Walmart joins the overpriced cable brigade! Overpriced HDMI and USB cables!
I used to recommend Walmart as a place to go to get decent priced computer and video cables. While they have never been the least expensive, they were never as overpriced as Best Buy and other big chain stores. That has now changed.
We were taught in middle school the basics of supply in demand. This theory falls apart when it comes to electronic cables and accessories. When HDMI connections were just starting to show up in televisions the prices for the HDMI cables were 75% less than what they charge now even though they are making way more now. Almost every display is connected via an HDMI cable and when people go spend money on a $500+ dollar TV they seem to have no problem shelling out $30, $50, even $150 for cables. The fact that a $1.17 HDMI cable will perform just as well as as a $150 HDMI cable in most situations doesn’t seem to stop people from buying the expensive one.
Walmart has extended their HDMI cable selection and the least expensive one is now $20. They have Sony ones for as much as $65!
The cheapest printer USB printer cable they sell is now $20! You can get a 6 ft. one at the dollar store like Dollar Tree. You can get a 15ft. one from Monoprioce for $1.56 .
What is funny is they sell a Belkin easy transfer cable, which is basically a USB cable with some extra hardware between them for $24, cheaper than most of their regular USB cables! The Easy transfer cable undoubtedly costs much more to manufacture and is produced in a much lower quantity.
So much for supply and demand, lets just take advantage of consumers and what they will pay because they don’t know any better. But you do now…
Article Info
- Author: Brian
- Posted on: Sunday January 16, 2011
- Under: Tech-Advice