HDD Shortage To Go On And On And On

[rpsgc]

Artificially inflating prices... nice. Who needs regulations eh? Free market FTW!

 

[qwerty_lesh]

Yeah, in the US, most e-tailers pretty much doubled their prices the day the news hit that there were floods in Thailand and there would be a shortage. I know Newegg had thousands of drives on hand, their supplies shouldn't have been affected as quickly as the prices went up.

I'm sure everyone is upping their cut and the effect snowballs. But the main point I was trying to make was that the actual manufacturers aren't totally to blame for the price hike, everyone is taking advantage.

ah yeah, its definitely happens, and even brick and mortar shops have probably done it too, especially dodgy ones, but not all do it thats for sure, but all do suffer the hike the distributors impose once they run out of stock, so the honest ones sell out super fast.

I work for two computer companies in melbourne australia and both are the kind of business where they will continue to sell off their surplus stock and the proper, honest, price.

can't speak for all b&m shops or online shops thats for sure.

 

[Mussels]

Didn't the biggest manufacturer of parts of hard drives based in Thialand just report that 9 out of 10 of their factories were back up and running last week?

I think WD is just bullshitting at this point to try and keep prices higher.

even if they were operating at 100% power right now, that would still mean weeks or months to make up for the backlog of missed drives.

 

[newtekie1]

even if they were operating at 100% power right now, that would still mean weeks or months to make up for the backlog of missed drives.

Yes, but not years like they are trying to say. I expect prices will continue to be high for a few more months, obviously I'm not expecting price to bottom back out tomorrow. However, I don't expect the shortage to last anywhere near 2013. Maybe March before we start see prices return to pretty normal prices, but not 2013.

 

[cheesy999]

Yes, but not years like they are trying to say. I expect prices will continue to be high for a few more months, obviously I'm not expecting price to bottom back out tomorrow. However, I don't expect the shortage to last anywhere near 2013. Maybe March before we start see prices return to pretty normal prices, but not 2013.

prices won't stay at this rate till 2013 because if they do SSD's will probably reach a similar price/GB by then at the rate they are dropping in price

 

[twicksisted]

well now that their drives are more than double the price, and the factorys are back up and running, and peoiple are still buying them.... why go back to the low prices we were used to?

 

[qubit]

well now that their drives are more than double the price, and the factorys are back up and running, and peoiple are still buying them.... why go back to the low prices we were used to?

Competition eventually drives down the price to the marginal cost of making them - ie a small profit margin - so they won't stay up here forever. However, with such demand, it will take much longer for this to happen.

But then if the HD manufacturers go into cartel mode, the prices are gonna get stuck up here. It might be illegal, but it does look like the punishments and fines if and when they come won't be enough to make them lose overall, so they're not much of a deterrent.

 

[Ferrum Master]

This should be investigated as price fixing act between companies... there only two of them left thou...

Damn these illuminati