"Inflation IS Now Rampant!" Topic

Wow, ran across a couple of items today, while surfing, and boy, the inflated prices for rules and "economy" international shipping is truly astounding:

First up, an old copy of the Chainmail rules, AND its not even a 1st edition copy (2nd Edition, or the price would no doubt have been higher):

auction

On the plus side, the seller will permit you to make an offer, AND does provide "FREE" (nothing is ever free) expedited shipping, so count your blessings if you decide to make a purchase.

I guess on the other hand, other copies can be found for $100 USD – $495 USD, and $795 USD, so there is that too:

auction

A "new" used car would be nice, as well as a house, so perhaps I should sell a few olde copies of unused rules I have on hand to fund that.

Nah……

Better to wait until they really appreciate in value, right?

Then of course, there's the international "economy" shipping (would hate to see what they charge for 1st Class, or Express Shipping now) for this item, which at least is not too terribly priced as a buy it now item ($53.00 for another item on sale, so perhaps this is a typo – buyer beware, just in case it isn't):

auction

Feel free to add to this list, if you run across any other "deals".

Stuff like that really does make you scratch your head.

The my stuff is gold and your stuff is poop is still rampant. It has been that way in the 1970s and has only gotten worse since the rise of auction sites on the internet.

Why does it make you scratch your head? Early 1970's era rules have very small print runs. With today's populations of roleplayers. There has to be a few Well funded people who carve have it all. Something is worth what someone will pay you for it.

A few years ago I bought a metal barrel for a 1/35 scale model. It shipped from South Korea, & was not terribly expensive to do. I need the same barrel for another project now, & went looking for it. The price is the same but the shipping went from around $5 USD to $20 USD, making it more expensive than the model I want to use it on, solely on shipping…

Damon.

$100 USD I think IS pretty crazy too, but if it is a one-off purchase, AND you're desperate for the rules, AND you have cash to burn, I can see doing that. Probably not a good idea to make a regular habit of that, unless you are Bill Gates, or the founder of Amazon.

At those prices, I'm amazed some enterprising individual hasn't worked out a deal to have the Chainmail, and/or other similar rules reprinted.

Yea, I'll be a millionaire, unless the market for used rules crashes. Probably less likely for that, since most of mine are "printed" and not on a hard drive, or thumb drive.

Yea, some international shipping is crazy. I'd like to buy some small scale buildings from Germany, but $45 USD for 4 x N-scale, plastic houses is just CRAZY, especially when that is over and above the selling price (which was reasonable). Shipping costs 3X – 4X the price of the models, sadly.

Looks like I'll be making some paper ones myself, instead, since purchasing plastic ones at full retail on this side of the pond is probably cost-prohibitive too.

I'm not sure it's inflation.

To paraphrase Rudy Nelson,

The my stuff is gold and your stuff is poop is still rampant

"Stupid is rampant."

This is how capitalist economies work. Supply and demand. Goods and services are priced on what people are willing to pay, not what they cost to make/run. I am still baffled how Uber can lose so much money but still be in business.

I know, on the "inflation" issue, though that definitely IS occurring on the international shipping front. Rates for that have been far exceeding normal inflation, while at the same time, the price of oil, jet fuel, and gasoline are dropping, or staying fairly stable.

I was using hyperbole.

I'd be careful with eBay auctions. Often people ask for ridiculous amounts that no one ever pays. I've seen the same item put up every month by the same seller for ridiculous amounts that obviously no one paid. As the saying goes "You can charge whatever you want, but getting paid is a little harder."

@Thresher01

That's why I tend not to buy from outside Europe anymore, too expensive.

At the end of the day – whatever is offered is worth what someone else was willing to pay for it.

There are people out there – that do list the same item over and over for months – but sooner or later you should be able to realize there are no bites – so either move on to a new pond or change the bait on your hook. Nice and simple :)

sometimes ebay is used for money laundering .

Actually, BGG has a great feature that shows the recent selling prices of board games, which can be very interesting. I know that all of us have seen old SPI, GDW, etc., board games that go for $100 USD-200 and think, "No way would anyone pay that much for that game!", but then you would be wrong. I was surprised how much some items sold for.

Y'know back when I was just a wee bairn, I started collecting sports cards and would get real excited when I found one that the book I had said was worth $100. USD My father, pragmatist that he was, popped my balloon with a simple thought. It is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. Doesn't sound like much until you actually think about it. It doesn't matter how much some book says its worth if nobody is willing to pay a unreasonable and ridiculous price, then, its not worth much now, is it?

Tell you what. I have a copy of Chainmail, with the silver cover, I'll let you have for $2,000. USD Cause I'm that kind of guy.

"Collectable" prices do not represent inflation. They are, perhaps, an indication of mental health or the absence thereof. Drive-thru games is selling a PDF of Chainmail for $5 USD, or you could compare the 1971 price with what you'd pay now for Dragon Rampant.

You want real inflation? I remember when comic books went from "10 cents" to "Still 10 cents" and thinking it was a bad sign. I was right. They went through "holding the line at $2.99 USD" and are now running $3.99 USD or $4.99 USD." THAT and not the current auction price of Avengers #4, is inflation.

Hi

Robert has it right but also miss a point. DC comics Sold 9 Million copies of Superman Comics in 1940's at .10 ( with a much smaller world Population) Today 50,000 copies is a good print run. Supply and Demand.

Quite true, Wackmole. Higher production numbers would lower unit costs somewhat. (Same thing holds for board games, of course.) But when we're calculating what I can buy for an hour's labor--which is a valid measure of inflation--it only matters that the price has gone up sharply. I figure an overall US inflation rate of 1,000% between landing my first paid work in the 1960's and retiring in 2013, mostly in the 1970's.

I'm not sure, by the way, that even a nine million copy production run would get me a $1.00 USD Fantastic Four or Batman next week. Another outlier is paperback books. The 1950's standard was $2.50 USD for a hardcover and 25 cents for a paperback. Today, a $25 USD hardcover would be more or less right, but I'd expect to pay $7.99 USD for that mass market paperback. I've no idea why.

Pretty close. Cumulative US Inflation 1960-2013 is between 700% and 800%, depending on whose calculator you use (that is what methods and assumptions they put into it).

The peeps at the BLS are pretty good, I have a high degree of respect for their professionalism and process. And in my experience, they're very good at alternating turns picking up the tab at the bar after work.

This one is based on CPI:

link

And gives 768% cumulative from Jan 1960 to Jan 2013.

There are links and follow-up links to the CPI definition and data they used in the gonkulator. It makes me sad when this or that political party takes BLS data out of context because they do such a good job to provide it.

" It doesn't matter how much some book says its worth if nobody is willing to pay a unreasonable and ridiculous price,…"

I have an unopened box of Star Wars Dixie cups (from the '70's), which the "collectible" book said sold for$5. per cup. Last time I checked on eebs, they had boxes full for the same price. I'm glad I didn't plan on selling it to fund my retirement… ;-)

Thanks, etotheipi. Yes, there's always some slippage in any inflation calculation. because prices don't always move in lockstep. The man whose primary interest is books experiences a somewhat different inflation rate than the person whose primary interest is clothes. And I think the BLI itself pointed out the difficulty in calculating improvements in quality, or the impact of new inventions. (Edison once said "I will make electric light so cheap that only the rich will afford candles." What adjustment do you make for a brighter light, never having to trim a wick and no tallow stains?)

But politicians take everything out of context--events, statements, actions. I don't think we can carve out an exemption for the BLS.

Good grief! I'm rich – I have the first edition. Mind you its a bit tatty and has a nice round coffee cup stain dead centre!

inflation calculations are always subject to discussion. The basis is equivalency, and quite simply a loaf of bread is not a loaf of bread. Beyond equivalency of commodities, equivalency of conditions also comes into play. Look at the 40 year span we are discussing there was a gas crisis, a stock boom, and a .com bust just to name a few.

The good bit about the BLS is they do a good job of telling you what something means. So you're perfectly capable of changing the conditions if you want.

I have the first edition. Mind you its a bit tatty and has a nice round coffee cup stain dead centre

Are you sure that's a coffee stain?