I suspect that a typical framing shop costs a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to operate, and they probably frame only a relatively small number (1000?) of items a year. The customer is paying not for materials, but mostly for rent and other overhead. Like furniture or suits, if a standard off-the-shelf item is acceptable, it is going to cost 5 to 10 times less than the custom route.
I can understand how a frame can cost $300 or more. 1) Custom work requires manual skilled labor, as opposed to standard frames, which can be mass produced with machines. 2) Customer service costs: I can pull my $5 Walgreens frame off a shelf, but a custom frame requires a sales person to take measurements, discuss prices and materials, and to deal with customer complaints and special requests. 3) Materials vary wildly in quality and rarity. You’re not going to get plywood for $300. 4) Costs of marginal improvements in work quality increase at an increasing rate (basically for every kind of products - cars, watches, art, etc.) 5) Expensive frames probably use better techniques to hold the structure together and preserve the document. 6) The “prestige” cost of having your frame built in a reputable store. $300 frames probably have higher margins than $20 frames, just like Porsche has higher margins than Kia. However, you probably do get a product of higher quality to justify most of the cost.
As for the “acceptable” argument, that of course depends on the customer. A $30 Timex watch is good enough for people who are in the market for that product. This does not mean there should be no buyers of $5000 watches, which perform the same mechanical function.
^ While I can understand that. I think it’s pure BS. I won’t go $5 walgreens… but will go $50-70 range
I guess my implicit argument is that there are expensive luxury versions of any kind of product. If a particular person does not want to buy the luxury version, that generally means that his utility is not aligned with that product. The product itself is not necessarily irrational (or as you put it, “pure BS”). Given my $5 Walgreens purchase, I obviously do not value expensive framework. This does not mean that I don’t understand how another person could be a frame enthusiast/fetishist.
I just see it as a totally useless waste of life and energy. Imagine a carpenter spending 10 hours sculpting a chair with hand tools and chisels and wanting $40 per hour for his work. I would much rather pay for a machine to sculpt the pieces for $5 per hour, and have some guy put it together. If you want to buy into the “hand-crafted” marketing BS that salesman milk you with, you pay for it.
I did not mention “hand crafted” at all, other than what is needed for custom work. But anyway, how is that different from any other luxury item? For instance: 1) Luxury watches with mechanical movements that are less accurate than Quartz - basically, every Rolex, IWC, Patek, etc. 2) Cars that can reach 150 mph 3) Diamonds 4) Sports game tickets when TV exists 5) Any kind of artwork Or, for that matter, $70 picture frames when $5 frames exist. You made a general judgment of a product that does not cater to you, generalizing your utility to that of other people. You also drew an arbitrary value line between $70 and $300, instead of say, between $30 and $70. To that, my point does not change: unless something performs an essential function (for instance, food or oxygen) utility cannot be generalized between individuals.
Well what about: A happy ending massage from a girl resembling quasi-modo vs a happy ending massage from Adriana Lima I bet you could generalize that utility between individuals. (unless they are blind I suppose)
You can only generalize that between individuals who already have similar utility - in this case, heterosexual males. If I were to ask you if you would prefer to be massaged by a mildly ugly man or Arnold Schwarzenegger (young version), would you have strong feelings either way? What if you were a horny woman or a gay male?
This thread has gone weird. I’m happy with my $300 frame and it looks great hanging on the wall in my office. I consider the $300 a small investment compared to the 1,500 hours I spent studying to earn the charter.