While that word set the tone for Benjamin's future choices, today they are very pervasive. Yet, they can be a bit pricey when you consider what goes into them.
I'm looking at constructing a compact navigation light for a kayak and there are lots of materials available from the low cost Asian market. I found a W5W format LED lamp that is really just a circuit board costing under a buck. A rechargeable battery is $9. $5 for a water tight case. This all seems pretty reasonable. But I'm going to need some bits of plastic to form a light pipe/lens and to give the LEDs color. That is looking like around $5 to $20 per color and I need three! Just for a bit of plastic a quarter inch thick and about the size of a file card! This all seems to be coming from the US, no Chinese plastic supplies on ebay. Maybe I should try Aliexpress.