I put OSB from HD in my shop about 2 years ago. I paid less than $5 per sheet out the door. I went ot buy one sheet and it was almost $18 after taxes. Other wood prices have not tripled. Any ideas.
BTW the OSB is still at HD. I could not see paying that much.
The question is more likely: "What the hell happened to government/media reporting on inflation?". Notice the price of steak, paper goods, and just about anything else these days. A woodworking magazine on the newsstand will blow the hell out of a ten dollar bill, while a fraction of a percentage point rise in employment will have the government spokesman and talking heads edging out Scot and Michael.
Odds are the OSB went to Iraq ... so you have to pay more.
I sell framing lumber for a living and trust me...you're not the only one asking questions. What I've been told and am telling my customers is this: In the 90's, an abundance of mills were opened to manufacture OSB. OSB is considered an engineered product and is a major component of many other engineered products. With building nationwide at a decline many of the mills started shutting down or focusing on these other engineered products such as I-Joists or Smart Side. This brought the supply down. Having just gotten out of hurricane season, forest fires in California and one of the most active tornado seasons in history, coupled with a surge in building due to lower interest rates etc. the demand far exceeded production. Add into the equation the mandatory EPA inspections and new compliance laws and the annual winter maintenance which requires the shut-down of operations and you have what you have now. Outrageously priced OSB at over $500 msf. There is a bright side to all of this. This week OSB dropped over $140 and the feeling is it will continue to plummet. With prices at a premium the mills have been jumping through their asses to get in on it however this ultimately causes an abundance so the supply will exceed the demand and you may see OSB cheaper than ever for a short while. Then they will back off production to bring the price back up and so on and so on till it levels out at a price where everyone is happy again. Inflation is ultimately controlled by the consumer...NOT THE GOVERNMENT. I had to throw that in. Now I'll be ducking all sorts of comments. Just to add to the fire I'll toss this in too..... It's not the government's job to eliminate the needs for restraint and discipline. I see all sorts of people building 500k to a million dollar homes griping about how much it costs. If you use too much of it there will be a shortage... simple as that.
Laying low till this blows over, Mel
Good post ...but:
In a model capitalistic society, maybe .. but tell that to the drug companies, where the cost of the most popular new drugs are amazingly within a few cents of each other, regardless of manufacturer. AND, as you mentioned, add the cost of government regulation into the equation. Suddenly your statement below is not as black and white as you would like.
No doubt, medical costs have grown at rediculous rates... But that is a bit of a bad example because the medical industry is not a capitalist system.
Normally, in a capitalist system, when demand goes up, price goes up, until demand is curbed by the price.
In the medical "economy" the people demanding the product (Sick people), are not the same people as the ones paying for the product (insurance companies, for the most part).
Throw in a dose of "no expense incurred by the insurance company/goverment is too high to keep my dying loved one, with no quality of life alive to xxx more days" and it gets worse.
Doing a cost-to-benefit analysis of health care procedures and drawing some very unpopular lines in the sand is the only thing that will stop spiraling health costs.
OTOH when was the last time you needed OSB to keep your blood pressure under control, to fight an infection, or to keep your head in one piece? When was the last time a piece of OSB made you go into convulsions or made your stool runny?
I think you may be comparing different things.
Nope ... I made no comparison between the subject "higher prices" and anything else...
If you go back and read what I said, you will see that was the precisley my point ... you just further reinforced my taking exception to the statement "Inflation is ultimately controlled by the consumer...NOT THE GOVERNMENT."
I too have been told by my local builders that a lot has been shipped to Iraq, dropping supplies here and driving up cost to over $20 a sheet - from a previous price of about $8. They are now putting in foundations for spec houses and stopping there and waiting until prices drop.
Shawn
Inflation? What inflation. The report just out states that wholesale prices dropped showing that our "economic resurgence" is not fanning inflation. Wholesale prices of what, I'm not sure. Plus, I'm noticing that gas prices have plummetted in the last couple days, dropping about 4 cents. I'm sure this is gonna be headlines.
Meanwhile, steak (yowser!), insurance, and all kinds of sundries keep going up, up, up. But, hey, unemployment dropped point one percent and folks are now saying our resurgent economy is gonna reassure a GOP re-election. Yea!
Ah, statistics...
Renata
It took a couple re-reads, but I with you.
Yes, I agree
"Perceived need" is merely a motivating factor that causes the consumer to "buy". I would go as far to say you've proven my point in your effort to disprove it. I'll concur that the medical industry needs "guidance" but what it really needs is competition....not governmental intervention. The original post was concerning OSB. A commodity item with a market value determined by good ol' supply and demand. An item at a totally different end of the spectrum from say cancer treatment. Rather than leap to an extreme focus on the middle ground. Rather than throw out a label of "capitalism" understand that the less of something there is to go around the more it cost. To that point medicine is a perfect example. What does said cancer treatment cost versus ibuprofen? What is the cost of production versus the consumption ratio of both drugs? Granted my statement of "restraint and discipline" doesn't apply to this end of the spectrum.....but it does apply to most of it.
What you don't seem to understand is that you're saying the same thing I am, and you were agreeing with me. ;>)
My first phrase was:
"In a model capitalistic society, maybe .."
IOW, this ain't a "model capitalistic society" we're talking about.
I could not agree more with what you say below.
More likely due to my inability to get my point across without writing an epistle.
I just can't believe what I perceive as a steady rise in prices in everyday items, in some cases dramatic, and no one in the media or government is even remarking upon the fact. I am not advocating that "they", or government, do something about it, but it is strange to me that it is below a radar that is more concerned with Pedersen, Jackson, and Paris Hilton's love life.
OBWW - Is there not a fairly large increase in prices of Delta's big ticket woodworking tools in the past year?
And damned outright lies...
Greg
Two days ago when I went to the local Lowes to pick up 5 sheets of roof sheathing... Wow! $17.00 a sheet!
Greg
Hope it didn't run out on the floor right there! ;>)
my apologies, I jumped to the conclusion you were attempting to undermine my statement by taking an extremist view. A pet peeve of mine.
No, it was contained by my FTLs... The verbal spewage, however, was another matter...
P.S. - Thanks again for the morticing bits... I have used them enough for the crappy Chinese Delta DP350 drill press to chunk a pulley... ugghhh...
Greg
My fault entirely, not yours ... it didn't quite come out as I intended.
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