T Nation

Price/Lb of Weight Plates Up? Drastically.

Off Topic
#1

A live near a cpl scrap iron yards, and in the past I have stopped by an worked out deals w/ them that if they get weights; olympic or standard, that I would buy them. (Also any racks/benches they might get)Well I need more weight for my home gym so I figured I’d hit the scrap yard see if they had any for me, an I also check local flea markets an pawn-shops.

Well the scrap yard, pawn shops and flea markets don’t have any @ all right now. And I need more plates so I figured hit the local exercise equipment shops an just buy a few new 45lbs plates.

I like to fell on my back when I seen the prices.
$38.25 to $43.65 for a 45lb plate.(thats w/o tax also) Thats 85 to 97 cents a lb.(dependant on which shop I’d buy from)Thats also jsut reg olympic plates, not w/ those that have grips cut out, those are actually more expnsive.
I remember when I first started buying an setting up my home gym, avg cost was 40 cents a lb an thats about what I pay @ the scrap yard currently.

Whats the avg price ya’ll pay now in your area; for those of you that have home gyms an are buying weights.

#2

cost of iron has risen 50% in the past year, add to that the cost of shipping from China and the 300 lb weight set you could buy for $100 is now $150.

I’m not finding much used either.

#3

not sure about price rises but the other day when i went to the local cd store theres a “health” shop opposite well it pretty much just sells weight machine combo’s, the one’s with lat pull down and bench combo, i had a look at the plates its $4 a kilo. so a 20kg plate costs $80

#4

Calibrated Ivanko plates (PLing plates) are $156 a 25kg plate. About 4 years ago, I payed 115 or so. The 50kg plate is $270. I remember when the 50kg was cheaper than two 25kg. I need another pair of 25kg, so I’ll be spending 300 + shipping. That sucks.

I stopped buying regular plates when “405” turned into 420 when I actually weighed the plates. I’m guessing the bar is 45 lbs.

How much are 45 lbs bars now (the crappy ones)? I payed 150 for 2 of them. Whats that now, 90-100 each?

Thats a few years ago, but just gives you an idea of how much the price has gone up.

Oh, the Ivanko bar I bought in 2004 (I think thats when I got all my ivanko plates too) was 410 bucks. Its now $590. Excellent bar, the knurling never does and rips the paint off of everything it touches. Worth the cash then and is now an investment. I wouldn’t lose money if i sold it today.

The cost of everything is shooting up. Gas just went up $10 a barrel to something like $138.45 I think.

#5

Yea. raw material prices across the board have skyrocketed so get used to the higher prices on the finished products. i saw a posting on another message board about how York Barbell significantly raised their prices.

I looked at their pricing sheet and there were som pretty significant jumps. i you’re in the maret for gym equipment and find a good deal i say buy it now cause it’s just amtter of time before the price is jacked up

#6

Locally, $.99/lb is pretty much the norm. Fucking crazy.