Just a heads-up for those trying to save on shipping from the Rio store:

It seems that if you order just a tuner, shipping within the lower 48 US states is $3.95. If you order just a remote (yes, still out of stock), shipping is again $3.95. If you order a tuner and a remote together, shipping is $14.95. Funny that. I think I might be cancelling and resubmitting the two orders separately, seeing how the remotes are not there yet, anyway...

Borislav

Sounds like something tips it over into another shipping band; rather suspicious though - remotes aren't exactly big hefty objects!

Hugo

Greetings!

It is likely based on pricing. If I remember correctly, the tuner is around $99 and the remote about $32. This would put the merchandise over $130 - probably into a new band for shipping / insurance. It is probably not the size or weight at issue. My guess is that it is a raw table lookup based on total price.

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)

The empeg store works on weight. The bands are quite close together so it never makes sense to split an order into two parts.

It looks like this is not the case with the US store.

Rob

By the way, why is the remote so incredibly expensive? Does it really cost that much to make?

20 quid is incredibly expensive?

Well, no, I must admit it doesn't actually cost that much to make - we make a profit on them. Just about.

Rob

I don't think it is expensive. The RioCar remote cost $29.95, the orginal Kenwood remote costs $24.95 (from Crutchfield). You can be sure that the Rio one was made in much smaller quantities than the Kenwood one, so I think the price is good.

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Edited by andy on 25/09/01 05:09 PM.

20 quid is incredibly expensive?

Some people don't know when they've got it good...

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Well yeah, at least to me it is. 20 quid is 70 guilders, or 10.5 Big Macs according to the hamburger index. Seems a lot for such a small and simple device. I'm not criticising by the way, just curious. In fact, I just ordered one (together with a power supply and.... A TUNER!!! Woohoo!).

/Pepijn

Hi Rob.

20 quid is incredibly expensive?

Not incredibly expensive, but still expensive: The Kenwood remote is sold in many shops in Germany for about 35DM (11UKP), while the rio remote is 20UKP which is approx. 66DM.
But that is ok with me. Would be nice if it were cheaper though, but isn't that always the case?

cu,
sven

proud MkII owner (12GB blue/green/smoked, was #080000113 is #090001010)

Or another way of looking at it: the tuner costs UKP 70, it costs only three and a half times less to make the remote than it does to make the tuner?

I'm not trying to imply that you're making huge profits off of the remotes, I'm just curious what factors make the remote so expensive.

/Pepijn

The remotes are custom printed (8 screen), custom programmed devices made in very low volume. We had a lot of difficulty finding a manufacturer who was even prepared to make them for us.

Rob

Hi.

10 quid is incredibly expensive?

Not incredibly expensive, but still expensive: The Kenwood remote is sold in many shops in Germany for about 35DM (11UKP), while the rio remote is 20UKP which is approx. 66DM.

what does that work out to in cheese burgers?

Ah, the good old cheeseburger economy again. I guess you are talking of McDonnalds cheese burgers. The are around 2.70DM around here (more expensive in areas like Berlin or Munich), so that would be 13 CBs for the Kenwood and about 24/25 CBs for the rio remote.
That's still within limits for me though.

cu,
sven

proud MkII owner (12GB blue/green/smoked, was #080000113 is #090001010)

I always thought the Rio remote was cheap cuz I've seen the Kenwood equivalent in shops for 25 UKP

___________________________

Steve - 18GB Mk II Sssmokey

Just to prove I have no life, an overview of remote prices in local Big Macs:

UK: 10.5 Big Macs
The Netherlands: 12.8 Big Macs
France: 11.8 Big Macs
Germany: 12.2 Big Macs
Denmark: 9.4 Big Macs