Sodastreams. £140 Why?

Appliance_engineer

I was thinking of getting a sodastream as we have a chilled water machine and I don't like lugging large bottles of fizzy water from the supermarket, so I want to be able to carbonate my chilled/filtered water.

I was thinking that apart from the C02 canister, the unit is basically a plastic shell with a small metal valve/regulator in the top. Maybe £20-£40 for a unit, retail, I would have thought.

Well, apparently, these now sell for £140 at Argos, and approaching £170 for higher end ones. These machines are not electrical, they don't utilise electronics, they are simply a gas canister and valve with a lever and a plastic surround.

It seems remarkably expensive for what it is. I did have a sodastream back in the eighties, and I was very poorly paid back then, so they couldn't have been priced so massively back then. I guess I would have paid the equivalent of around £30 in today's money  I certainly wouldn't have paid anywhere near £40 in today's money as it would have been a luxury I wouldn't have considered back then due to my very low wages.

And yes, I know the following comments will be "you don't have to buy it", "They can sell it for what they like" etc, etc.

My point is that something which must be so cheap to produce is being sold as if it's a complicated item. I'm assuming patents are the reason for this, but for sure, these things are massively overpriced.

I'll get my tin hat on now, the rest of you can get the popcorn.

molerat

Used to have one back in the day and had access to getting the cylinder refilled for pennies.  I can't see why they cost that much - the "budget" model is only £80 though   Gas isn't cheap either, can't seem to find a price for an exchange bottle.

sheramber

molerat said:

Used to have one back in the day and had access to getting the cylinder refilled for pennies.  I can't see why they cost that much - the "budget" model is only £80 though   Gas isn't cheap either, can't seem to find a price for an exchange bottle.

 find them on Amazon

molerat

sheramber said:

molerat said:

Used to have one back in the day and had access to getting the cylinder refilled for pennies.  I can't see why they cost that much - the "budget" model is only £80 though   Gas isn't cheap either, can't seem to find a price for an exchange bottle.

 find them on Amazon

Can find a spare cylinder but not exchange. 

Gas Exchange: Refundable deposit is not included. When your cylinder is empty, you can use it to exchange it for full gas refills in participating retailers at a discounted price

maisie_cat

Argos exchange canisters and it was about  from memory £12 last time we did it. We have an old one but I certainly wouldn't pay £140 for a replacement. I suspect they've gone the way of other "shiny things to have in the kitchen"  with the resulting price

Misslayed

We were exchanging ours in The Range - before lockdown so that may be old news. Now we have an annual contract with Sodastream, exchange four at a time, delivered, empties collected from our local Yodel drop off point. Not the cheapest way but we value the convenience. 

Grumpy_chap

Appliance_engineer said:

I was thinking of getting a sodastream 

Well, apparently, these now sell for £140 at Argos, and approaching £170 for higher end ones. 

I did have a sodastream back in the eighties, and I was very poorly paid back then, so they couldn't have been priced so massively back then. I guess I would have paid the equivalent of around £30 in today's money  I certainly wouldn't have paid anywhere near £40 in today's money as it would have been a luxury I wouldn't have considered back then due to my very low wages.

My point is that something which must be so cheap to produce is being sold as if it's a complicated item. I'm assuming patents are the reason for this, but for sure, these things are massively overpriced.

I saw a sodastream recently at Lakeland and it was a lot cheaper than £140 - I noted it as I was surprised that they were still available to buy.

As for price variance between the 1980's and now. 
Well, in the 80's sodastreams were en-vogue, fashionable and desirable.  High sales volumes probably accounts for the proportionally lower retail prices.
Today, I don't know anyone with a sodastream, nor anyone who has mentioned wanting one.  The sales volumes are probably very low.  That results in higher prices and longer stock-holding times for retailers.

From what I recall, SodaStream were not really cheap in the 1980's - as a kid I desperately thought we really needed one and my parents could not afford one.
I actually found a price from 1988 Autumn / Winter at £20:
https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no30-1988-autumnwinter


According to the BoE calculator, that 1988 £20 would be £50 today:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

Misslayed

Sodastreams are very much available now - in various colours and finishes to match your kitchen (or your mood!). I would even say they are 'well trendy', they're promoting the green aspect of reusable bottles, thus seriously reducing the amount of single use plastic sent to landfill, which was our primary reason for buying our basic model - from Lidl, for about £40 (quite some time ago, still going strong). 

Murphybear

Basic model on Sodastream website is less than £80.  The Phillips version on Amazon for £47.50 

MattMattMattUK

Appliance_engineer said:

My point is that something which must be so cheap to produce is being sold as if it's a complicated item. I'm assuming patents are the reason for this, but for sure, these things are massively overpriced.

Brading, marking and maximising profit. In general what something costs to make/manufacture matters little, businesses sell their product for the most that they can based on market conditions. 

A large coffee in a high street chain costs around £4.50, it costs less than 25p to make, with the most expensivepart being the paper cup. One can be made at home for <15p. Staff wages are the biggest cost, though they do not sit in the gross cost section.
The gross profit on food in pubs and restaurants usually sits in a 70-95% range. Meat has the lowest margin, chips are almost free money. 
A loaf of bread costs around £0.40-80 to make and sells for £0.90-4.00
The latest iPhone costs £1,199 and it costs around £420 to make.
A bottle of water costs <£0.10 p to make, yet retails for £0.90-2.50.
A designer white cotton T-shirt costs less than £3 to make and ship to the UK yet can sell for £80+.

MovingForwards

Buy a different type, rather than branded as mine was a lot cheaper than a Soda stream