Hi Dark: Oh, yes. Any time something is developed for the blind, is marketed as an access product, the cost is insane. Not because it costs that much to actually make it, but because we are a captive minority market.
As you mentioned the novelty key ring finders only cost perhaps $5 USD if that. In fact I use to have one where I could whistle and it would start beeping to help me locate my keys. Since it was marketed as a novelty item it was real cheap. I am sure if it was made for the blind, marketed as a specialty item, I'd be looking at a key ring that costs at least $50instead of $5 just because you can multiply the cost by a factor of 10 being a specialty item. I know when it comes to card and board games they definitely cost a lot more than their mainstream counterparts. I think a deck of braille playing cards is like $19 when a sighted person can go to Dollar General or Family Dollar and get a standard deck for a dollar. Something like Monopoly is about $50 for a braille set when a standard Monopoly game is between $19 and $29 depending on if it is standard Monopoly or a collectors edition. However, I agree that even excluding material costs I don't think it actually costs that much to produce accessible products. At least not the cost we have to pay to get them from In dependant Living Aids, RNIB, whatever. I know for a fact that the actual cost of making some of those products is a fraction of what they actually charge for it. Cheers! On 12/4/13, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi tom. > > Well while I agree on material costs, at the same time as you said yourself > > the markup is frankly insane on access products, because it's a captive and > > small markit manufacturers of accessible goods and providers of accessible > services basically charge through the roof. I think the worst I ever saw was > > a device composed of an infra red sensor and buzzer. The idea was you could > > put the sensor on an object or your seet etc, and press the buzzer to have > it bleep so you could locate it at a distance by hearing. > > yes, a very handy device, ---- but not at £350, ---- that is around 600 usd! > > Heck, I know very little about electronics but even I! could make a guess > about how the circuites in those worked, and don't they sell novelty key > ring finders that do the same thing for about 1£10? > > In fairness this isn't just with blindness, wheel chairs, hoists and other > equipment for physically disabled people is just as ridiculous, also there > are some accessible devices which aren't gougingly priced. I was quite > impressed for example to find that the pen friend labelling system I use > cost exactly £50 for the initial unit, and packs of 500 labels would cost > another £7. > > Of course annoyingly the rnib won't actually let you buy packs of just the > > size you want and only sells two basic selections, but there you go. > > Still this shows not everything accessible has to be insanely expensive, > even if the raw materials will put the price up somewhat. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
