Re: [photo-3d] Wholesale / Retail

[Herbert C Maxey <bmaxey1@xxxxxxxx>]

>So.......with dollar stores selling everything from A-Z, products
>involving apparently higher mfg levels of sophistication, why can't a
>paper viewer be made and sold for under $2.00? An illuminated viewer for
>under $85.00?

LOW DEMAND AND LOW PROFITS! There is a lot of considerations to look at
when bringing a product to market. Demand for stereo is low, and the fact
that paper items can be made and sold so cheaply is because of volume.
Far more will be sold than would a stereo viewer.

Paper Viewers can be made and sold for $2.00 or less, but not many would
be sold because there is not the great demand. Manufacturers for the most
part, do NOT support the small user these days, and it is the bottom line
and the numbers that drive most products to market.

There are some who manufacture stuff for love not money, but that is due,
in part to the recognition of a limited market. For example, I am a
classic Motorcycle lover and lots of the parts you see in the market are
made in small runs for us - not the general public, who would have little
use for these items. Honda, Yamaha and others will not product parts for
older machines because they can't sell enough to recoup their costs. If
they did, costs would most likely be high.

I know of one person who manufacturers original glass lights for Indian.
They are made exactly the way they were originally and they sell for a
reasonable cost. Modern manufacturing could be applied but they would be
plastic not glass.

You might consider this, however: Crafts people are using inexpensive die
cutters to create anything imaginable out of paper. Dies are cheap; or at
least not outrageous. Perhaps if you want to buy large volumes of viewers
and you want them cheap, have a die made and make your own. 

I have thought about having a die made to make my own paper foldover
masks. This way, I could make them from thin paper or from stiffer
material if I wanted something better. I still might, but they would not
be cost effective and certainly not a commercial product.

If you start with a die - a relatively inexpensive one as dies go, and
you add the required paper stock, printing if desired, inexpensive
plastic lenses - you could make your own, but not at the $2.00 cost. That
would take large volumes, and the work of a manufacturer to make them.
But you would have to have thousands made.

Bob