Tuesday, September 29, 2015

No Inflation Huh?





Buying used Rail Road ties is something I do almost every year it seems. Not many mind you. I think I purchase maybe three or four every few months for various projects. I used six or so to line the driveway in front of the barn a couple years ago. Used another six or so to hold the gravel under my mother's little cabin project. etc.

I kinda have a thing for keeping loose material contained and establishing borders for the driveways and such.

For years now used ties have always been $8.00 each if I had to resort to buying them at one of the local lumber or hardware stores. I also pick em up used here and there from private sellers for cheaper prices but that supply rarely coincides with my immediate needs. As it turned out I only had one extra tie laying around and needed four more to finish the edging for the wood chips I had been leveling out.

My plan was to pick up a few extra ties for whatever future projects I might need em for. They also work well for corner posts in a pinch too and I have that last fencing project coming up soon too.

So I hooked up the big trailer and went to town.

Rail Road ties are now $12.00 each.

That's a 50% price increase in less than a year. Actually less than 9 months and the sales guy told me they been twelve bucks for a while now.

That's just a ridiculous price increase in my opinion.  Needless to say buying them at the lumber places is now not as much of an option as it used to be. I didn't mind paying a few extra bucks for them but damn. Of course I am sure private sales prices will soon rise to meet the bigger store prices as well.

I can remember when they used to be a buck a piece. Hell I can remember when people couldn't give em away.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!




10 comments:

  1. If the railroads are like everything else, they may be putting more resources into benefits of executives and pensions and not doing as much actual work so there could be a shortage of ties that have been replaced.

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  2. We used to have a friend that worked for the railroad & he got them for us for free. We lined our driveway & put leaves down to keep the dust at bay. The leaves would eventually pile up along the ties & I once or twice a year I would take a shovel & scrape away. One day while scraping I saw a huge pile of earth worms. I thought I would relocate a handful of them to the back garden. I scooped them up in my gloved hands & as I was walking back to the garden I realized they were opening & closing their mouths. About a millisecond later I remembered that earthworms don't have mouths. I was holding about 20 teensy baby snakes! Yes, they went flying after that & yes, I screamed like a girl.

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  3. $8, crikey they cost a good £15 to £20 each here in the UK. Particularly since it became trendy to build raised beds with them! Fortunately having a forest meas I never buy timber. Unfortunately it means I get to do the work making into timber!

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  4. PP,

    Those rail road ties have gone up in price. I've stopped using them all together.

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  5. They are on Craigslist here for $20 a piece, used! I'd say you got a deal!

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  6. ok I an still thinking ewwwwww on DFW's comment!!! YIKERS...

    It amazes me all the time at how much so many things have gone up in price!

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    Replies
    1. Texan, That was over 30 years ago, when I was just a yound newlywed & I still remember the ewww feeling today!

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  7. I think RR ties are trendy. With gasoline leveling off in price, and a really mediocre "booming" economy. manufactured goods would normally come down slightly in price. Which isn't particularly helpful if your one of the folks who hasn't seen a raise in 5 years.

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  8. Also factoring into the "missing inflation" is the growing number of people who rent rather than own their dwellings and the increase in that rent especially in urban areas.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-21/mystery-missing-inflation-solved-and-why-us-housing-crisis-about-get-much-worse

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  9. When my neighbor asked me to help her remove the 24 RR ties she had around some of the daylilies beds she was removing, I was more than happy to help. When she asked if I wanted them, I was more than happy to take them. A bunch of them made a nice base barrier around my new chicken run.

    ReplyDelete

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