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Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

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Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#21

Post by kmlx »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #18
tablespoon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

This is pretty evident across the board. I loved my toys as a child so i kept a lot of them. Plastic was way better. The one they have now is super shitty. I go to toys r us and I am disappointed constantly. I'm ready to pay a decent price, there is just nothing worth (beside lego probably)

if you want great toys i recommend shops that stock old toys. they of course come at a premium, but the quality is generally much better. places like mandarake in tokyo come to mind, but there are many out there.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#22

Post by hackyhacky »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #18
tablespoon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

This is pretty evident across the board. I loved my toys as a child so i kept a lot of them. Plastic was way better. The one they have now is super shitty. I go to toys r us and I am disappointed constantly. I'm ready to pay a decent price, there is just nothing worth (beside lego probably)

Modern Transformers are amazing. Way better than in the '80s.

You have to buy the collector-targeted stuff, though. The current line is called Legacy. If you are willing to pay, the Masterpiece line is also excellent, and there are fantastic third-party transformers as well: these have lots of metal, ratcheting joints, complex transformations, and usually cost over $100, up to $300. I will plug https://tfsource.com/

Avoid the kiddie-oriented lines (Cyberverse) and the mass-market lines (usually co-marketed with the most recent movie).

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#23

Post by mc32 »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #18
tablespoon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

This is pretty evident across the board. I loved my toys as a child so i kept a lot of them. Plastic was way better. The one they have now is super shitty. I go to toys r us and I am disappointed constantly. I'm ready to pay a decent price, there is just nothing worth (beside lego probably)

Tomica is another choice.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#24

Post by sircastor »

xwdv wrote: post #15
jacurtis wrote: post #10

Can't say the same about LEGOs. The LEGO company just raised prices 10-25% across the board. Glad to see Hot Wheels resisting the temptation to gouge customers and stay timeless. Top-selling LEGO sets (those between $20 - $70) got hit the hardest with inflation this year. Looking at the newly released sets coming out Jan 1st, there are several new sets priced at $30 that would have previously been $20, so you could a…

LEGO can charge this much because it’s one of the rare toys you could actually pass down for many generations. They also have a growing market of adults that are willing to spend a lot more for sets they buy for themselves rather than for some kid. There is no reason for them to not optimize their prices.

I think we’ve seen this across a number of Toy lines. For instance, I’m quite interested in Hasbros Masterpiece line of Transformers, which sell in the for hundreds of dollars a piece, and are massively more complex than the child-focused toys.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#25

Post by spicybright »

tablespoon wrote: post #16
monero-xmr wrote: post #4

We have hot wheels from my brother-in-law’s childhood and the cars made ~30 years ago are much higher quality. All metal, better axels, just feel more hefty. The new ones are mostly plastic and the axels are like cheap paper clips. They weigh significantly less. I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shitt…

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

Just for some anecdata, I like buying hot wheels for desk toys every so often.

They definitely feel light and cheap, but still roll really smoothly and straight. From reading up on their history, I recall that was the main innovation that made it so popular. It's neat they kept that going!

That said, I'm not a kid crashing them together every day in a sandbox, I just fiddle with each every few days for maybe 3-6 months or so at a time before switching out to new ones.

So your mileage may vary (ha) depending on how taxing you are on them.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#26

Post by dang »

Related:

Hot Wheels: Little cars are big business - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33655937 - Nov 2022 (15 comments)

The Hot Wheels Design Studio: How a Real Car Gets Turned into a 1:64 Toy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550264 - Sept 2021 (39 comments)

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#27

Post by saulpw »

dangus wrote: post #20
sircastor wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t want to minimize the work of engineering the product design of Lego sets, but my goodness Lego sets are shockingly expensive for what they are. It feels to me like they should be 50% or less the price they tend to retail at - it’s not hard to understand why the Chinese knock-off sets were so popular.

The knockoff brands have issues fitting together due to lower tolerances and QA issues. [1] [2] LEGO bricks are built to a completely insane tolerance for a children's toy. 10 micrometers, according to the company. Have you ever found a single LEGO piece that was defective and didn't fit into another one snugly? I've been playing with them for 25 years and I don't think I've found a single one. IMO, LEGO is expensive…

Good points about tolerance. LEGO wasn't a nerdy toy though; it had the same mass-appeal that minecraft did/does. Also this LEGO ad from 1981:

https://imgur.com/xwAsW56

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#29

Post by Spooky23 »

tablespoon wrote: post #16
monero-xmr wrote: post #4

We have hot wheels from my brother-in-law’s childhood and the cars made ~30 years ago are much higher quality. All metal, better axels, just feel more hefty. The new ones are mostly plastic and the axels are like cheap paper clips. They weigh significantly less. I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shitt…

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

My parents kept all of my cars from the 80s and my brothers from the 90s, so my kid plays with 50 years worth of them.

The shrinkflation was between 1980 and early 2000s. The cars today are cheaper, but not junky. They are raising their margins by other means now. That low price point exists, but with a much smaller number of cars. When I was a kid in the 80s, there was 50-100 cars at the same price. Now there is much less, but the cool cars are often branded and may be 2x-3x the price.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#30

Post by Caldwell-77 »

tablespoon wrote: post #16
monero-xmr wrote: post #4

We have hot wheels from my brother-in-law’s childhood and the cars made ~30 years ago are much higher quality. All metal, better axels, just feel more hefty. The new ones are mostly plastic and the axels are like cheap paper clips. They weigh significantly less. I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shitt…

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

I actually think the cars are still decent quality. I’ve bought a number of them for my 4-year-old son recently, and we have a lot of fun racing and crashing them. They’re holding up well so far after months of daily use.

And even if the quality of Hot Wheels has gone down over the years/decades, I think it’s awesome that each car still only costs about $1. I can easily afford to buy one or two cars every time I go to the grocery store with my son, which makes the shopping experience much more fun for both of us. If the cars were 10x the price, then I couldn’t do that.

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