Jester I agree with everything you said. As a matter of fact I sometimes wonder how something can be manufactured, packaged, shipped and a dealer buy it and resale it for the price they do. Volume helps but it is not the whole answer. I am just thankful to have the options I have when making a purchase. No matter if its RC stuff, guitar equipment or guns and shooting stuff I also like to mess with.

What also surprises me is how a model shop like Roys can sell servos for less than what they sell for at Tower. The difference is if I have a big enough order the shipping amount is less than the gas to drive to the hobby shop. And even small orders from Tower have a lower shipping amount than in the past. I go to Roys just because I feel I need to support the local guy. And they sell stuff Tower doesn't carry like the Sig Seiorita kit I picked up a couple of months ago.

I paid $400 for that first Kraft radio I bought from Johnny Cashburn. That was just over a weeks pay for me then. A simple entry level computer radio if available in 1979 would be thousands of dollars in that day. Now that my work status has changed the price of a 6 channel Futaba computer radio is only a couple of hours of work. But I still watch what I spend. I was poor far too long to pass up a bargain or get something to do the job for less money as long as it does the job.