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If I understand correctly, our markets are flooded with cheap Chinese trinkets because the Chinese government subsidizes shipping, making it possible to sell so
by queuebert 4y ago
If I understand correctly, our markets are flooded with cheap Chinese trinkets because the Chinese government subsidizes shipping, making it possible to sell something for 99 cents online, send it across the ocean, and still make money.
This could be very easily fixed for every website like this by the US government adopting a small tariff on low-cost goods shipped from China to cancel out that subsidy. Just enough that it is no longer profitable. Something to think about.
- banannaise 4y agoOur markets are flooded with cheap Chinese trinkets because we have outsourced trinket manufacturing to China to avoid modern labor laws.
- jiveturkey 4y agoI am not an expert or a student of it, but my general impression is that it is more about hazardous/toxic waste issues than labor cost.
- mardifoufs 4y agoI thought the ePacket loophole that made shipping from China extremely cheap has been closed already
- jiveturkey 4y agoThe US subsidizes it actually. (but the program has ended now)
- colinmhayes 4y agoBut people want cheap trinkets.
- julienb_sea 4y agoSuch a tariff would have wide ranging impact. Low-cost goods are not just finished products going to consumers, it would impact intermediate products such as small chips or modules that are assembled into final products. We also have come to expect many commodity-like products to be readily available at very low cost, something that a tariff would hurt. These aren't trinkets, we're talking batteries, cables, etc produced from reputable Chinese manufacturers like Anker.
- queuebert 4y agoYes, that's partly the point. Maybe we shouldn't have so much cheap stuff. Maybe we should reuse and repair the stuff we have.
- dangrossman 4y agoThe cost of shipping individual trinkets already went up quite a while ago. What you do is import a whole crate or shipping container of trinkets, then distribute them from a US warehouse. The shipping cost on the crate/container is higher, but spread over hundreds or thousands of units inside that container.
- hayd 4y agoI remember buying an audio splitter for £0.02 including shipping from China back in ~2009.
- Barrin92 4y agoI'm not exactly sure why the Chinese government paying for the transport costs of cheap trinkets likely bought by low income consumers is a situation that needs fixing.