Zarlog wrote:I checked the pricing on a new model 2 and found that a 2-120 costs $2880.00. Why on earth does it cost so much? I was expecting something like $700-800 at the most, and for the model A and L $150-300. (a model A and L cost around $2000 each) Why do these cost so much?
They cost so much for a couple of reasons.
First, simply because Federal Signal knows that their target customers (i.e. Small towns for a Model 2 and factories mainly buying up the A's and L's as general notification alarms) are going to pay whatever it costs to potentially save their citizens lives or notify their factory workers that s*** is hitting the fan or it's time for shift change.
Another reason is you have to consider that Federal Signal makes all of their products in-house at their factory in Illinois. When I say made in- house, I mean the majority of the parts are fabricated and all of the products assembled right there in their factory in Illinois. That means they have to pay for the metal, then pay the costs of the machines that fabricate everything, then the worker's labor in order to fabricate and assemble everything.
It gets pretty expensive.
To cite CDV777-1's contribution to Wikipedia, a brand new Thunderbolt 1000 :TBolt: at the time cost $6,684.25
These prices were cited from Federal Signal's 1979 Product manual, if I remember correctly.
According to the CPI Inflation calculator, In 1979, $6,684.25 was worth what $22,228.17 is today.
When I was a young lad and just getting interested in sirens, I called Federal Signal, and at the time (this was around 2003), a new 2001-SRN was around $18,000.
Now, if you're looking to personally source a Model A or L, and I've even seen some Model 2's pop up sporadically, look no further than eBay. An A or L in decent shape should only run you at most a couple hundred. I've seen Model 2's go for as low as $300 and as high as a couple thousand depending on age and condition.
But, to answer your question of why they cost so much:
A. They have to cover the cost of the materials to fabricate the parts.
B. They have to pay their workers, at their own factory, to fabricate and assemble said parts and products.
C. They're one of the about four major outdoor siren manufacturers in the United States, they have very little competition.
