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Somehow skateboarders don’t understand inflation. Cost of labor, materials, shipping etc constantly goes up and you expect the cost of a skateboard to be the same as it was in 1989? Realistically a skateboard should cost 100 bucks right now if you consider how many hands it has to go through to get to you. And all those hands need to make money to survive.
it's not hard to understand inflation, but board prices didn't go up until covid hit
The price of materials, WOOD, in particular went sky high and has not come down. The cost of a sheet of plywood has increased close to 300%. That hasnt come down much and will not due to legitimately less and lower grade wood.
Skateboards are made out of “canadian maple.” Thats what we want for crisp, snappy wood. Maple is expensive and harder to source, again, source of lumber are fewer, throw in the wildfires of Canada the past few years, and lumber futures (forest tracts in particular) being traded as a commodity on the stock markets and you’ve got higher, exponentially higher prices across the gamut of all wood based products.
We just bought 150 16ft clapboard boards of a non-wood based siding for the job I am on, it’s made from coal ash, and it cost $12,539. Traditional cedar clapboard would have been 50% higher or more.
Wood products will only become more expensive. Maybe skateboard companies were really doing us a solid selling boards at such a low price all these years.
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All I’m hearing is “fuck supporting the skate industry”. Buying sale decks helps no one but you. Maybe helps clear the skate shop rack of the crap no one wants, but margins on decks is so minute that that’s not even really supporting the shops. Skateboarding is dying again, so unless you don’t give a shit, go buy something at retail and help out the shops and companies so they can continue to exist.
Take that holier than thou shit out of here. Most people ain’t got money like that these days and even if they did it’s none of your business how they spend it. When companies are charging $80 on average + grip for a board than maybe the industry should die again. I buy softgoods from companies I support at my local or online and blank decks straight from the distributor. Some people have dependents and a shit ton of bills and needs. Preach somewhere else
Industry should die again? Ok, youtube dude. Mom and pop skateshops are what will be dying.
i like the local skate shop and want it to stay open another 27 years, so they can keep the real shit alive for the next generations. Full price shop decks are still leas than the $52.50 we paid for years.
YouTube or not, I got a family and can’t justify spending $80 every 3 weeks on a board, if you got it like that more power to you. I still support the local shops and like I said, I buy soft goods from companies I support.
Plenty of people have a family and mouths to feed, no doubt, and plenty more are stocking up a “freezer” full of extra cheap skate shit. And most people dont need a new stick every 3 weeks. They want one. It’s a product of excessive consumption.
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Topic: Who’s buying decks at retail? (Read 6380 times)