $7 profit each! However, the quantity decreased slightly (the BS1 was released in 1992) so our volume was too low for China manufacturing. We brought the product back state-side, and our manufacturing costs increased to about $16 each. So we raised the price a bit so we wouldn't loose any money. If you complain that we're now making $9, whereas we used to make $7, you need to know that we were also loosing money on each sale at the old price from each distributor purchase. And, our average selling price was calcuated based on our distributor/direct customer mix, which meant our gross profit per board was more like $4. So we give distributors a measly discount now so we can stay in the black.
And those are just our manufacturing costs. Do you know about fixed costs of administering a product through production? We buy parts, hold inventory, plan, etc. It all takes staff time.
We are not a charity organization. Nor are we entirely profit driven. But this just didn't make sense.
It's a wonder this product is available. But we have a few customers that seem to depend on this board so we keep making them.·And I hate to admit it, but I think that our logical side will cause this board to be discontinued at some point.
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 10/16/2008 3:15:13 AM GMT
In summary, as long as the core products are their, peripherals are free to come and go. My two cents.
So, dissent?!! Under the circumstances, methinks that would be unseemly. Just be thankful that Parallax has been able to keep this product available at all, not to mention at a very reasonable price.
-Phil
It's also the first BS1 board that puts it all together in a very low current draw package - battery connector, power pack jack, power switch, port connectors, inline resistors to ports, BS1 surface mount technology, power regulator, power LED and a solderless breadboard. Imagine - it's a full microcontroller and board that draws only 7 milliamps when running programs. It's a marvel of engineering!
I know hobbyists, experimenters, student projects, educators and science fairs all benefit from this small footprint gem. It definitely needs more advertising and to be put in the spotlight and with that, the numbers will start looking better so more quantity can go through. It rightfully has its place in the array of available Basic Stamp products. It may not be a high end ticket product, but it certainly fits as one of the most useful and outstanding products from this viewpoint.
As far as I know, it's the product that Parallax company was founded on. There are companies that offer many nostalgic and retro products for a reason. Even car designs have gone retro and become some of the most popular and best selling products. The fundamental designs are solid and have something to offer. There are times in this extremely complicated and technologically advanced world when simple is better.
humanoido
[noparse][[/noparse]How could anybody not get that?]
Sorry for throwing you under the bus. Normally I nderstand everything you write, but this time my internal business character was overriding anything left of my technical reasoning. I spend lots of time in the trenches with pricing, costs and manufacturing. I hope to get back to more hobby projects pretty soon so I should quiet down a bit on the business aspects.
Over and out,
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
I'm afraid I read your "dissent" comment as rabble-rousing for a return to the lower price. [noparse][[/noparse]How could you not get that?
-Phil
The BS1-IC is currently priced at $29. The BS1-Rev Dx is $29.99.
The Project Board is still a great value. It's their cheapest module and includes a power connector, switch, rubber feet, power-on LED, protoboard & jumper wires AND the serial connector AND interface adapter. It was definitely underpriced at $15, so I'm thankful for the years they held it at that price.
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·"If you build it, they will come."
think about it, if you spend your money on us goods than the us worker that produced those goods made money to spend on some other us goods and on and on and on.. eventually the money you spend comes back to you...