I was shocked to see that in the Lowes the other day. I was afraid that the price had gone up to that universally, but was pleasantly surprised to find that my regular supplier still has it for 4.75 per gallon. Once again, the big box stores are much more expensive than the real suppliers.
They make big money on the accessories. Their paint prices might be competitive, but they hope you won't be knowledgable about prices for items like thinner.
:The last time I bought a gallon of mineral spirits (about 18 months ago, :I believe) it cost $2.50. That was very high I thought at the time. :Yesterday in Lowe's, I noticed the cheapest brand was selling for $8.00! : Is there any reason for this other than plain greed and price gouging? :Paul in San Francisco
I haven't bought any paint thinner for a number of years. I remember it being pretty cheap, maybe $2/gallon, and I have two gallon cans (one metal the other plastic), in varying degrees of fullness. I generally pour a little off into glass jars from which I get whatever paint thinner I need for a variety of purposes.
I usually recycle my paint thinner. Thus, if I clean a brush with paint thinner, I pour the liquid into another jar which is kept for the purpose. After a time, clear liquid rises to the top and the impurities settle to the bottom and form a firm substance. Thus, I can decanter off what is essentially simply clear paint thinner from that jar when I next need a bit of thinner. Using this practice is a big part of the reason I don't need to buy thinner very often. I even reuse thinner I use to clean the chain on my bike, after the sediment has settled out. Reusing it is also better for the environment, certainly better than pouring it down the drain or allowing it to evaporate (unburned hydrocarbons).
Dan in Berkeley
Another trick for using less is to NOT clean the brush if you're painting today, and then doing another coat tomorrow. Instead, wrap the brush in aluminum foil, being careful to keep the bristles nice & flat. Put that into a plastic bag, and place in the freezer. Take it out about 30 minutes ahead of painting, and it'll be as if you'd never stopped the day before.
I think that is true only in the short term. If paint thinner could be sold for $4.00 a gallon at a reasonable profit and the law of supply and demand made it sell for $8.00 a gallon, new companies would start making it and the companies that already make it would make more because they could make big profits on it. Soon the supply would increase until the price was around $4.00 a gallon.
If the makers of paint thinner were losing money on each gallon of paint thinner, they would decrease production or stop making it altogether until the price came up to where they could make a reasonable profit.
-- I don't understand why they make gourmet cat foods. I have known many cats in my life and none of them were gourmets. They were all gourmands!
I agree with you 99%, except that the government can impose price fixing, and institute monopoly powers, like in the case of the USPS. Of course, technically it's not illegal since it's got the government's stamp of approval.
First off, define "reasonable profit".
How is what you're saying any different from Walter? As he stated, the price is determined by supply and demand. If the supply increases in your example without any more demand, the price will go down, as you noted. None of that has anything to do with the cost to make the product.
It's more complex than them hoping you won't know going prices for items. Big box stores have a convenience aspect to them, as well as buying less quantities of each item because they stock so many different products. If you need 1 gallon of Kerosene, the convenience of buying it while you're buying paint, and a couple of 2x4s, and a drill bit, and a couple light bulbs is probably worth the extra 2 bucks, rather than trying to find a kerosene dealer, drive to it, and spend extra time... all to save 2 bucks.
You can fight back. One of the more effective efforts:
Editor, New York Times New York, New York
Sir:
If the goddamn government can bust the goddamn trusts and lower the goddamn price of goddam oil, then why can't the goddamn government do goddamn something about the high goddamn price of goddamn opera tickets?
Most cordially yours, John D. Rockefeller
I agree, If you really use any volume of kerosene, go to a bulk plant where they dispense it from a pump out of an underground tank. That will be 1/2 to 1/3 of what it is pre-packaged in a can. There may even be a gas station or feed store with a kerosene pump in your area but that may still have a pretty big markup.
Reasonable profit is more than can be made by putting money into a savings account or more than the company can make by manufacturing something else.
But the cost to make something has EVERYTHING to do with how much an item has to sell for the producers to make a profit.
Are you claiming that the makers of paint thinner would not increase production if it was selling for so much that they were making big profits at the market price?
Are you claiming that the makers of paint thinner would not decrease production if it was selling for so little that they were losing money by selling at the market price?
Are you claiming that the makers of paint thinner would not care how much profit or loss they are getting and would continue making the same amount regardless of if they are losing money, making a small profit or making a large profit?
-- I don't understand why they make gourmet cat foods. I have known many cats in my life and none of them were gourmets. They were all gourmands!
It has everything to do with the minimum the product must sell for, but has little to do with the maximum. If my costs are $1.00 per item, I can make a tiny profit selling it for $1.01, but to assure I'm still in business ten years from now and can stand the normal cycles of ups and down, I'd have to sell it for $1.30 or maybe $1.60. But since people are willing to pay $3, I'd sell it for that much.
I don't know why people get upset if a company makes a good profit. IMO, they have a moral obligation to make enough to pay its debts, pay its suppliers, and pay its employees a fair wage.
If you could make it for $1.00 and sell it for $3.00, someone else would start making it and selling it for $2.95.
-- I don't understand why they make gourmet cat foods. I have known many cats in my life and none of them were gourmets. They were all gourmands!
Oh, and heaven forbid if your price goes up a little each year. Now, you're in bed with the devil. But, the people who curse you expect cost of living increases in their paychecks. :-)
Yes, that happens every day. It is called "Competition" and is good for business. If forces the first company to find a way to make it for 80¢ and sell it for $2.75.
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