Why would anyone buy a rack?

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Originally Posted by mikeandsheleen

I am not affiliated with them at all, but after keeping up with this thread and doing some research, the racks from C Serpents Reptiles are the cheapest per slot rack I've found. They come with heat tape that is in a slot so the tub does not rub on it, and they come with the tubs. Made out of 1/2 inch pvc. I think the cost for an 18 slot rack (3 wide, 6 tall shoebox tubs) with heat, tubs, and shipping was $265.
I think I've built my last rack.

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That should have been "C Serpents Reptiles and Racks" (don't know what happened)

Ok.. I want to point out that several people have already poined out how mfuch materials and time to manufacture rack cost..... Now stop and price a CNC Router... When you realize what the equpment and tools cost to manufacture these racks it is doubtful that you would want to give them away. I currently use AP racks, and hope to move up to ars racks in the future. I look at the price tag of a rack as an investment. Saying racks are to expensive is like saying I gotta ice chest who needs a refridgerator

This thread is one of those, makes me laugh threads. It is like anything else. You get what you pay for. Sure you can build racks but can you build them as good as companies that do it for a living? Can you precision cut? Do you have the tools? Etc. Its like anything else. You can drive the focus or you can drive the lambo. Both will get you there. I have a number of racks. I have freedom breeders, visions, and malamine racks and i can tell you out of the 3 types i like my visions the best because of versatility. Once you break down the materials cost your not saving a ton of money. For example to build a malamine rack to hold 11 28 qt tubs heres what it costs. 3 sheets of melamine at about 40 bucks a sheet, box of screws at 12 bucks, caster wheels at about 20 bucks, tubs at about 70 bucks, heat about 50 bucks, now you have 260.00 in materials now ad a labor rate of about 100 bucks and you have close to a 400 dollar rack which is not far off from what it would cost to buy a rack of the same size from most companies. Now granted your not gonna think about labor since your absorbing that by making it yourself but you have to factor it when justifying the argument. Now if you want to compare freedom breeders versus melamine thats just stupid cause your talking 2 totally different things. Plus have you prices the labor rate of welders? Its not cheap. Also freedom breeder tubs are not cheap. Is it cheap for someone who has the equiptment to mold their own tubs? Sure the material is but not the equiptment it takes to make em. Again you get what you pay for. If your breeding low end snakes and have a small collection then i guess it doesnt justify buying a freedom breeder but you have to look at the big picture. How much is your collection worth?

And the reason im using freedom breeders as an example is because people are talking about 1500 dollar racks versus building your own. Had to clear that up before i get crucified for my reply lol

Why would I buy a rack?

It's simple math.

My time is worth more than what the rack builder is charging for theirs.

I absolutely love how some people give their honest answer ad I agree with most of you now more than I did origionally. But to those who just post to be words I can't say its quite pathetic to see you all line up one after another to be nothing but rude about this post. I see some pretty dumb crap on here all the time and not once has it gone through my mind do belittle the poster much less multiple people doing it like a lowly cult. Just from posting this 1 thread I have lost all respect for this site and the people who post on it, give or take a handful of people who have helped me out. I really appreciate all of you. As for the rest of you who posted just to feel tough or smart olr why ever it is that people do stupid things. I pity you. Its just a thread. You act like I defaced your gods statue or something. Its quite sad.

The vibe you gave off with this thread was basically "who would be stupid enough to buy one of these racks?" That's why people reply the way they do. If someone implied that a decision you made was stupid, you'd probably be a little upset with that person too. Now, not only have you insulted their decision to purchase a rack, you are calling them pathetic for defending their decision.

I just went through and skimmed this thread again. Really, the only rude remarks I saw were from you, so I don't think this board or the people on it are the problem here.

Do ARS and FB mark up their racks? Of course they do. They are in the business to make a profit. That means charging more for their product than it takes to make it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Are they over charging? Not likely. If they were, someone would step in and bring a cheaper alternative to market. If you think you could do this as good for cheaper, why not try to bring your own product to market? You'll be able to price it however you'd like.

Keep in mind, you'll need a warehouse to store your supplies, tools and inventory. You'll need a supplier for plastic tubs and an electrician to wire up your heat strips (for liability reasons, you probably wouldn't want to do this yourself). You'll need to hire someone to pack up your racks for shipment, someone to handle your sales and accounting, someone to run your website. Oh yeah, you'll need to provide insurance and benefits to all these people. Keep in mind you'll also need to pay your taxes on the income you get from these racks.

I hope you get my point. Businesses cost money to run. Products cost more than just the materials they are made from. Nobody works for free either.

If I cannot insure my home and place of business because I decided to save a couple of hundred bucks it is completely crazy. I must admit I have found your posts to be somewhat problematic, if you don't want opinions don't ask.

I purchase my racks because I don't trust myself building something that is going to house living creatures. I wouldn't want to risk something going wrong wether it be with heat tape or any of my building. To me you can't put a price on the safety and proper care of your animals.

It would be like you building a house for your family with no real knowledge of house building... You wouldn't do that would you?

At no point did I say that anyone who has b ought a rack is stupid. Actually I said that I ould probably buy. Rack myself regarless some day and I understand why some people would by one. So maybe you should re read. I was just saying that they were overprice for materials used compared to other items in this world that cost much more to build and technology to build is all I was saying. At no point was I ever considerin that someone was dumb for buying a rack. Hey if I had the business and people bought them I would sell them at the same price as well. But there is a way to have a difference of opinion and do it with class just how you (capefearconstrictors) just did. I'm not saying I was the nicest guy in this thread cause I wasn't. And I have no problem at all with your response. I just feel that you can give a difference of opinion without being sarcastic or rude. Now if I came off s insulting to everyone and that is why they reacted this way then I am truely sorry it was not my intent. I was simply looking at racks one day and was just blown away by the prices I saw and wanted to see if other people felt the same. That's it. And unfortunately I have 1000 people responding and saying the same thing over and over. So if you feel like I was the only sarcastic person in here I would be happy to go through and point out the other peopls remarks. But I'm sure that's not needed. I honestly just stayed away from bp.net hoping this thread would just dissapear because it became way more than I intended. Well again I'm sorry if anyone felt disrespected or insulted by this post it was not my intention.