Wyze The Latest Group To Warn Of "Volatile" Prices Due To Pandemic

The folks at Wyze sent an email to users of Wyze products this week warning of rising prices on products. They suggested that they're seeing "huge cost increases" on "almost every material" they use to manufacture smart products of all sorts. Starting on May 18, 2021, Wyze will be increasing the cost of their products, including (but not limited to) Wyze Cam v3.

This isn't the first time the Wyze Cam v3 has had supply issues thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in January of this year, Wyze Cam v3 (then just launched) had supply issues right out the gate. It would not be a shock to see this situation (and announcements like these) appear with other similar companies in the very near future.

Wyze noted this week that cost increases have hit all parts of the manufacturing and packaging process. Plastics, metal, memory, and – mainly – silicon chips. They said they expect costs to "continue to rise" over the next year. They went on to make clear that they expect their prices "to be volatile for the foreseeable future."

In part to counteract the rising prices of parts, Wyze said they'll begin to include shipping prices with the price of each product sold through Wyze.com. In an odd bit of phrasing, they said that they "will offer "free shipping"" – with quotes around "free shipping."

In effect they'll be removing the point at which shipping charges are a shock at the point of checkout. They've suggested that including the shipping charges with the regular price should also make their prices "easier to compare to our retail partners."

This is not the first company to suggest that they'll have prices in flux in the near future due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout over the year (and the years to come). It'll be interesting to see how old companies adjust and new companies swing in to take advantage, too.