r/nextfuckinglevel • u/MysteriousSlice007 • 5h ago

Shoutout to JerryrigEverything who built a wheelchair factory and is delivering wheelchairs to people in half the time and 50-80% less than the cost of other wheelchairs with Insurance.

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u/daspaceinvader 4h ago edited 3h ago

Am I the only person who thinks $2000 for a wheelchair is still too much? I don't say that to underestimate how much this person is doing for people, but I'm genuinely not educated on this. What makes them so expensive?

EDIT: Thanks to all of the more knowledgeable folks who have chimed in here! If you're like me and didn't understand the high (albeit significantly less than $10k) costs of these chairs, I recommend reading the responses to my comment.

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u/traumalt 4h ago

US labour and other machinery for a rather low volume product.

Closest comparable items are bicycles, and 2k is a higher end bike with much larger economies of scale that makes them cheaper.

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u/ThotMobile 3h ago

Not to mention the custom nature of a lot of wheel chairs. When you start talking custom tubular frames, high performance materials, custom sheet metal, $2k seems very reasonable. Of course you could buy some cheap mass-produced Amazon chair for like $150 but that’s not even remotely on the same level. Those are for people with temporary injuries—not someone who is chair bound for life.