The prices of copper has dropped from almost $4 a pound a few months ago, down to $2 today.

Is this similar to gasoline?  Will the price of track return to where it was?

 

May be the manufacturers should be shopping now for good prices on brass.

 

If the price of oil is down also, will the price of plastic also drop?

 

or are we going to pay for old inventory at high prices?

 

Dick,

 

I think it is in the manufacturer's interest to price the track as cheaply as possible.  Seeing as this is the number one item purchased for a garden railroad, it would be best to keep it as low as possible.  If that means going back and renegotiating the bulk price, then so be it.  In the long run, high track prices hurt us all.

 

Mark

Not having committed these things to memory like some railroaders but as I remember it was such a huge increase based on the expiration of a long term contract with a supplier. the news was that there would no longer be any long term contracts so the prices should flucuate a bit from year to year. Since I went looking for track last year and could find none in stock (everyone was willing to order it for me) this SHOULD mean that there is relatively little track in stock "at old prices" from now on. The reality I'm sure is quite different from store to store however and like the gas stations who are quick to raise prices and slow to lower them (still paying $3.40 as of yesterday locally) I think the story would be similar. Since Aristo has a forum amybe someone who still hasn't gotten kicked off could go ask if the pricing will be dropping again?

 

with a friend in the non-ferrous recycling business he says it's bad how fast the pricing has dropped. However a few short years ago the scrap brass & copper prices were at less than 50 cents per pound. Still beign 4 times what they were I'd hazard a geuss that prices won't drop for at least another year and likely never.

 

Chas

(who is using SS track and will still not be buying track for a while)

I thought I read some where  that they are going to change the ingrediants and reduce the amount of copper which should make the  brass cheaper to produce.

 

The the price might come down some