>>10183567cost of materials do matter, but have you ever noticed who is the one that talks about it? Hasbro. Mattel. Bandai. Wall Street.
Because they're beholden to stockholders and always have the expectation that revenue/profits will outdo the last year/quarter, they exaggerate the effect.
These companies are raking in billions of dollars a year, in profit, yet they can't ever make as much money as last year, muchless less than last year. But you hsould know this story about publically traded companies by now.
In addition, the higher the position in sales a company is, the more pressure theyre under. So a company like Hasbro has to over-correct, faster and wider, than a company like Jazwares.
Hence Hasbro being the only major company right now selling children toys for $25.
And this isn't to say that Hasbro is wrong to charge as much as they do, because that's nothing but hippie poorfag nonsenses. Hasbro is a business and businesses exist to make money. This means that every company in the market will eventually reach the same price as Hasbro. How soon? Depends on the market, economy, and a variety of other factors.
No doubt, Hasbro hit the $25 (from $23) price point because of shipping costs going up 500%.
Other toy companies remain pre-plague prices despite that, likely hoping that that shipping cost would go down eventually.
Did it? Yes, but prices are still elevated and delays are a costly bitch. So even a company like McFarlane will have to raise prices as well. No doubt, there are various contracts in place made pre-plague that have helped them from overpaying too quickly (shipping, handling, manufacturing, etc), but those will run out and a new price will be negotiated, if it hasn't already.
Also, retailers can also dictate prices too. No doubt, Walmart and Amazon are taking note of how well $25 MLs are selling and seeing how that compares to sales from the past 5 years.
