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> From past experience, NGOs are rarely buying the cheapest things available off Alibaba. They tend to work with large, enterprise-y vendors, which certainly do
by verisimi 3y ago
> From past experience, NGOs are rarely buying the cheapest things available off Alibaba. They tend to work with large, enterprise-y vendors, which certainly don't charge that way (regardless of the ultimate source of the goods).
Of course. Did you think NGOs were there to benefit others? That is just words. They take a more administrative role for managing things - but do so with a charitable status, to lessen the tax burden. Look at any of these foundations - Bill and Melinda Gates, or whatever - these organisations are simply undertaking the preparatory work, to assist greater corporate control.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoIt's mostly militaries and NGOs like the Red Cross that handle rapid disaster response, so I think clarifying that NGOs don't buy random stuff off AliExpress is a valid response to someone asking why they're paying more than AliExpress prices.
- semiquaver 3y agoThe AliExpress comment is meant to be indicative of the approximate global wholesale price for the type of product being compared against. The article claims it’s as much as $200 at quantities of 1000, which simply is not true in the real world, where it is more like $10-20. If it’s an innovation to be able to provide a cardboard bed at a production cost of $17 each, then surely it would also be worthwhile in some cases for NGOs to consider cutting their cost base even lower for a more reusable product.