Timelordwho wrote:
As the cases are generally aluminum, its likely price shocks resulting from those tariffs (Canada being the major foreign supplier to the US) rather than steel.
You're right. My last cases were steel so I assumed these were as well but the product descriptions say aluminum construction. Not that it changes the overall point, but my mistake.
The company states the tariffs as the primary reason for their going out of business. They are --
were -- a sort of boutique outfit for high end cases so I'd assume that their margins are tighter. But you're not going to be able to change the pricing on your $210 case to $320 and still expect to sell it. They also mention an account which defaulted on them which I'm sure didn't help but that doesn't change the fact that ultimately the materials were too expensive and unavailable as a result of the tariffs is listed as the primary cause. Also, it's not really all that quick of a time frame; we've had the tariffs for eight months now.
Tom's Hardware wrote:
Keating suggested that the tariffs began affecting the company in January. That tracks with announcements by the Trump administration, as well as when tariffs began on solar panels and washing machines. According to the Washington Post, steel and aluminum prices both increased dramatically afterwards. Keating said that CaseLabs materials went from a "high $1.50s per pound" in the fourth quarter of 2017 to "mid $2.80s now." Tom's Hardware reached out to the White House for comment on tariff effects on US companies, and we'll update this story if we hear back.
In more local news, the tariff effects are common talk in the construction industry since builders are seeing the price of steel jump dramatically and need to adjust existing budgets by eliminating work in other scopes: masonry, electric, glazing, site work, etc. It's just money bleeding out of the industry entirely since no one benefits from the high steel costs but everyone down the line gets hurt by it.
Edited, Aug 16th 2018 8:13am by Jophiel