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Thieves hit on Gillette

Gustav

Gustav

I found the following on the internet published on March 10th 2010 in "The eagle tribune".

"Two arrested after theft of $100,000 worth of razor blades
ANDOVER — Two Lawrence men have been arrested and others are being sought in the theft of two pallets of Fusion razor blades from Procter and Gamble Corp., 30 Burtt Road, Lt. James Hashem said"

for further details see: http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_063214919.html

The above is theft for sure but I can not help asking myself
if selling an item that costs 5 p. to produce (see http://www.bitterwallet.com/gillette-the-best-a-man-can-get-if-hes-more-money-than-sense/16313) for 2.32 £ under the slogan "the best a man can get", does not verge on malpractice on its own.
 
B

bluefoxicy

Wait, I don't understand. These sell for $2.50 each but manufacture for 8 cents. There's a warehouse supply buffer, and manufacture can be slowed down to prevent the buffer from growing out of control; full-speed manufacture can outstrip demand easy and flood the market.

When you say "$100,000 worth of blades," do you mean $100,000 at $2.50 or $100,000 at 8 cents? I don't believe there's an economic value to stolen blades of $2.50, as these things are not in short supply and can be cheaply replenished; there is no loss of sale since demand-exceeding supply is readily at hand, and the loss of labor and material is 8 cents. Loss of sale comes if and when the stolen blades are re-sold, which is a different crime.

Interesting for thought, though: the only reason these sell for $2.50 a pop is that nobody but Gillette can produce them at that price. It's impossible. The huge cost of getting into the market would provide an amazing barrier to entry; the blades are precisely machined, and the cartridges must hold the blades at a precise angle and function in a precise manner to prevent irritation. You could not cost-effectively begin manufacturing a competing Fusion cartridge at any level of quality that's not laughably horrible; if you could, they'd go for 25 cents a piece.

Schick could probably do it (they have the manufacturing facilities already, and the engineering; they just need retooling), but then they'd have to price-war with Gillette, bringing the cost of Schick Quattro blades down as the Fusion (with 50 cent blades) suddenly obsoletes the Quattro.

EDIT: Amusing... "Procter & Gamble shaving products are currently under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading in an inquiry into alleged collusion between manufacturers and retailers in setting prices. An industry insider has revealed that the Fusion range of blades, which cost $0.08 each to manufacture, sell with a mark-up of more than 4,750%." See, I told you it would not be advantageous for Schick to price war with Gillette...
 
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Omnichron

Omnichron

Gustav said:
I found the following on the internet published on March 10th 2010 in "The eagle tribune".

"Two arrested after theft of $100,000 worth of razor blades
ANDOVER — Two Lawrence men have been arrested and others are being sought in the theft of two pallets of Fusion razor blades from Procter and Gamble Corp., 30 Burtt Road, Lt. James Hashem said"

for further details see: http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_063214919.html

The above is theft for sure but I can not help asking myself
if selling an item that costs 5 p. to produce (see http://www.bitterwallet.com/gillette-the-best-a-man-can-get-if-hes-more-money-than-sense/16313) for 2.32 £ under the slogan "the best a man can get", does not verge on malpractice on its own.
Click to expand...
waht is this world coming? razor prices creating criminals!:huh:
 
Crawford Montizano

Crawford Montizano

bluefoxicy said:
EDIT: Amusing... "Procter & Gamble shaving products are currently under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading in an inquiry into alleged collusion between manufacturers and retailers in setting prices. An industry insider has revealed that the Fusion range of blades, which cost $0.08 each to manufacture, sell with a mark-up of more than 4,750%." See, I told you it would not be advantageous for Schick to price war with Gillette...
Click to expand...

Is Matt Damon going to play lead in this movie too?

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9-fKoordvg&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]


Price fixing nice.
 
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Slivovitz

Slivovitz

bluefoxicy said:
Razor blades are the most shoplifted convenience store item.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be surprised. Some months ago, I started a thread when I noticed that Walgreens locked up all their replacement cartridges and blades. You have to get someone not only to unlock them, but carry them over to the cash register for you. Evidently there is a lot of shoplifting.

No sympathy for the shoplifters. If you can't afford Fusion cartridges, there are plenty of low cost decent alternatives, even without going to DE razors. Gillette's Fusion prices are highway robbery, but you don't need to use the product.
 
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