So the 1984 price is $39.95. That's about $100 today, the price of a P2 on sale, ($105 I think?), or about the price of a Wave.
I wonder how Leatherman's markups have changed over time. No competition back then (higher markups), no warranty fulfillment yet (higher markups), less economies of scale (lower markups). I don't know how labor and material costs have changed, but I imagine they were more expensive then? Not sure.
Already the price drops to $37.95 in 1993, about $67 today. Was this because of competition? More efficient manufacturing? Or was Leatherman just sliding down it's demand curve, and price discriminating over time? ($29.95 in 1988, about $65 so comparable.)
Anyways it's crazy to think of the humble PST as a $100 tool. No disrespect meant, I have about a dozen pst and pst ii's floating around. It's unrivaled for size to utility ratio.