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Television The Almighty Buck

TV Prices Are the Highest They've Been In At Least Nine Years (cnet.com) 87

Posted by BeauHD from the supply-and-demand dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Pricing right now on TVs is the highest since at least 2012," says Stephen Baker, vice president of Industry Analysis at NPD group. "Holiday pricing overall is likely to be at least $100 above normal. Last year the average price of a TV was $363 during the fourth quarter, which is fairly typical over the last few years. This year our forecast is for the average price to be approximately $500." For a lot of shoppers a $500 TV sounds pretty affordable, but that's the average of every TV sold in the US. The majority are entry-level models with small screens and modest features that bring down the average. [...] TVs come in a wide range of prices and sizes, and the higher average selling price will impact smaller, cheaper models more than larger, more-expensive ones. In fact, high-dollar TVs are selling better than ever, which of course helps drive up the average price. "Sales of TVs over $1,500 are at record levels, and sales of TVs 75-inch and above are performing much better than the overall market," says Baker.

The good news? Inventory this holiday season likely won't be a problem. "Right now we don't expect significant shortages in TVs," says Baker. "While the port blockages are a concern, there are a lot of choices in the TV market. So if consumers can be flexible around brand and screen size, availability should be sufficient." He adds that over the last few months TV sales have been tepid, which allows TV makers to build up enough inventory to deal with the holiday rush. So what does all of this mean for TV shoppers? Traditional holiday price drops will still happen, but maybe those $100 doorbuster deals won't be as common. "There will be price drops, there will be promotions, the calendar does not disappear," says Baker. "But all of those pricing activities will happen on products priced substantially higher than in previous years." In other words, midrange and higher-end TVs, the ones selling at a historic clip, are still likely to see plenty of price reductions in the next couple months. In fact, some are happening already.
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TV Prices Are the Highest They've Been In At Least Nine Years More

TV Prices Are the Highest They've Been In At Least Nine Years

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  • As is everything else (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RhettLivingston ( 544140 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @12:45AM (#61912531) Journal

    Yep, inflation is here. Since it really began in earnest in July 2020, I've seen a huge increase. I can't think of any expense category other than my property taxes that hasn't gone up with most increasing by at least 20%. As soon as the reassessments come around, the property taxes will join the rest. Even the simple things like a can of generic peas are up 20%.

    IMO, it will continue until it devalues money enough to cancel what the fed pumped into the economy to prop up the stock market. Maybe it's less painful than the market crash that would otherwise have to occur to bring stocks back in line with a reasonable multiple of real value, but it certainly isn't as fair. We're all paying for saving the market, but the lowest income brackets don't get to pay it out of discretionary funds since they have none.

    • It is true to the extent that you don’t have any personal long-term debt and if your income and savings/investments don’t grow. The people hurt most by this are the boomers, but as a group they still have their homes and that equity is helped by the real-estate market that is also playing catch-up.

      For my company, our average raises this year were 10% (on an average salary of about $110k in California). Average starting wages were up about 15% from $65k to $78k.

    • With most of my money wrapped up in stocks, 401k, property, and cryptocurrency I almost don't even care about the inflation. Tech salaries are blowing up too. I'm not even sure it's due to the fed pumping anything. It's more from a new behavior in the market. People leaving minimum wage jobs means you need more money for that so is that really inflation? Is it really inflation when the market is absorbing price shocks from shipping delays and shortages? It just seems like a little bit of cash is being pulle

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vyvepe ( 809573 )
        Less wealthy have higher proportion of their assets in cash. Inflation hurts them more. Big companies have little value in cash compared to other assets. Inflation hurts them the least.

        • Less wealthy have higher proportion of their assets in cash. Inflation hurts them more. Big companies have little value in cash compared to other assets. Inflation hurts them the least.

          In addition, the money companies do spend is for things that carry or increase value over time (if the business plan works out). The less wealthy, unable to buy investment grade things like land or 'means of production' are conned into destroying their financial beachead on things like big televisions, automobiles with seven year loans or streams of pricey experiences. The "gap year" is a good example of how to fall behind your contemporaries without even realizing it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What are we suppose to expect? There's a 20% tariff on most Chinese goods. As MOST economists that aren't Trump buttlickers, have stated, these tariffs that the importer is paying is being passed on to the consumer.

    • Re:As is everything else (Score:5, Interesting)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @04:23AM (#61912807)

      Yep, inflation is here.

      Except that's not at all what this article is about nor what is the underlying cause of the headline. TVs didn't go up because of inflation, they went up due to a glut of higher end models hitting the shelves as manufacturers take advantage of excess disposable income caused by people who spent less and horded more during the pandemic.

      That same shitty cheap TV is still there on the shelf, there are just more high end models standing next to them, and they haven't increased in price.

      • TVs didn't go up because of inflation

        You've got it all backwards. Things don't go up because of inflation. Inflation goes up because things are more expensive, for whichever reason.

        • No you have it wrong because you are thinking in terms of specifics.

          Inflation is caused by general price increases. Not because of TVs, or HDDs, but general across the board. This is all part of a multivariable equation that is economics which also includes with it the supply of money.

          Inflation can cause things to change price.
          Things changing price can cause inflation.
          TVs has in this case to do with neither.

      • That's assuming the same shitty cheap TV is actually in stock. Because of the chip shortage, when manufacturers had to scale back production, it's the cheap shitty TV's that get cut because the margins are better on the higher end models. Same thing is happening with other things, like automobiles. Prices, as in average transaction amount, goes up - and hence inflation.

    • stocks will crash later like they always do, on top of the inflation. The Fed Reserve: fucking up since 1913
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Your basics are definitely scoring different than mine. A gallon of milk was $2.79 for me in summer of 2020. The same milk at the same store is now $3.49. The generic canned vegetables I buy are up around 20% across the board. Eggs have gone from $0.88/dozen to $1.39 last week. Beef is dramatically up since China is back to buying all of it they can. Pork is only up 5% and chicken has held steady. Those are the only two items I buy in groceries that I can see that aren't up dramatically. My car insurance we

  • No problem (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @12:50AM (#61912537)

    My 2012 LG is working fine. As long as it keeps functioning, it'll be at least another ten years before I replace it.

    • As is my 2011 Panasonic Viera plasma TV. Shame that plasma was discontinued, as it has much better contrast and picture quality.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Ormy ( 1430821 )
        I used a Panasonic VT30 plasma and said the same for years about the picture quality. After upgrading to a flagship LG OLED this year I realise how wrong I was. The blacks are blacker, the contrast is much better, the picture is much clearer. 1080p content looks much better on the OLED because the TV internally upscales to it's native resolution of 3840x2160 and the inbuilt upscaling in TVs is much better than it was 10 years ago due to much more computing power available. 60FPS native content does look

      • Re:No problem (Score:4, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @08:26AM (#61913173) Homepage Journal

        I have a 2012 Panasonic Viera plasma, I think that was the last year they made them.

        It's good but OLED is superior now. OLED does better at HDR and with detail in very dark areas of the picture. Plasma pixels are driven by PWM but the entire screen shares a single supply voltage, which is determined by the brightest pixel. That means it can always do 100% black, but if there are bright areas of the scene it can't do many shades of near black. It also means you get some flickering in certain scenes that are just on the threshold of a voltage level transition.

        • Plasma has a big downside in that it doesn't render the screen in one go which depending on the exact colour / brightness / pattern being displayed can lead to visual flickering despite the fact that it does it at quite a high speed.

          There's a great video of a plasma in slow motion here: https://youtu.be/omuRkUFnnv4?t... [youtu.be]

    • Re:No problem (Score:4, Insightful)

      by antdude ( 79039 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @01:33AM (#61912601) Homepage Journal

      Same with CRT TVs & the connected DTV tuner boxes (thanks FCC).

    • Re:No problem (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @03:06AM (#61912687)
      My 2009 42" Samsung is still working perfectly. Hope it lasts another 12 years. My next "TV" purchase will be a signage screen to avoid the "smart" crap.

    • Same with my 2013 55" full-hd plasma (Samsung, but I advise against Samsung since their after-sales was horrid). It has a much better picture quality than all LCD/LEDs I've seen so far. It's only issue is reflectivity during the day. The only affordable tech that has as good image quality so far is OLED, however they are even more reflective! So I am waiting for something that is actually better overall before switching. Maybe micro LED or something? We'll see.

  • Fuck the debt losers.

    Fuck them.

    Stop punhising the fiscally responsible.

    Ugh

    • Re:STOP . PRINTING . MONEY (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @04:00AM (#61912773)

      Stop punhising the fiscally responsible.

      In a democracy, that will only happen when the fiscally responsible are the majority, i.e., never.

    • We are not printing money as such, it is just replacing what is lost.

      The problem is an interest rate below inflation which is basically universal income for the wealthy (anybody able to get a loan below inflation), the more money they can loan the more money they can accumulate.

  • It depends on your metrics: average screen size is much larger today than it was 9 years ago as well, and average price per square inch has gone down significantly, especially on the upper end of the market. A 75 inch TV cost a LOT more 9 years ago than they do today.
  • I just payed $6 yesterday for a pack Oscar Mayer Hot dogs! and the rest of the meat Department was devoid of anything else high tv prices will not do that much harm high food prices and lack of avalability will lead to food riots
    • No wonder you feel ripped off. You should have gone with the Hebrew National or Nathan's brand.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jsicolo ( 863775 )
      You can buy a 48 pack of hotdogs for $8.99 from Costco. How can there be starving people in the world when you can get a hotdog for $.18?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dusanyu ( 675778 )
        not every part of the country has a Costco I live in a small college town in south east Wisconsin to give you an idea the population of the town doubles when school is in session the only store in this town is a Early 90's Small Walmart that they managed to shoehorn in a small grocery department into without expanding the size the store had asked to expand but it goes to referendum and is shot down because the people locally hate Wal-Mart (but are force to shop there anyway because there is nothing else) A

  • Cheap! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dhaen ( 892570 ) on Thursday October 21, 2021 @05:24AM (#61912915)
    When colour TV started in the UK (1967) a colour TV cost more than 4 months of the average wage. Even with the price rise you can buy one for less than 1 week earnings.
    • My parents got a 26" TV in 1976 (with a remote! so it was the most expensive model), and it cost approx. (price converted using today's exchange rate) $1000. Today I can get a pretty decent 65" for the same amount, not inflation adjusted. Adjusted for inflation, I can get a 85" QLED TV.

      So TV is not the luxury it once was.
  • No they aren't. A 55 inch tv is £400 In 2012, a 55 inch tv would have cost you a hell of a lot more.

  • The summary and article both say:

    TVs come in a wide range of prices and sizes, and the higher average selling price will impact smaller, cheaper models more than larger, more-expensive ones.

    That's so arse-backwards it makes me doubt the author's maths abilities. The average selling price does not "impact" the price of TVs. It is the prices of TVs and the numbers sold that determine the average selling price.

    • Historically, more individuals needed television sets as decent alternatives did not yet exist. Nowadays, folks at most want (not need) one TV set and all the rest can be serviced by pocket/tablet-sized computers and their integrated screens. You're completely right about how those averages really work. I suspect prices will continue to go up over time, with or without a semiconductor/chip shortage, simply because a TV set is less of a commodity than it used to be. .
  • What is the best option of a good tv which doesn't cost a fortune but still works fine. Need one. Would appreciate some advices)

  • Like so many products, I have a feeling flat screen televisions are getting designed to only last maybe 5 years or so before failing?

    This has long been the case with major appliances. Ask anyone old enough and they can tell you stories of refrigerators purchased back in the 1960's or early 1970's that are still running today. (My mom has an old Kenmore one from around 1967 in her basement. Totally covered in rust at this point and looks terrible, but still keeps food and drinks cold.) Same story with cl

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