Saddle Prices

[EdD]

All things considered, I'm glad it's feathers and not food that have shot up in price.

Ed

[Fatman]

Mick

If they're down to $200 they've come way down. I saw a few Half grizzly go for 800-900 US on ebay. If I had PayPal and a Ebay account I would have sold all my saddles, it could have paid medical bills. I still have plenty of capes and for me right now I haven't been able to tie so it wouldn't have mattered.\

[mickporter]

Mick

If they're down to $200 they've come way down. I saw a few Half grizzly go for 800-900 US on ebay. If I had PayPal and a Ebay account I would have sold all my saddles, it could have paid medical bills. I still have plenty of capes and for me right now I haven't been able to tie so it wouldn't have mattered.\

Hahaha I am talking ?'s Sterling, although I don't think the differential between $ US and UK ? is that much anymore ............. (the ? = Pounds. For some reason this board changes the symbol to a ?)

You would be much better keeping your feathers and moving to the UK where medical care is free!! Sorry to hear that your health is preventing your tying. When I was ill recently, I cheered myself up by watching the videos from here http://www.youtube.com/user/DavieMcPhail I am sure maybe you can at least find some pleasure too.

[whatfly]

And here it is- straight from the Chief Grader. The wholesale prices that Whiting charges dealers have gone up only slightly in the recent past, and that's to cover the cost of business increases, such as chicken feed and employee raises.

Sorry, not buying this. The spike in the price of saddles I can understand due to demand, but the similiar rise in the price of capes is more than just a matter of economics. Does anyone have a record of how much Whiting capes have gone up in the last three years? Pretty sure even if you factor in increase in energy and feed costs, the price jump we've seen this year is not so easily explained.

The shop I cited is actually selling BRONZE capes CHEAPER than anyone else I can find, so I must conclude that the silver capes are competitively priced. The argument that the retailers are gouging strike me as a bit disingenuous. The silver capes are now more than gold capes were two years ago...and gold capes appear to have dissappeared altogether, probably because no one wants to stock them at the prices Whiting is asking. And whatever happened to the platinum capes? Must assume same story. If someone cares to provide the historical record of wholesale and/or retail prices on Whiting capes over the last fives years, we might then have something more concrete to discuss.

Whiting has the right to charge what the market will bear. And tiers have the right to stop buying their products until such time as they become affordable again. If they do not, then alternatives will be sought. It is a real shame because I think Tom Whiting has the best product out there but at current prices I will not be recommending his products to any of my students, and I encourage other fly tying instructors to follow suit. As I said in previous email, I am going to remove hackle from the ciriculumn completely, until such time as the issues of cost and availability are finally resolved.