Silver rounds have gone up about $5 this year. That's about 20%. Several forces on the currency market are trying to blow out the dollar and replace it with the Chinese Yuan. Ya think your 401k is safe, or your SS check or your pension? It will blow out real quick when it does and we will have situations in the stores that make the COVID food run look like an everyday store crowd.
As for ESUs contempt, talk to some of the ESU dealers and see what they have to say about ESUs supply approach. Check the European model railroader community and ask what they think of American model railroaders. We're a bunch of rubes as far as they're concerned. An easy mark by ESU. If their product was beef, what we get is the by-products of the slaughter house packaged as prime.
Yeah, I've been through the wringer with them when I tried to integrate ESU with my Digitrax over a year ago. Secret files, special access and variance in product properties.
If I knew of ESUs attitude a few years back, I would have never bought any ESU decoders. Now if I want to program them beyond just an address I need the LokProgrammer. Just a year ago a LokProgrammer was about $145 retail. Now they are up over $165, and that's on back order with deliver sometime in Feb 2021.