Is inflation paying dividends or is it all smoke and mirrors? Is Games Workshop really gouging prices or are some of us just crybabies? Let’s find out!
Inflation can be good. If you just took out a huge loan, bought a bunch of valuable stuff and inflation spikes, you’re going to be able to pay off your loan faster; banks hate inflation. Of course, if inflation stagnates you’re stuck with that bill; banks love low, no, or reverse inflation. So what about GW? Do they like inflation?
Lets find out!
At first blush, a Land Raider, purchased circa 1999, checked out at 50 bucks. Today, that SAME exact kit will run you $75.00; to the uninitiated this is both unfair and greedy on the part of GW but lets dig into these numbers.
I opted to go with the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator to see what kind of voodoo magic GW used to price its Land Raider of 2016. Turns out, 50 bucks in 1999 is equal to 72.28; turns out 75 bucks isn’t too far off from fair.
Lets do some rundown of some older kits. It’s a bit unfair to price some of the re-do’s but just for the sake of argument we’ll check those out too.
Apples to Oranges
I used my RobBOT 9000™ to get these prices, so there’s a distinct possibility these numbers are off. We may need to replace his neural-net processor.
A Rhino, at $20 in 2000 should come in at $27.97; today’s price, $37.25. That’s ~$9
A Drop Pod, at $30 in 2008 should cost $33.56; today’s price, $37.25. That’s ~$3
A 5-man assault squad, at $25 in 2005, should cost around $30.83, today’s price $41. That’s ~$10
10-man Tactical, at $30 in 2005, should cost around $37, today’s price $40. That’s ~$7
Stop with the numbers, tell me what this means!
Some of these are really close and in the case of the assault squad they did have an overhaul. The classic tactical squad needs to be priced low since it is the classic gateway drug.
So, what does this tell us? If you complained about the prices 10 years ago, you’re probably still complaining about the prices because they haven’t decreased and have stayed on par with inflation.
On some old kits, GW has certainly recouped its design and investment costs; but it’s a business and they need to make money. To say they’re gouging us is a really unfair statement. Oh, and did I mention all those bundle deals they’ve been tossing out left and right? Yeah, those deals are even better.
All your arguments are belong to me
“Those deep discounts only mean they’ve been overpriced since the beginning!”
- The cost of a product should be equal to what maximizes profits. If they sell more they have to pay more for manufacturing and shipping, if they sell less they might not be making as much money as they could. There’s also the risk of stuffing your supply line with too many goods that would then raise the cost of storage. These products are priced to what maximizes their profits. It may or may not be outside your price range; if it is, that’s unfortunate.
- It’s unlikely that the “Start Collecting!” boxes are loss leaders, because they probably are making money off each box sold; but they serve the same purpose, lower profits on bundle deals to increase the market share.
Support the hobby
So, is this hobby cheap? Compared to other hobbies like fly fishing or Golf, yes. Compared to collecting My Little Pony and action figures, it’s way more expensive.
At the end of the day we’re supporting a universe with all of it’s stories and art. Let’s not forget the game itself. I’m not here to urge you to give Games Workshop more money; but the more you spend the more the hobby grows.
“If you like it, put a ring on it.”
