Local Source for DDR Memory

[trlists at clayst.com]

On 27 Oct 2004 dsr at tao.merseine.nu wrote:

> Memory prices fluctuate daily. A bricks-n-mortar store needs to order
> the RAM at a particular price, wait for it to be shipped, hold it in the
> store until bought, and re-order more of whichever subvariety they've
> run out of today. They have to sell at more than what they paid, even
> though today's price is 12% less.

That all makes sense and I probably would have said some of the same 
things if I had had to answer the question for others.  But I think 
it's curious that memory is this way and nothing else, as far as I know 
-- perhaps with the exception of say lettuce :-).   Maybe it is because 
when buying memory we are "close" in manufacturing steps to the bare 
chips whereas other stuff is farther away.

Why do memory prices fluctuate daily whereas others do not?  Or is it 
that others do but other assemblies are more complex and manufacturers 
absorb the variations?

--
Tom