Thanks for noticing the piece count. I think there's an argument to be made that $.10 each is steep for little molded pieces of plastic bought in fairly large lots, but it is at least comparable to other Lego sets.
Given that Lego is a privately owned Danish company that seems to be a pleasure to work for, I’m quite happy with the pricing compared to alternatives.
I think most of their bricks are made in China though and if it's compared to Cobi who make all their bricks in the EU they really are expensive. Also, from what I've heard their brick quality seems to be somewhat fluctuating.