Dropping Gold Prices

[chengerz]

I'm planning to order a gold Brannen, but gold prices are dropping. Should I wait and see if the company drops its prices or are they unlikely to drop its prices?

[cflutist]

I'd like to hear what Joe B or FG18 have to say about this.
The cost of materials is one thing, but labor is another factor.

[fluteguy18]

I think it's probably more of a question for Joe. I know that the last batch of price changes I saw seemed to show stabilizing prices for gold flutes even though the cost of materials were going down. I think cflutist hit it right on the head. Decreasing gold costs but rising labor costs (only because of a weak economy). But beyond just the basic equation of two costs going in opposite directions and seeing very little change in the last set of prices released in January, I'm not entirely sure to be honest. I've only seen it from the retailer side of things and not the manufacturer side.

[musicgeek]

I would think the manufacturers would take more advantage of the drop, keeping more of the profit, at least initially, instead of passing it on to the customer.

If gold continues to drop, I would assume we might see a slight drop in flute prices maybe in a year or so.

[JButky]

I'd like to hear what Joe B or FG18 have to say about this.
The cost of materials is one thing, but labor is another factor.

It's a lot more than that. It depends on when the Factory needs to buy gold, has the funds available to buy a bulk order supply, and guesses at what the future might be like. Gold prices have moderated, but not really stabilized as I see it. With the market being as volatile as it is, it is most likely to remain as it is for a while longer. Timing wise, If a maker has need and can buy gold at a dip, they'll still maintain the gold flute market price, because all the flute companies are not buying on the same day. Gold flute price is industry price and they don't want "to leave money on the table." The company will try and buy low if it can. The market price is what it is.