What the hell is going on with Grayhill rotary switches prices???

[Ilya]

The topic title says it all.
I've just checked the 3-deck 1 pole 12 position switch price at Mouser (71BDF30-03PAJN) and I just can't get it. 39 bucks! It was 27$ a year ago. Has anybody got any idea as to why that happened? Well, I often see such price increases here, in Russia. But given the current political situation and a weakness of RUB it's understandable. But USD is much more solid. What happened?

At this price level it makes more sence to design a workaround with an MC and a bunch of relays. You can get a boatload of relays for 30 bucks. MC and drivers are pennies....

 

[pucho812]

I wonder if this is due to any fallout between U.S. VS china and trade started by the trump administration. It has gotten more expensive to procure manufactured in Asia parts these days and the cost gets put on the consumer.

 

[Ilya]

Valid point. But I can't see how this can lead to 50% price increse though...

 

[john12ax7]

Are the grayhill made overseas?

Could be a temporary supply / demand thing.

 

[emrr]

Lots of things from Mouser are up 50% frequently.  If I look back at my order history it’s astonishing.  Many things are up 120%+ over a decade.  Lots of things appear priced as if they don’t want to be in that market, and can be had much cheaper elsewhere. 

 

[peterc]

They are also up 25% at AML.

Could  well be stock and raw material    shortages driving prices up.

 

[warpie]

They are also up 25% at AML.

Could  well be stock and raw material    shortages driving prices up.

I was checking some time back in November and the prices were already up. That's well before the lockdown.

 

[cyrano]

It's a growing trend for niche marketing. There's a lot of companies like Grayhill. They hire  consultants to find a way to grow. As they sell a niche product, growth is almost impossible.

The consultants always come up with a price hike, to generate money to develop new markets.

The reasoning seems to be "The punters will buy it anyways, at any price".

Sometimes, the consultants are wrong and the company fades away. It's next to impossible to tell how high a price the buyer will support.

 

[Ilya]

Frankly, at these price levels I'm highly motivated to take the learning curve and develop a MC/relay solution which:
a. Won't lock me to a single supplier
b. Will have predictable price

So Grayhill has almost lost me as a customer. I will probably take some other people with me if the relay solution proves to be a good substitution...

 

[emrr]

Well, yes, this is another fading mechanical technology.  The large ceramic and wafer switches were still available a decade ago, and affordable, mostly out of production or vastly more expensive than Grayhill. 

 

[r2d2]

….. What the hell is going on with Grayhill rotary switches prices???….

…only an immense huge ?

peace

ps:
made in china , , 40, 50, 60, 70,… bucks ($) , rotary switches ?
are they really not made in usa ?
another immense huge ?