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Just pointing out that the lettuce costs what it does because of logistics. It’s fresh where you expect it to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cost of growing

Just pointing out that the lettuce costs what it does because of logistics. It’s fresh where you expect it to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cost of growing the lettuce is less than 5% of the cost. My dad used to comment often on how it always baffled him that 90% of the cost of anything involving steel beams in his construction work was just moving the beams.

saulrh 3y ago
Also reliability and consistency and efficiency. Growing one head of lettuce in your yard is easy. Growing fifty million heads of lettuce a year, year round, every year, rain or shine, summer or winter, in sickness or in health, without it consuming 20% of your entire population... Yeah.
hettygreen 3y ago
Sure... but is there not a bunch of logistics related to procuring the hundreds of parts in the TV's bom, organizing international shipping, distribution and sales required to get the TV to the exact same grocery store as the lettuce? The lettuce is grown in my own country and is already picked and tended to by low-key slave labour (migrant workers).
- comfypotato 3y ago
  Not in comparison. That was my point, actually, that the logistics situation for lettuce is much different. It’s mostly in the time value, but the ratio of value to weight/volume is also much lower (which is going to result in logistics affecting the price a lot more). The biggest factor is that the clock is ticking for the lettuce going bad, and also that it needs to be refrigerated at every step along the way. Logistics are expensive! It’s the difference between night and day when time/refrigeration doesn’t matter. The logistics involved in getting a TV to a grocery store is nothing in comparison. There’s no risk factor for delays (this risk is incorporated into the price of lettuce) and the total time between manufacture and floor-display doesn’t matter. I meant steel beams as an example of logistics with special constraints. In the case of steel beams it’s extreme total weight/size/shape.

saulrh 3y ago

Also reliability and consistency and efficiency. Growing one head of lettuce in your yard is easy. Growing fifty million heads of lettuce a year, year round, every year, rain or shine, summer or winter, in sickness or in health, without it consuming 20% of your entire population... Yeah.

hettygreen 3y ago

Sure... but is there not a bunch of logistics related to procuring the hundreds of parts in the TV's bom, organizing international shipping, distribution and sales required to get the TV to the exact same grocery store as the lettuce? The lettuce is grown in my own country and is already picked and tended to by low-key slave labour (migrant workers).

comfypotato 3y ago
Not in comparison. That was my point, actually, that the logistics situation for lettuce is much different. It’s mostly in the time value, but the ratio of value to weight/volume is also much lower (which is going to result in logistics affecting the price a lot more). The biggest factor is that the clock is ticking for the lettuce going bad, and also that it needs to be refrigerated at every step along the way. Logistics are expensive! It’s the difference between night and day when time/refrigeration doesn’t matter. The logistics involved in getting a TV to a grocery store is nothing in comparison. There’s no risk factor for delays (this risk is incorporated into the price of lettuce) and the total time between manufacture and floor-display doesn’t matter. I meant steel beams as an example of logistics with special constraints. In the case of steel beams it’s extreme total weight/size/shape.