New RPods price increase

Actually fuel is cheaper now in inflation adjusted dollars than it was in 1980. Vehicles are a bit more but they have many more features and are much more reliable and safer. Fuel taxes fund less and less of our highway maintenace costs over time. It is clear that the 1980 deregulation of the trucking industry was what changed what used to be a good blue collar occupation into yet another starvation wage job, and cheap shipping is what has made the Big Box and later the internet sales corporations rich.   

If you look at the state of European society before and after the Black Death of the 1340's you'll notice that the disruption that event caused actually ended up being good for the poor and working class of that period.

There was a labor surplus before and a big shortage after. Many people took advantage of that situation to begin a slow climb out of poverty and institutional stagnation, resulting eventually in the Renaissance.

Of course the rich and powerful were unhappy because they couldn't get enough ppl to work of starvation wages as they used to, and because their control of society was shaken. That's always how it is.

You hear the same kind of thing now from the same folks so maybe this will wind up being a good thing too. I sure hope so.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a new pod, or other brand right now. I've seen on some pod models, they are sending out "unfinished" pods. They are missing some of the what should be standard equipment. I've seen some with no door window, some without the glass door, or some with different windows than normal, and some missing other parts. I'm sure they are just sticking in whatever parts they can get, and not redesigning the fit for the "new" part. I'm sure this is happening industry wide. Once things normalize, these few year models will be a "buyer beware" model. 

Much of the price increases we are seeing can be attributed to the effects of Covid on the international supply chain and how it affected the psychology of those in the domestic labor market.  People don't want to work for inadequate pay and are refusing to work in low paying jobs with poor working conditions.  

also.. "what I paid" is no indication.. Compare MSRP to MSRP...

To put that in perspective, when we bought our 177, we paid $13.7K off the lot.. The MSRP was about $20K. Right now, getting any instock unit under MSRP is probably impossible. Doesn't mean the price has gone up, or has not.. means the "deals" have dried up.. supply and demand and all that. No doubt the cost of materials is also driving the price up some also. I recently spoke to the R-pod plant manager, and it's a nightmare up there, sourcing parts, components, and materials.. and workers.

I have been tracking a couple high volume dealers for my news stats the past couple of months and a large majority of both dealers' "new" stock are actually not stock at all but back orders. Most of the major manufacturers have large books of orders for the foreseeable future. One secondary effects is less choice for the consumer looking to buy now. This, combined with labor shortages (especially the 1.4% unemployment rate in Elkhart County IN 11/21), mean higher input costs for manufacturers being passed along.