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What are you stocking up on to beat inflation?
- Thread starter Batmanacw
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,211
I agree. I bought a used 5hp dust collector and want to plumb the woodworking side of my shop. There is no way I am going to pay the current prices for the duct work right now, they have more than doubled, almost tripled. I believe the prices are going to come back down significantly once the supply chain is back in full production mode again. The main reason I bought the dust collector is because the price was too good to pass up, the business was closing!
Buying at high prices during a panic is the opposite of my beliefs.
I did sell a couple pistols that I didn't want any more. The panic prices were too high not to.
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2013
- Messages
- 5,141
The present economy is like a beast who's hunger knows no limits. Keep feeding it and it just keeps getting bigger and nastier. Quit feeding it and it will calm down and be more manageable. This a GOOD time to just say NO to unnecessary purchases. JMHO Mike
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2016
- Messages
- 3,022
With the wild prices if you need materials for actual paying work it makes sense to stock up some, but it could bite you if you get too much. Lumber prices are one example, when the prices were rising a working woodworker might have done well to buy a month or 2 supply while the prices were rising, but if they bought a years worth, they have probably lost money.
Steel is doing something similar. I went to buy some steel tubing for a project and they were telling me their price has gone up 165% since January. Will it go back down like lumber did? I'm guessing yes but will have to wait and see. In the mean time I'm dusting off my woodworking tools and only buying steel that I need right now for something. Some of my projects can be made from steel or wood and if a steel workbench is going to cost me $600 and a wood bench only $200, then wood is looking pretty attractive. Very happy I had been hitting up the cutoff pile before the price increase so I do have a bit of a stockpile, at least for things that only require short lengths.
Gas does this all the time, cheap gas, people start to travel and buy big, less efficient cars and trucks. Gas prices get high people stay home and eventually start to buy smaller more fuel efficient cars. Less gas being used means lower prices, rinse, repeat.
Things are pretty weird economically right now. Some of the increases I can understand, lumber and steel these came about from a stagnant construction industry getting back to work. Gas prices are people starting to get out and about again. Others like the toilet paper was just good old fashioned panic buying with the help of social media.
I'm glad I don't have to make any big financial decisions right now and having to guess what an irrational economy is going to do.
Steel is doing something similar. I went to buy some steel tubing for a project and they were telling me their price has gone up 165% since January. Will it go back down like lumber did? I'm guessing yes but will have to wait and see. In the mean time I'm dusting off my woodworking tools and only buying steel that I need right now for something. Some of my projects can be made from steel or wood and if a steel workbench is going to cost me $600 and a wood bench only $200, then wood is looking pretty attractive. Very happy I had been hitting up the cutoff pile before the price increase so I do have a bit of a stockpile, at least for things that only require short lengths.
Gas does this all the time, cheap gas, people start to travel and buy big, less efficient cars and trucks. Gas prices get high people stay home and eventually start to buy smaller more fuel efficient cars. Less gas being used means lower prices, rinse, repeat.
Things are pretty weird economically right now. Some of the increases I can understand, lumber and steel these came about from a stagnant construction industry getting back to work. Gas prices are people starting to get out and about again. Others like the toilet paper was just good old fashioned panic buying with the help of social media.
I'm glad I don't have to make any big financial decisions right now and having to guess what an irrational economy is going to do.
I'm advocating buying while the prices are still affordable on some things. Not everything has gone up yet, but everything will go up and stay up as inflation is not a temporary price spike in one commodity.
Temporary Increases in particular commodities is nothing like dumping a trillion dollars of play money into the economy and devaluing the currency. These are absolutely not the same thing. Supply and demand is what drove up lumber. Every single thing we buy got more expensive after the money dump. It just takes time for it to hurt....
Copper is a good deal right now.
You can buy a 2 foot by 4" by 1/2" piece of 110 copper from McMaster, plus shipping for only $349.
I don't know how they sell it so cheap.
If you can use it and that is a good price then you should. I don't have any purpose for it.
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2019
- Messages
- 6,589
I guess if we really knew the answer to this question we could all supplement our retirement accounts....
Only thing I can say for sure is don't buy anything you can't afford now because you won't be able to afford it later either.
John
Only thing I can say for sure is don't buy anything you can't afford now because you won't be able to afford it later either.
John
I bought most of my materials last year before the run up in prices, now I will get some brass and stainless stock when I see a good deal on something I am short on. Steel prices have stabilized, so there is no rush to get anything extra at this point. I’m expecting a big crash to the market from the Chinese real estate bubble that is imploding, and when the fed screws up their response to the inflation this year, so I will wait to shop for bargains then.