Fender Price increase overnight

[GeneralElectric]

My father bought the house I grew up in weeks after I was born in 1971. He paid $21,000 for it. Back then, anyone who paid the price of a house for an SUV would have been seen as an idiot. His last two pickup trucks have been almost $40,000...almost twice the price of the house he lived in for 50 years.

He sold that house weeks ago for a little over $180,000.

$21,000 is about 11.5% of $180,000. Factoring the same growth in automobile pricing, I found that a Ford Torino Station wagon (a fairly expensive car...and the closest thing to an SUV I could find quickly) back then was $25,000. A little quick math means that an SUV "should" cost about $217,000 these days, using the same growth rate as the house. (Yes, I realize cars and real estate are like comparing apples to tree houses. It was just a fun experiment.)

All I'm saying is that a $100K SUV won't be sticker shock in the next few years.

I don't think that pricing is correct. A mustang Mach 1 was $3,000 in 1971.

 

[logdrum]

Man, I just don't get it. All we hear is that people are hurting these days. Many can't make ends meet.

But real estate has skyrocketed. People are getting/paying CRAZY prices for houses. My house is up $135K in two years. The price of a full-sized SUV is creeping up toward a HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in the US. But dealerships can't keep them in stock. (I know one lady who drives a Caddy SUV that was almost ninety grand! And that's STICKER...before taxes and fees! I bet it was in the mid nineties out the door.) Electronics are going crazy with prices. Used Dingwall basses are listed for slightly MORE than NEW on Reverb, and even a couple here recently. And they're selling in some cases! I know a family that just booked a trip to Disney for next October for ELEVEN THOUSAND BUCKS! And that's before flights! We've been booking rooms in Charlotte and Raleigh and Richmond VA for my kid's volleyball tournaments coming up. Rooms in average hotels are upwards of a couple hundred bucks or more. The only hotel we could get for Atlanta for an Easter weekend tournament was $249 a night before fees. And it's not exactly a five-star joint.

People can't buy big-ticket items fast enough.

Everything is jumping in price, but the increases are met with mostly shrugs.

A few of us here will shake our heads at the second Fender jump in a matter of months. But I'll bet it will slow down sales exactly zero. I hope people are investing in their futures as much as they're investing in "stuff".

So how many people have 200K for deposit on a 1 million dollar house. But I am seeing couples are doing it and they are probably 50K lower combined income than me. Early inheritance. I am an orphan so no inheritance. Or is pre - 2008 again

I am just hoping my 1938 farm house would last for a few more years. All around me are houses in the 750 - 1.6 price.

 

[two fingers]

I don't think that pricing is correct. A mustang Mach 1 was $3,000 in 1971.

Crap! I'll leave the post and put an edit in. The website I found was adjusted for inflation! Ha!

 

[Pilgrim]

One of my daughters just bought a 900 square foot home (vintage 1900, brick exterior) for $430K. She makes well under 100K and had help from us and had been saving for about 10 years. It's really, really tough for anyone who's not well paid to afford housing.

I actually think we need municipally owned mobile home parks for affordable housing. Mobile homes live very well, and if there's no rapacious owner trying to wring every $ out of the tenants a well-kept mobile home park can offer a way to get into housing in the $100-$200K range.

 

[40Hz]

My mom loves me the same as she did in 2021.
Instead of griping about the most overpriced brand in the business raising prices you should call someone and tell them how much you love them. Took my mind off guitar shopping for a few minutes.

Fair enough.

But I very regularly tell the people I love how much I love and care about them. And I do it in good times and bad. My SO hears it from me, and I from her, a few times every single day.

Whatever issue (real or imagined ) I’m currently on a roll about doesn’t interfere with that at all.

 

[DWBass]

Way to go Fender! Price yourselves out of business!

 

[CaptainWally]

Way to go Fender! Price yourselves out of business!

Could be just the opposite. No margin means no business.

 

[pcake]

Man, I just don't get it. All we hear is that people are hurting these days. Many can't make ends meet.

But real estate has skyrocketed. People are getting/paying CRAZY prices for houses. My house is up $135K in two years. The price of a full-sized SUV is creeping up toward a HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in the US. But dealerships can't keep them in stock. (I know one lady who drives a Caddy SUV that was almost ninety grand! And that's STICKER...before taxes and fees! I bet it was in the mid nineties out the door.) Electronics are going crazy with prices. Used Dingwall basses are listed for slightly MORE than NEW on Reverb, and even a couple here recently. And they're selling in some cases! I know a family that just booked a trip to Disney for next October for ELEVEN THOUSAND BUCKS! And that's before flights! We've been booking rooms in Charlotte and Raleigh and Richmond VA for my kid's volleyball tournaments coming up. Rooms in average hotels are upwards of a couple hundred bucks or more. The only hotel we could get for Atlanta for an Easter weekend tournament was $249 a night before fees. And it's not exactly a five-star joint.

People can't buy big-ticket items fast enough.

Everything is jumping in price, but the increases are met with mostly shrugs.

A few of us here will shake our heads at the second Fender jump in a matter of months. But I'll bet it will slow down sales exactly zero. I hope people are investing in their futures as much as they're investing in "stuff".

here in los angeles, real estate prices were skyrocking before the pandemic. condos in our complex are selling for over double what we paid in september, 2013, to over half a mil, and these are 900 square feet with 1 car garages. 1+1 condos in my son's complex are selling for over half a mil now, and the scary part is in the west side of los angeles, that's pretty reasonable.

our neighbor bought a new porsche SUV last year. i didn't ask what it cost, but i definitely see people buying big ticket items. lots of people i know bought fitness equipment, cars, TVs, video game systems, etc. we're seeing more units here being remodeled than we've seen before by people who aren't planning to move. i bought 4 basses during the pandemic, but that's my normal bass acquisition speed. i sold more than that, and got decent money for them with almost no low ball offers or bargaining.

 

[40Hz]

Definitely not just Fender. Prices are going up all over the place. The shortages are brutal. Even for a small-time pedal builder like me, I'm struggling to get the parts I need.

You betcha. Supply chain shortages and delivery snafus are definitely a thing. I’m a computer/server builder and music electronics hobbyist. And I’ve had to wait weeks for things I could easily get within two days back in 2018.

 

[crucislancer]

Good lord! I'm a pretty big Fender fan boy, but $1749 for those basses is just insane. Hell, I thought at $1549 it was crazy.

Interesting thing is that the price for a Mod shop bass appears to be the same as before. At least for now.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

Thanks for the clarification on that. I was just trying to make sense of @LetItGrowTone 's statement that something happened in December 2013 such that "your money is worth less" since then. The DXY chart was offered by @Bassinthemudd as an explanation so I was trying to figure from that what he was getting at. I can see an accelerating increase in the money supply (Federal Reserve Board - Currency in Circulation: Volume) especially in 2020, so I get what you're saying about monetizing the deficit. But I'm still not seeing anything that explains why 12/2013 would be a significant date. I'm not getting data that would indicate any meaningful change in money's value (in whatever sense) linked to it.

I think that the modern monetary theorists have got it wrong. I'm of the opinion that the money supply matters, even if the effects of increasing it take a while to manifest. History shows that excess money printing is disastrous. Has the Fed printed too fast? Time will tell. I'm guessing we won't have to wait too long to find out. I'm not claiming to be an expert, just a person who is interested in this stuff.

When looking at the money supply chart, I'm not sure if you changed the time range. Below you can see a 20% increase in the money supply that began at the start of 2014. The original comment that sparked this aspect of the conversation said that money was more valuable in Dec, 2013.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

a friend of mine, just him and his wife spent $12k on a disney trip about 2 months ago.

it was their last big splurge before they bought a house and knew trips would be limited for a while... but still... just 2 adults. wow.

i mean, i don't blame fender for trying to keep up with inflation. printing money causes these problems, and we all know a lot of US dollars were recently printed. I expect this to get worse for a while.

A friend of mine who does freelance work started increasing his yearly prices according to inflation. from what I understand his clients think he's a little nuts, but he'll say "last year was $100/session, so this year itll be $107.50 because inflation was 7.5%"

i suspect fender is doing the same.

don't like it, don't buy it, but lots of people are still buying them so i guess that technically makes it a "good decision."

a friend of mine, just him and his wife spent $12k on a disney trip about 2 months ago.

it was their last big splurge before they bought a house and knew trips would be limited for a while... but still... just 2 adults. wow.

i mean, i don't blame fender for trying to keep up with inflation. printing money causes these problems, and we all know a lot of US dollars were recently printed. I expect this to get worse for a while.

A friend of mine who does freelance work started increasing his yearly prices according to inflation. from what I understand his clients think he's a little nuts, but he'll say "last year was $100/session, so this year itll be $107.50 because inflation was 7.5%"

i suspect fender is doing the same.

don't like it, don't buy it, but lots of people are still buying them so i guess that technically makes it a "good decision."

Disney is about 30 mins away from now. 12K for what ? Did they come from another country and stay a month at the resort ?

Maybe I need to start renting out rooms .

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Working with Thomman on a custom order, but it's still through their store.

The De Minimis value (amount before duties kick in) for items imported into the US is $800. If your other instrument was under that, it would not have incurred duties. A custom is going to be over $800, most likely. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[40Hz]

here in los angeles, real estate prices were skyrocking before the pandemic. condos in our complex are selling for over double what we paid in september, 2013, to over half a mil, and these are 900 square feet with 1 car garages. 1+1 condos in my son's complex are selling for over half a mil now, and the scary part is in the west side of los angeles, that's pretty reasonable.

Same thing happened where I am. My town is a pleasant spot in the coast about 47 mikes outside Manhattan.

When Covid ramped up big time in pre-vaccine 2019 we suddenly got a large influx of NYers fleeing the city buying homes and snapping up any rentals they could find. And price was no object.

Right now a 1500 sq foot home on a small lot can’t be had for less than $650K. That’s up from about $425-50K right before that. It even hit a point where realtors were directly contacting homeowners to see if they’d be interested in selling. Because the realtors had zero listed properties to show would be buyers. Nothing in the entire town was available at any price for awhile.

our neighbor bought a new porsche SUV last year. i didn't ask what it cost, but i definitely see people buying big ticket items. lots of people i know bought fitness equipment, cars, TVs, video game systems, etc. we're seeing more units here being remodeled than we've seen before by people who aren't planning to move. i bought 4 basses during the pandemic, but that's my normal bass acquisition speed. i sold more than that, and got decent money for them with almost no low ball offers or bargaining.

Can’t speak to the Porsche purchase. But fitness and entertainment gear, musical instruments, hobby supplies, etc. are all things regularly purchased when people start staying home more, or “cocooning” as it’s called. The lockdowns had a lot to do with the financial boom in those areas. I’m sure the corrugated box industry is enjoying windfall business the explosion in home deliveries brought it.

 

[crucislancer]

I did a quick scan of the posts so far and didn't see anyone mention these, but

Shipping prices are way up since 2019, especially if you are importing and exporting materials - which is going to affect Fender (Mexico) and Squire (Indonesia, iirc). A few friends work in importing and whenever I see them all they have to share are horror stories and complain about the dramatic price increases.

Someone mentioned the explosion in RE prices - this also means the inputs for RE is way up, think wood and certain metals and electronic components, which has some overlap with what guitars are made of. So if demand is up for them all around, so are prices.

Yeah, I've never seen it this bad in the logistics/shipping world, and I've been in logistics for 30 years. Costs are way up, transit times are twice as long or more, and manufacturers are paying big money to get items as quickly as possible, which drives up costs even more. It is no surprise that any company would have to raise prices to cover these costs.

 

[GretschWretch]

I am just hoping my 1938 farm house would last for a few more years. All around me are houses in the 750 - 1.6 price.

Mine is a 1942 farm house, sawmill timber with a couple of additions, and an acre of land. It needs some interior upgrades, some of which I can do, but I got a new roof and front porch year before last, when an 80 year-old oak came down and sheared off the porch.

 

[micguy]

Man, I just don't get it. All we hear is that people are hurting these days. Many can't make ends meet.

Among those that can make their mortgage payments, there are a lot of people buying guitars and basses, no matter the price. With a boatload of demand, a limited supply, and shipping costs up dramatically, prices will go up until demand softens. Just gonna happen.

 

[logdrum]

Fender is also suing this small company who makes a flute accessory called Win-D-Fender. Note that the trademark was given to this company by the government but Fender wants them to drop their name. WTH.

 

[two fingers]

Disney is about 30 mins away from now. 12K for what ? Did they come from another country and stay a month at the resort ?

Maybe I need to start renting out rooms .

Yes, that would be staying at the resort.... but only for a week. Polynesian, Modern, and couple of others will set you back well into four figures a night (when you include park hopper passes and whatnot).

 

[GeneralElectric]

Same thing happened where I am. My town is a pleasant spot in the coast about 47 mikes outside Manhattan.

When Covid ramped up big time in pre-vaccine 2018/19 we suddenly got a large influx of NYers fleeing the city buying homes and snapping up any rentals they could find. And price was no object.

Right now a 1500 sq foot home on a small lot can’t be had for less than $650K. That’s up from about $425-50K right before that. It even hit a point where realtors were directly contacting homeowners to see if they’d be interested in selling. Because the realtors had zero listed properties to show would be buyers. Nothing in the entire town was available at any price for awhile.

I bought a home in the poconos 2 hours from NYC for just over 125K in May 2019. We got an offer for 200K for the house last year. When we said no (because we were staying there) they offered 210K.