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"The key to this sort of business model is not innovation, but instead the externalization and compression of cost. Somewhere upstream, people work seventy-five
by beloch 2mo ago
"The key to this sort of business model is not innovation, but instead the externalization and compression of cost. Somewhere upstream, people work seventy-five hours a week, in conditions most readers of this website would refuse to even visit, so that the rest of us can have a cheap plastic spatula at our doorstep within five business days."
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While it may be true in some rare instances, for the vast majority of products its more likely to be fantasy that exists only in stereotypes.
The truth is why American attempts to onshore manufacturing and make it even cheaper with automation have failed miserably. The truth is that Chinese manufacturing is as automated as is possible with cutting edge technology. They build cars in factory's that don't even have lighting until finished cars reach the quality control area. This is why the North American auto sector relies on crushing tariff's and outright import bans to force North Americans to buy North American autos. Without those, you could buy a Chinese car that's better than what you drive for half the price.
The factory cranking out the one-dollar-shoes Temu sells is likely entirely automated.
TEMU sells what was made with the LLM-ification of manufacturing.
- mattmcal 2mo agoI've seen many accusations and exposes of clothing brands secretly sourcing sweat shop labor, but this is the first time I've seen anyone allege that sellers are secretly hiding the fact their clothing is made in high-tech ethical factories.
- Sprocklem 2mo agoMe too. My understanding is that clothing manufacturing is basically impossible to automate with our current level of technology, due to the difficulty of manipulating fabric.
- pineapplepizza6 2mo agoI think T-shirts are automated, that's why they're so cheap. Because it's a very simple construction.
- Sprocklem 2mo agoThey are a simple construction, but I'm not sure I've seen any evidence that their construction is automated.
- nom 2mo agoI'm sure they can't automate shirts because the super cheap ones somehow always are Made in Bangladesh. If they could use less human labor they would make them somewhere else. I believe socks can be fully automated and are mostly made in china.
- tijtij 2mo agoThere is a startup called Unspun that wants to make many types of clothing production fully automated by weaving the complete end product in place. Similar to how socks are woven today.
- Wingman4l7 2mo agoThe current way to make a "finished" clothing product is called "whole garment knitting". Only two companies make machines that can do this; designing the garments is a pain with the current software stack. Most clothing is "cut and sew" -- you make a simple sheet of knitted material and cut and sew a garment out of that sheet. It is wasteful and heavily reliant on cheap labor.
- soltanov 2mo agoMaybe in high tech ethical factories, maybe automation with cheap labor. But i think automation with robots can be possible with ai nowadays.
- simmerup 2mo agoI guess you’re unaware that brands like Shein effectively use slave labour then?
- pineapplepizza6 2mo agoLockheed has refused to share missile plans with Ukraine on the grounds that Ukraine could make better missiles for cheaper and ruin Lockheed's business. If they had said national security grounds, it would be understandable. But they didn't. They said American manufacturing is too inefficient and the only moat is keeping the designs secret.
- rootusrootus 2mo ago> Without those, you could buy a Chinese car that's better than what you drive for half the price. That seems unlikely. Businesses usually price to market, they don't pin the price to the wholesale cost. People in higher income companies are always going to pay more for essentially the same products.
- pineapplepizza6 2mo agoOnly worthwhile when you have low competition and a lot of sales in the market. By default, Americans get the same car prices that Chinese people get. Which pissed off American car companies so much they banned imports.
- yorwba 2mo agoAutomation doesn't mean there are no more people working long hours for little pay. It just means that they spend those long hours operating and maintaining machines, and are producing truly tremendous amounts of stuff compared to what they get paid. Also, TEMU isn't exactly known for selling the kind of high-value, high-volume products where a fully-automated production line pays for itself, so expect some steps to be done manually still.
- conceptme 2mo agoLook at this Ikea sells handblown glass on industrial scale the tv program went on a research how it was done on such a scale. https://youtu.be/w1AadRupGQ0?si=pzY0fS4nbh_JcUFi&t=82 https://youtu.be/w1AadRupGQ0?si=pzY0fS4nbh_JcUFi&t=82
- inigyou 2mo agoNon-tracking link: https://youtu.be/w1AadRupGQ0?t=82 https://youtu.be/w1AadRupGQ0?t=82
- eloisius 2mo agoI don’t know about the $10 temu drills, but Shein fast fashion is produced on the backs of a transient and insecure underclass. https://youtu.be/BeIkPqpVmE8?si=yWwKbmmcsHHHA0CY https://youtu.be/BeIkPqpVmE8?si=yWwKbmmcsHHHA0CY
- itemize123 2mo agowhen you make assertions that can be checked, check them please. doubly check it when it's contrarian.
- mejutoco 2mo ago> for the vast majority of products its more likely to be fantasy that exists only in stereotypes Wow. This is a sophism class in just one sentence. This is not a personal criticism to you as a person, but these "arguments" are not solid. > for the vast majority of products Quantifier-Shift Fallacy: from something does not exist to it does not exist for the vast majority. A much weaker assertion and not equivalent (also unsourced) > its more likely We are not discussing the likelihood, but the truth. You are confidently asserting something based on claimed likelihood. > that exists only in stereotypes It is just a stereotype, nothing to see. Then some comments about automated factories. As if those 2 cannot be compatible (false dichotomy). This is sophism with zero arguments, sorry. The quote you are replying to is > The key to this sort of business model is not innovation, but instead the externalization and compression of cost. Somewhere upstream, people work seventy-five hours a week, in conditions most readers of this website So we are not only talking about factories (Hasty Generalization). Delivery, for example, could be considered in that quote, as well as pollution, hand-work (most clothing garments are not automated btw) or many others. I am going to recommend a great book I read on the working conditions of a delivery person in China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Deliver_Parcels_in_Beijing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Deliver_Parcels_in_Beijing
- wodenokoto 2mo agoIt’s really expensive to automate. Talked with a guy who wanted to built automation in food industry and it turned out it was cheaper to hire a guy to push the food item into a correct position on the conveyer belt than to set up a machine to do. I imagine Temu changes things so often they’ll never get to numbers where full automation makes sense. Something something, why buy a robot when you can hire a guy for $10/hr