Cost of cylinders in the United States

[67macoshark]

That's not how supply and demand works.

Let's not look at the macro economics part of your statement about income and prices. That's too much for a message board.

But the economy is doing very well, causing more people to have disposable income and scuba. So just looking at supply and demand....

As demand for tanks increases, the demand curve shifts to the right, increasing price and increasing quantity demanded. More people doing the hobby actually increases prices, assuming the supply stays the same. And I don't think Luxfer or any other tank manufacturers have had big changes to the production process/quantity in YEARS.

My point was that I know how sarcasm works...

 

[ystrout]

So far I have never seen a situation where manufacturers can sell more and more of the same thing and price doesn't go down. If there is enough volume there are economies of scale and competition. The truly expensive things are the one-offs. Can you imagine the price of tanks if there was only a market for a few hundred?

This is true.

But tanks are already produced on an economy of scale.

 

[BRT]

This is true.

But tanks are already produced on an economy of scale.

Not on a scale to increase the number of manufacturers. Instead that number drops.

 

[ystrout]

Not on a scale to increase the number of manufacturers. Instead that number drops.

That's true. If new manufactures join the industry or Luxfer, Faber, etc increase their production to match (or exceed demand) then prices could stay the same/decrease.

I just personally don't think there will be a change in manufacturing for scuba tanks. Those companies aren't just scuba companies and scuba tanks are just one of their cash cows that they don't invest in. And I didn't think that there was enough demand for a new scuba tank company to join the industry.

This is just my opinion. I've been wrong plenty of times before though! Lol. It will be interesting to see what happens down the line.

 

[ystrout]

Unrelated to BRT and my conversation...

The tariffs will increase manufactures' prices. They will likely push that off to us. Prices won't increase by the % of the tariff because there's a lot more that goes into the scuba tank price, but they will get more expensive.