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Thread Number: 32830
prices in '82 montgomery ward catalog. |
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Post# 494603 , Reply# 1 2/7/2011 at 01:44 (4,817 days old) by Volvoguy87  (Cincinnati, OH) |
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Scan the page? | ||
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Post# 494622 , Reply# 2 2/7/2011 at 07:18 (4,817 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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1980 VS NEW WASHER PRICING
They are making even dollars per unit sold now then in the early 1980s. Machines are so much simpler now and the manufacturing process is much more automated that it takes far less total labor to produce new washers. One thing that you may have noticed is that the cost of clothes dryers has gone up more than washers over this period. This is because it has been harder to simplify dryers they are still pretty similar to there 1980 cousins. The improvements in quality are amazing when you consider the reasonable prices being charged for many of todays washers. I believe for example that the new WP built TL washers will likely run more than twenty years most needing no service in that at all, and if service is needed these are the easiest machines to work on in history. The majority of serious problems that we are seeing with newer machines today are caused by poor usage habits. Cold water and under usage of detergents and bleach are destroying more washers prematurely than you can imagine. I worked at the warehouse this weekend and recycled several Frigidare built FL washers all slightly less than 10 years old, and all ruined by the above stated bad usage habits.
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Post# 494651 , Reply# 3 2/7/2011 at 09:25 (4,817 days old) by kenmoreguy64 (Charlotte, NC) |
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cfz -
I agree with you on that too. I haven't checked a Wards catalog, but I have accumulated Sears catalogs from the late 1960s complete to the late 1980s. At around 1978, prices for Kenmore washers jumped $20 per catalog sometimes, for the same model. BUT, we had a period of extreme inflation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As to prices as compared to today, my thoughts are as follows (and I've given this a lot of thought): I bought a 1986 Kenmore 70 belt drive washer new in July of that year. It's regular floor price was $449.00. I bought it for $358, including delivery and set-up which was usually $25 or $30. The base price is the same for that model as in about three years worth of catalogs 1984-1986 (inflation had subsided). Catalog prices don't include shipping. Sometimes you'd see prices reduced $120 or even $150 in a catalog sale, but again that doesn't include shipping and delivery/set-up. Even for $358, that's more than I paid for the 2010 Admiral DD washer with very similar features (I paid $259). As John said, the DD washer is less complicated, has fewer parts, is more automated to assemble, etc. It weighs more than 70 pounds LESS than my '86 does. About Sears pricing at the time - their 1981/1982 upper 80 series machine that had the cycle modifier switch (but no triple dispenser like next year's Lady K) was priced at $559, which is A LOT. They must not have sold many because the next couple catalog editions mentioned permanent price reductions, some of which were $50 off. Sales were slow in this period as compared to the rebound of the mid-80s and later, so maybe they wanted margin on the machines they were selling? Some Kenmore models differed only in how many water levels they had or temps - for example, there were five 70 and 80 series models in the 1983 line that had the same timer, same exact mechanicals, but one had just three temps, the next up had auto temp control (which was just a switch change), the next up had five levels instead of three, and the next up after that had infinite levels instead of five. The final step up added a white porcelain basket. From a manufacturing perspective, these switches probably didn't cost any different between them, but in marketing the macshine, each step up raised the price $10, so the final machine was $50 more expensive than the first. My guess is that $50 was pure profit. In another case, there were three 1981 60 and 70 series washers. Again, all had the same timer. They all had four water levels, and three temps, and fabric softener dispensers, same 2-speed motors, etc. Unless you did an extensive examination, the machines looked the same. BUT, there was a $50 price gap between the 60 and the best 70, because the 70 had an off-balance relay and a DA agitator. That was the only difference. $50 was a lot of money on a $350 machine. I remember a sales rep. telling a friend who I took shopping there that the 60 had been discontinued because it was pulling too many sales from the upper level machines. So, although prices were certainly related to machine manufacturing cost, weight and content of parts, some portion of those whacky prices had to do with marketing and what the market would allow. My guess is that since Sears and Wards were competitors, that Sears prices affected how Wards priced theirs, or vice versa. Gordon | ||
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