"Chris F." wrote:

I was aware that manufacturers charged high prices for replacement parts,
but I wasn't aware of just bad the problem was until recently. I was looking
for a replacement DVD laser pickup for Hitachi (see my earlier post) and
finally located one from a Hitachi parts distributor. The price? $205 Cdn. I
can't believe anyone would have the nerve to charge such ridiculous prices
for a replacement part, especially when an entire new unit can be purchased
for much less! Obviously, plain old greed is the motivation for this scam,
but I have to wonder about a couple of other things....
1. How do the mfrs actually make this kind of money from replacment parts?
They must be making it somehow, or they wouldn't bother to jack the prices
up so high.
2. Could enough techs band together to force some kind of legislation,
limiting the prices of replacement parts? (not likely, but I thought this
could make for some interesting discussion)
One thing about working in this industry; you certainly get to see the
greedy, money-loving side of society. Be it while buying replacement parts,
trying to make a sale, or just giving an estimate to a customer. Anyone
still working in the repair industry today is probably there for one of two
reasons; they enjoy the work, or they don't have any other options available
(both apply to me). Money obviously isn't the motivitation!
Just another $.02 of mine.


Have you ever worked in manufacturing? I worked as a production and
engineering test tech. Lets say I needed a 0805 SMD resistor. Our cost
was a little over 1 cent. On the other hand the paperwork and time to
look up the part number, request the part, have it pulled from the
stockroom and get it to my bench was over $5.00. I finally got
permission to get these parts 100 at a time to reduce overhead. I used
a lot of SMD resistors, so I had over 100 different values of 1% & .1%
resistors on my bench, along with common SMD ICs and a few crystals.

In other words, you have to live it to understand it. You are asking
for a very fragile and expensive part that wouldn't be sold every day if
it was five dollars. It needs special handling at all stages and a lot
of administrative costs, not to mention outrageous taxes on spare parts
inventory. Why do you think companies in the US try to use the lousy
J.I.T. system? It looks good in theory, but leads to shortages and no
spare parts.

The additional costs for spare parts doesn't bother the government
because they are just giving back the taxes you paid, along with the
cost of the part.


It isn't worth 2 cents.

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida