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kaiser wrote:

Orange wrote:The Hearing Aids we sell are made in the good ole USA... I'm sure most of the parts that is used to make a Hearing aid circuit is not... But as far as assembly of the circuit board, all the internals, the shell, the faceplate, etc... MADE in the USA.

are they affordable?

Of course they are. If I told you what a set of hearing aids cost, you probably would not think so though, I thought the same thing when I first came into this industry.

Hearing aids can't be outsourced because of the customize type of features in them. Dealers have to have a turnaround of at least 3-5 days also and that can't be achieved through China. So every hearing aid sold in the US is American made... Same goes for say Germany or Britain.. They also have places that make them inside their borders.

my old man (rip) went through hell with hearing aids, i know they can be pretty damn expensive.

i think his last set was in the 4k range.

Well damnit, at least we have the corner on helium!

kaiser wrote:my old man (rip) went through hell with hearing aids, i know they can be pretty damn expensive.

i think his last set was in the 4k range.

My last set was 4k . Even came with a remote control.

When the re-re comes out(I'm gonna eduspeculate early/mid summer ), it will be interesting to see if any new/old aftermarket hop-ups become available.

Those were cheaper ones. Ours range from $3000 to $8000. We have some that connect blue tooth to TV's.

Some people forget about noises that they didn't really care for when they could hear normally, then when they get hearing aids get to hear that stuff again. Unfortunately we can't make them only hear what you want. That's what makes some people have problems. They aren't perfect... Kinda like glasses.

It makes me sad to see some people that need them but won't, be so disconnected from family. Heck, some insurances pay for them... But really, is there a price for better quality of life?

I have to say, if we could outsource to china, prices would not change much. And I doubt they could do it cheaper with shipping charges attached. It's not like we order in bulk. It's ordered piece by piece. We keep just 2-3 sets on hand in stock. (Behind the ear type obviously). The best part of our business is the near zero inventory we have. Batteries are mostly it and we give most of those away for free to people who buy from us.

askbob wrote:When the re-re comes out(I'm gonna eduspeculate early/mid summer ), it will be interesting to see if any new/old aftermarket hop-ups become available.

I like that word! I'll have to remember that one!

What, whatcha say? Let me turn my Chinese hearing aid up...

hawgfanman wrote:

askbob wrote:When the re-re comes out(I'm gonna eduspeculate early/mid summer ), it will be interesting to see if any new/old aftermarket hop-ups become available.

I like that word! I'll have to remember that one!

Yep, that's a $10 word for sure

Maybe RPM and MIP will follow and reissue some of their old parts

Orange wrote:Those were cheaper ones. Ours range from $3000 to $8000. We have some that connect blue tooth to TV's.

Some people forget about noises that they didn't really care for when they could hear normally, then when they get hearing aids get to hear that stuff again. Unfortunately we can't make them only hear what you want. That's what makes some people have problems. They aren't perfect... Kinda like glasses.

Interesting, I didn't know hearing aids and the industry was your day job/business. Not sure but maybe you're on the other side of some of the market dynamics in the last year and a half stemming from a very low cost entry into the market that changed things up significantly for the players offering those $3k plus devices? I'm involved with that somewhat in my day job.

In reference to one of the earlier comments someone made, outsourcing is not always about increasing profits which states the situation rather too simplistically. Actually in many cases, outsourcing can be a competitive response to maintain margins or even stay in business. After that there aren't too many levers left to pull without a wholesale market exit or launching a radically different or significantly cheaper product. But to the point, it can also be in an effort to raise margins.

Not going to go into a huge response on an earlier comment about executive wages and "what's fair". Last I heard, in America you have the freedom to make a little or a lot of money, determined by hard work, taking risks, and also luck without anyone constraining your upside on arbitrary fairness principles.

Most of those cheap offerings are junk. We buy them and have them and use them to compare how inferior they are to what we sell. We actually welcome them to try and make a better cheaper thing because those things actually help us sell hearing aids,

Even implants help us sell them.... Actually. the only thing that has slowed us is the economy. I don't know about St. Paul, but here in AZ, there is a hearing aid dispenser on every corner, hell there is 9 others just within a ten mile radius of our office, not counting all the ENT doctors that sell them too... So anything that is cheap and innovative has to compete with the same things we compete with. None of that scares us, we are in the process of opening another office and buying 5 offices in Tucson,

I think someone needs to start a new post on hearing aids!

Sorry,

mikea96 wrote:I think someone needs to start a new post on hearing aids!

WHAT?!?!?!