Discussion Printers still at COVID-19 prices in India

[Pimpom]

[Moderator note: Moving thread from Computer Peripherals to Opinions & Experiences. No specific/technical computer peripheral problem.]

Here in India, most manufacturers used to have entry level monochrome laser printers for around INR 5k, then about US$70. Then COVID-19 happened and prices shot up to more than twice that. Most other computer-related products have now come back down to roughly pre-COVID levels but not printers, especially lasers.

What's the reason for this and what is it like in other countries?

 

[Barty1884]

Here (Canada), things like Printers have settled down at a 'new normal'. Prices definitely increased during the pandemic, as expected due to supply chain issues - then, coupled with inflation etc, their 'new' price is probably ~10% higher than it was immediately prior to the pandemic. Strictly speaking, current price would be a little less than old + compounded inflation, but inflation doesn't usually follow inflation the same way as 'essentials' do.

As for India specifically, I can only speculate. Perhaps these printers did not see much drop-off in sales at this 'new' pricepoint, and manufacturers/retailers are just continuing to sell at these prices, despite manufacturing costs undoubtedly being lower than during the peak of the pandemic? Supply & demand. An item is only 'worth' what people are willing to pay - if the market didn't correct, and people continue to purchase the same/similar volume as they did pre-pandemic, at the higher price.... there's no incentive for the manufacturer/retailer to lower the prices.

 

[Pimpom]

Thanks for the reply. It must be as you say: greed.
The Epson L1300, a popular entry-level A3 inkjet printer used to go for the equivalent of US$300 online. It went up to >$500 during the pandemic and has stayed there ever since.