I was just at our local Microcenter and they had a sign posted limiting hard drive purchases to 2, due to a shortage. They usually have stacks of them on hand.
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Hard drive shortage?
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This is likely due to the floods in Thailand which have damaged a lot of hard drive manufacturing facilities.
Computerworld: Hard drive shortage expected to hurt consumers most
Computerworld: Hard drive shortage expected to hurt consumers most
I know about the floods but most of this is hype by the media, who love hype, thereby allowing everyone in the supply chain to raise prices.
Think about how many hard drives sit in warehouses for months every year. Buy a hard drive in November and see that it was manufacture in April as I did last year. Actually 6....
How many people actually buy additional hard drives? I have about 20 over many years but most people I know have 1 or 2 and only bought those over a 4 year period.
I don't doubt that the factories are closed but I think there is plenty in the supply chain. The hype is the only thing that will lead to higher prices but I have seen quite a few discounts lately. I think the bigger stores will use this as an opportunity to reduce inventory at the current price to have better quarterly financial results.
Does anybody actually expect BestBuy to charge more this holiday season than last for the same drives.
RAM manufactures played this game in the 90s that didn't amount to much, but it wasn't a holiday season... But most people delayed their purchases until the price dropped lower than it was previously.
Many hard drives are purchased for back up and many of those purchasers are willing to wait for deals delaying purchase until the factories are up and running again.
Whatever, it will be a non event because there is already an oversupply.
Think about how many hard drives sit in warehouses for months every year. Buy a hard drive in November and see that it was manufacture in April as I did last year. Actually 6....
How many people actually buy additional hard drives? I have about 20 over many years but most people I know have 1 or 2 and only bought those over a 4 year period.
I don't doubt that the factories are closed but I think there is plenty in the supply chain. The hype is the only thing that will lead to higher prices but I have seen quite a few discounts lately. I think the bigger stores will use this as an opportunity to reduce inventory at the current price to have better quarterly financial results.
Does anybody actually expect BestBuy to charge more this holiday season than last for the same drives.
RAM manufactures played this game in the 90s that didn't amount to much, but it wasn't a holiday season... But most people delayed their purchases until the price dropped lower than it was previously.
Many hard drives are purchased for back up and many of those purchasers are willing to wait for deals delaying purchase until the factories are up and running again.
Whatever, it will be a non event because there is already an oversupply.
Those stacks are sitting in storage 50 feet away in the back room. Limit the customer to 2 so they feel supply is limited, and buy 2 instead of 1 and the customer feels lucky. That's been a trick since the beginning of time. Pretend that the supply is limited and then Microcenter doesn't discount them..
If I walk in and want to buy 20, do you think that they won't sell me 20? I bet they will otherwise they need to wait for 10 customers buy 2 each or 20 customers buy 1 each, or some other variation. Retail sales 101..l