if you take into account the 4-5 staff months these cost to make each year, we net lost money on these
For the record, if each book-set had cost $40 or even $50, I still would have bought them, right on release, every time. (This was before my financial situation improved, and before the present USD inflation.)
I can’t speak for everyone’s financial situation, though. But I (personally) mentally categorize these as “community-endorsement luxury-type goods”, since all the posts are already online anyway.
The rationality community is unusually good about not selling ingroup-merch when it doesn’t need or want to. These book sets are the perfect exceptions.
For the record, if each book-set had cost $40 or even $50, I still would have bought them, right on release, every time. (This was before my financial situation improved, and before the present USD inflation.)
I can’t speak for everyone’s financial situation, though. But I (personally) mentally categorize these as “community-endorsement luxury-type goods”, since all the posts are already online anyway.
The rationality community is unusually good about not selling ingroup-merch when it doesn’t need or want to. These book sets are the perfect exceptions.