As a courtesy I will reply to your post but the answer is that I don't think it's appropriate to discuss pricing strategies.  Also, I'm not sure that I would consider +/- a couple of pennies per mm as being "significant".

Customers are welcome to purchase rails that work best for them based on their specific needs.  If pricing is a consideration in your purchasing decisions, I would recommend buying the least expensive per unit length and joining them to the desired length.

Thanks.

shipping [2cents]crating it can or will double the cost how do i know  i own two 5000

i agree with you frank.
i think it is very appropriate that we discuss festool pricing.
i hope this is not a sign of things to come on this website.
that would be most unfortunate......

regards, justin.

My apologies if I should have dumped this thread  in another header... If that be the case, then moderators feel free to do what you do.

Shane, if it makes you feel any better I say the same thing you said about stainless steel nails. the difference in the cost of a nail is insignificant. Problem is, I cant buy a nail, they come in a box of 5000 and the difference is $75. That's a tank of gas

Just because we are buying the best tools and know it (on both sides of the equation), does not mean that we should not be saavy about it. I am doing what consumers do, whine about a high price with the hope that maybe, just maybe, the manufacturer will back the screw out just a little.

............... in the meantime, can I have some more kool-aid?

This is a total shot in the dark, and I could be wrong.  So lets say we are cutting a room full of baseboard.  We cut the longest pieces first, because if we screw up we can recut them as the shorter pieces and not waste material.  Since the guide rails are all one piece, there may be a higher percentage of process waste for the longer rails.  If a long rail were damaged, it could be salvaged somewhere in the process to make one or more shorter rails.  We still wouldn't have a long rail, so we would have to try again.

Also, with a long single piece rail there may need to be greater care taken in the manufacturing process, leading to possibly more expensive tooling and higher labor and inspection costs.  We don't know all the factors, but I would venture a guess that as the rail gets longer, it becomes more difficult to manufacture and there is some variable(s) that effect the cost.  I'm sure increased shipping and shipping damage rates figure in there somewhere as well.

I just made all this stuff up, so again, I could be completely wrong and who knows what the truth is.  

One thing I know for sure is that it is much more difficult to pull my long rail off the shelf and position it for use without bumping into something. I think the same holds true for manufacturing long components. The risk of damage is higher at every step. Add the shipping costs; we only see the cost getting it to our door but Festool has to get it across the pond and into their locations as well. Lastly, there is the economy of scale. Certain sizes are going to be made in higher volumes and it certainly isn't the long rails.