Thailand Floods: HDD Prices To Remain Extortionately High As Supplies Get Tighter

[Easy Rhino]

It's your assumption, please don't put words into my mouth or tell me what you think I am thinking. I don't read what you're reading, the joys of the english language are such that there are a myriad of words that can be used in different contexts and situations to describe something, it's all about context. However how would you describe all HDD prices going up from existing inventory and from manufacturers that don't have any manufacturing plants in Thailand? extortionate? supply and demand, opportunistic? same with e-tailors with stock they have had since before all of this happened.

It's figurative and one could say you were being literal or pedantic..

sorry i take news literally.

With all due respect to all concerned, the prices are very much extortionate.
When some 25% (or less) of all HDDs are manufactured in Thailand, yet the price of HDDs is doubling or tripling in price, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is what I mentioned before.

you do realize that higher prices = less sales right? HDD sales will suffer because of this. nobody is going to gain anything from really high HDD prices. do you know why the prices go up? because supply is down and demand is the same. honestly, i thought this was all common sense...

 

[qubit]

please remove the word "extortion" from the news title. there is no extortion happening. news fail.

There's nothing wrong with the title, Easy.

It's just a standard turn of phrase in English that means prices are really really high. I could have just as easily used "incredibly" instead of "extortionately" and it would have meant the same thing. In this context, "extortionately" doesn't literally mean that anyone is being subject to actual extortion.

 

[hv43082]

I wonder how much my WD 2tb black FASS go for now a day?

 

[cheesy999]

There's nothing wrong with the title, Easy.

It's just a standard turn of phrase in English that means prices are really really high. I could have just as easily used "incredibly" instead of "extortionately" and it would have meant the same thing. In this context, "extortionately" doesn't literally mean that anyone is being subject to actual extortion.

Yeah, in fact in Britain it's basically the primary usage of the word, most people don't think to relate it to crimes

"remain extortionately high" = Remain unnecessarily/Incredibly high
"Remain High due to extortion" = Extortion

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Also externals have not changed much, I got an email last week about 2TB for $79...

Yeah I look at external prices and it seems nobody has updated them or something. Not sure why they are less than internals (in some cases).

 

[n-ster]

From Merriam-Webster

Exorbitant = exceeding the customary

K now can we stop thread-crapping?


Yes, at some places the externals seem to still stay cheap, though I
m betting not for long. I'm guessing they have an overflow of stock? Does anyone know of externals with enterprise HDDs inside them? Guess not, oh well

 

[radrok]

I luckily managed to get my hands in time and at a reasonable price on a 1TB Western Digital RE4, some weeks ago

 

[Damn_Smooth]

From Merriam-Webster

http://img.techpowerup.org/111105/Capture060.png

Exorbitant = exceeding the customary

K now can we stop thread-crapping?


Yes, at some places the externals seem to still stay cheap, though I
m betting not for long. I'm guessing they have an overflow of stock? Does anyone know of externals with enterprise HDDs inside them? Guess not, oh well

You should know better. qubit posted a news story, someone is going to bitch about something.

 

[radrok]

You should know better. qubit posted a news story, someone is going to bitch about something.

That's odd, in all honesty I think his articles are pretty good and the TPU frontpage is richer since he started his task, especially on week-ends, it always pleases me to open TPU up and see fresh news on Saturday-Sunday

Sorry for the OT:

Anyway I've noticed that the HDD I purchased some weeks ago now costs 290 EUR instead of 140 EUR, O.O

 

[n-ster]

TBH, talking bout the thread-crapping etc is just feeding/adding to the thread crappers, making the thread more crapped... I know we are fed up with the thread crap, and I'm guilty of feeding/adding to it too, including this post, but let us stop yes?

Let us try this again. Use PM or what's wrong with the forum?

No thread crap beyond this
________________________________________________________________________________________

@ radrok

What HDD was 140 EUR BEFORE the flood?

 

[radrok]

A Western Digital RE4 1TB

Edit : this is the cheapest price at which I could find it now o.o
http://www.prokoo.com/western-digital-wd1003fbyx-7200rpm-64mb-p-8068.html?keywords=RE4

I really hope this situation will solve as soon as possible because if you are going to build a new rig the HDD will increase your final price by a lot

 

[qubit]

Thanks for all your supportive comments people, I really appreciate it.

Now, if only those hard drive prices would come down...

 

[n-ster]

you do realize that higher prices = less sales right? HDD sales will suffer because of this. nobody is going to gain anything from really high HDD prices. do you know why the prices go up? because supply is down and demand is the same. honestly, i thought this was all common sense...

I agree. WD is going to be making 30 million less HDDs, while Seagate will only be making 5~8m less HDDs. But demand is the same, which is very high, why would they sell all their HDDs now and not have any left later?

However, Seagate and the others WILL profit more from it and WD WILL lose from it. Globally between all the HDD manufacturers, the gain is not going to be very significant like you'd think with this price inflation, but I think there will still be a global profit from this, but it isn't completely intentional IMO, so I don't think the manufacturer's should be blamed

EDIT: I'll also add that mother nature can be unpredictable, so they need a safety net too, which further justifies the price

 

[qubit]

I agree. WD is going to be making 30 million less HDDs, while Seagate will only be making 5~8m less HDDs. But demand is the same, which is very high, why would they sell all their HDDs now and not have any left later?

However, Seagate and the others WILL profit more from it and WD WILL lose from it. Globally between all the HDD manufacturers, the gain is not going to be very significant like you'd think with this price inflation, but I think there will still be a global profit from this, but it isn't completely intentional IMO, so I don't think the manufacturer's should be blamed

It looks like normal supply and demand forces at work here given the flooding, so I agree, there's unlikely to be any dodgy profiteering moves from the HDD companies.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

It looks like normal supply and demand forces at work here given the flooding, so I agree, there's unlikely to be any dodgy profiteering moves from the HDD companies.

Which is quite the contrary to the etailors who have doubled/tripled prices on existing stock

 

[n-ster]

Which is quite the contrary to the etailors who have doubled/tripled prices on existing stock

This argument is non-sense... The supply is lowered and they have to look out for the future. If you were a gold merchant and bought gold and suddenly it doubled in price, would you sell the gold half price and lose all your stock in 1 day and then have to buy gold at double the price? No, you raise your prices so that your stock doesn't just fly away.

In the same way, if gold is suddenly 1/10th of the price... Will you be selling you gold 10x higher and make 0 sales and lose your business because "your stock was bought at a higher price" ? No, the prices follow the market value and it is much better like that

Again, common sense

EDIT: Sorry, I know I over-utilize caps lol

 

[NdMk2o1o]

This argument is non-sense... THE SUPPLY IS LOWERED and they have to look out for the FUTURE. If you were a gold merchant and bought gold and suddenly it doubled in price, would you sell the gold half price and lose all your stock in 1 day and then have to buy gold at double the price? No, you raise your prices so that your stock doesn't just fly away.

In the same way, if gold is suddenly 1/10th of the price... Will you be selling you gold 10x higher and make 0 sales and lose your business because "your stock was bought at a higher price" ? No, the prices follow the market value and it is much better like that

Again, COMMON SENSE

That's a good point and it makes a lot of sense, thanks. So really it's just the logic that's flawed as it's the same kind of reasoning that caused the global recession, FUD.

And there is no need to use ALL CAPITALS TO EMPHASISE A POINT AS I AM QUITE OPEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRTICISM AND IT JUST GETS A LITTLE BIT DISTRACTING thrOWIng CaPs in as AnD whEN yOu wanT To MAkE a POiNT

 

[twicksisted]

So selfish of them to have a flood, die and increase the prices of our hardware!

 

[Easy Rhino]

There's nothing wrong with the title, Easy.

It's just a standard turn of phrase in English that means prices are really really high. I could have just as easily used "incredibly" instead of "extortionately" and it would have meant the same thing. In this context, "extortionately" doesn't literally mean that anyone is being subject to actual extortion.

From Merriam-Webster

http://img.techpowerup.org/111105/Capture060.png

Exorbitant = exceeding the customary

K now can we stop thread-crapping?


Yes, at some places the externals seem to still stay cheap, though I
m betting not for long. I'm guessing they have an overflow of stock? Does anyone know of externals with enterprise HDDs inside them? Guess not, oh well

Hint: The word extortion is a legal term used to describe gaining money through coercion. The use of the word 'incredibly' would also be incorrect as it is a relative adverb. what is incredible to one person may not be to another. This is why when you read real news stories by real journalists the titles very rarely include adjectives. im not thread crapping im insisting on some sort of journalistic integrity.

 

[erocker]

This thread is redundant. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153454

Am I missing something?

 

[n-ster]

Hint: The word extortion is a legal term used to describe gaining money through coercion. The use of the word 'incredibly' would also be incorrect as it is a relative adverb. what is incredible to one person may not be to another. This is why when you read real news stories by real journalists the titles very rarely include adjectives. im not thread crapping im insisting on some sort of journalistic integrity.

Hint: Gay is a term that means joyful or something like that. but it has another meaning... If I say I am gay and I like being the woman in the relationship, I probably don't mean joyful. I would have preferred the term extraordinarily maybe, but extortionately or exorbitantly are still valid terms because one of their meanings is exceeding the customary, which is true.

I'm not against you criticizing him... I see your point. But I have 2 points I'm trying to make:

#1 qubit is not a real journalist so he won't always be perfect in theses matters.
#2 PRIVATE MESSAGES. You can PM him and discuss it with him. If you don't like what he has to say, you have the what's wrong with you forums or PM a supermod or probably bta about it. It is sad that I have to repeat this so many times and it still doesn't get through. Hopefully a bigger size, caps, Bold, and red will help? Damn you are a moderator, I'd think you'd know this.

I'll finish with this... I have no problem with you so don't take this personally, I just don't want to see you opinion about his news style writing in multiple news threads every time. Then there are the pro-qubit and anti-qubit that fight it out on his thread and it becomes chaos.

This thread is redundant. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153454

Am I missing something?

"impact on its operations in Thailand cannot yet be fully determined"

We know much more now. Not only can the discussion be more specific, but we know have estimates of how long this will last... Basically it allows a discussion about the same topic, but with more specific details and another time-frame

It is also a WD focused thread, without mentioning if other HDD manufacturers were affected.

Also note how many Thailand Flood threads and "OMG HDD prices" thread have poped up since that news post. I think this news post has a good motive to be there.

This thread is beyond saving at this point I guess, might as well participate in the thread-crapping since mods and super-mods are participating

 

[erocker]

"impact on its operations in Thailand cannot yet be fully determined"

We know much more now. Not only can the discussion be more specific, but we know have estimates of how long this will last... Basically it allows a discussion about the same topic, but with more specific details and another time-frame

It is also a WD focused thread, without mentioning if other HDD manufacturers were affected.

Also note how many Thailand Flood threads and "OMG HDD prices" thread have poped up since that news post. I think this news post has a good motive to be there.

This thread is beyond saving at this point I guess, might as well participate in the thread-crapping since mods and super-mods are participating

My post was aimed more toward qubit, but you bring up some good points. I still think this post is similar enough to the previous news post the garner it redundant, but that's just my opinion and why I asked qubit the question. I don't appreciate my posts being called crap, but I guess that's your opinion, I won't keep you from it.

 

[n-ster]

My post was aimed more toward qubit, but you bring up some good points. I still think this post is similar enough to the previous news post the garner it redundant, but that's just my opinion and why I asked qubit the question. I don't appreciate my posts being called crap, but I guess that's your opinion, I won't keep you from it.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=thread crapping

Your post isn't crap. By thread crapping I mean this^

It derails the thread and turns it into an argument. It is not off-topic, but doesn't belong here, it belongs in PMs. At this point most of us are thread crapping, including me.

Your posts isn't crap, it at least proves there is some redundancy. I can see how you see it being a bit too redundant, but my main argument against that is the number of OMG HDD PRICES posts and threads that popped up, and also that many people want to know how long this could last.

I said super-mod, but I was being a bit unfair as the thread has already become an argument. You backed up your argument and didn't attack qubit while keeping short and simple so I have no problem with your post that this stage of the thread. So hope you don't take it personally.

And I know it was towards qubit, but I felt obliged to give my opinion ROFL

P.S: Also, I was a tad bit frustrated when I wrote that post

 

[Easy Rhino]

whatever. i just have different expectations for news i guess. but i won't stop bringing up my issues with his news in his news thread. if i read something i know to be incorrect im going to call him out on it. otherwise he will never learn to tone down the rhetoric and write professionally.

 

[qubit]

Ok, here we go...

Hint: The word extortion is a legal term used to describe gaining money through coercion. The use of the word 'incredibly' would also be incorrect as it is a relative adverb. what is incredible to one person may not be to another. This is why when you read real news stories by real journalists the titles very rarely include adjectives. im not thread crapping im insisting on some sort of journalistic integrity.

whatever. i just have different expectations for news i guess. but i won't stop bringing up my issues with his news in his news thread. if i read something i know to be incorrect im going to call him out on it. otherwise he will never learn to tone down the rhetoric and write professionally.

Oh, you know it to be wrong, do you, because you're some sort of ultimate reference? tsk

Extortion is a legal term and it's also a turn of phrase as I have explained above and n-ster explained further in post 56. So no, once again, there's nothing wrong with the title. How would you phrase the title then?

I also have plenty of integrity too. What, are you calling me a liar or something?

If you have a comment to make about my news writing, then you of all people as a mod, should know that the best place to comment on it is in the comments section and/or PM. If you comment over there, then feel free to PM a link to make sure I see your post and we can talk about it. Also, it's nice to get news on the weekend, no?

If you really think I'm doing such an awful job, then why don't you take it up with W1zz & bta? Clearly they don't think so, or I'd soon hear from them, trust me.

Believe me, I'm not going to change my news style just because you and a handful of others disapprove. In short, I don't do bland news and my style is similar to The Register or TechEye.

So, to repeat, please make your comments in the right place and don't derail my news threads.

Finally, here's a pertinent excerpt of what Kreij wrote in another news thread:

A few thoughts from yer Ol' Uncle Kreij ...

Qubit's Opinions
Every single one of the 2 million+ posts on this forum are someone's opinion. Opinions generate discussion and make for lively threads. People are not used to seeing the opinions in the news article itself, but why should opinions be delegated to resonding posts only? (Quick Tip : They're not, Bta does it too, he's just more subtle ) People say that they don't like opinions in news, but they sure have no problem posting their opinion .. do they? IMO, these news articles have made TPU more fun and interesting without sacrificing the hard news because they are "in addition to" the hard news, not replacing or even supplanting it.

Just my 2 cents ... Carry On.

And believe it or not, I do appreciate that you're trying to be constructive, even though our views are diametrically opposite.

This thread is redundant. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153454

Am I missing something?

No, it's not redundant, but I can see why you might think so. As n-ster said, it's a development of the situation, or an update if you will. Clearly the other sites that have reported this story, including the one I sourced this one from think there's merit in reporting this. It's basically gonna be a flippin' long time until the recovery from the floods is complete and the prices come down to normal again. A real shame for everyone.