Reloction isn't free either and there are "implcit secondary standards" for the work beyond just the nominal task such as infastructure, literacy, and scale. Ev

Reloction isn't free either and there are "implcit secondary standards" for the work beyond just the nominal task such as infastructure, literacy, and scale. Even if anyone can put widgets in boxes they may only need very unskilled labor for the task other aspects like "able to read the numbers to know how many to box up" are included. The labor may be technically cheaper across five towns of 200 but a larger factory in a big city could be more efficent because you can muster larger workforces quicker. A national standard would have merits but more in the sense of scale - it means less friction from adapting to 1 different standard instead of N different standards. It is simpler but has the downside of being low for expensive locales and high for cheap locales and the trade offs that apply to both.