Originally Posted by
mconlonx
But figure in all the other costs vs. the actual material cost and plant time for manufacturing only the helmet and then the actual helmet manufacture becomes a very small percentage of the overall cost: Packaging, assembly, shipping, warehousing, misc. overhead. And then you get into distribution which adds more shipping, warehousing, and overhead, on top of distributor markup. Same thing at a shop. Once it hits shop shelves, divide retail price by 10 to get a rough idea of total manufacturing costs -- that $50 helmet probably cost the helmet manufacturer $5 fresh off the manufacturing line, without shipping.
Originally Posted by
mrodgers
Just to manufacture it? About $1.50/lb or less I would guess for polystyrene. It doesn't cost any more to manufacture a $50 helmet at a bike shop than it does to manufacture a $15 helmet at Walmart.
Packaging, assembly, shipping, warehousing, misc. overhead. And then you get into distribution which adds more shipping, warehousing, and overhead, don't cost any more for a $50-200 helmet than any $15 helmet available at the big box outlet. Nor do the more expensive helmets provide any better protection, only more markup/profits to the merchandisers up and down the distribution line.
Perhaps advertising costs promoting brand recognition and monetary "incentives" paid to media outlets and retailers may be more for the pricey name brand products.