Re: do not switch on when charging

Aug 16, 2010 3 Replies
J



> My friend once said, "We can't afford cheap tools". And for the most part=
I
agree. It seems that the Chinese products are priced so unbelievably low
> that it is hard to resist. Sometimes I can't understand how something can=

be


so cheap when you factor in the materials, packaging, shipping, and marku=

ps


by several middlemen to the store. Some things are actually fairly well m=

ade


and obviously required a fair amount of skilled work for assembly and
> finishing.
>
> Paul

There's half the solution to the trade deficit: STOP BUYING CHEAP GARBAGE.


This is just a special case of the bigger maxim: CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF EVRYTHING YOU DO. Evidently the Chinese have carefully considered the long-term effects of selling garbage to fat westerners. We can beat them at their game by considering the long- term effects of properly managing our resources and the environment. There's a lot of money to be made in self-denial.


-- Joe


Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
S

?? You're a Chinese manufacturer. Some random gweilo buyer comes in and demands a $3.00 spotlight, when you can make a pretty good one for $3.75 (and he claims the guy down the street is doing it-- maybe he's lying, maybe not). The quantities are attractive, so you take a sharp pencil to it... leave out the relay and a couple other parts, buy a battery from that dubious factory that's rumored to be in financial trouble (and lies about the AH ratings), use brittle regrind plastic instead of virgin for the case, etc. and you can shave it down and still eke out a profit, and keep your girls busy. _YOUR_ name is not on it, so WTF?

FWIW, the Chinese _gov't_ has not been giving incentives to low-tech industry for quite some time.

The relationship right now is more of a strategic partnership. Businessmen are more interested in making money. "Beating" someone else is only useful if it generates more profits.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

art I

ow

can be

rkups

l made

Strategic partnership? More like partners in crime. In the long term, such strategies are just expedient tactics unless they account for the true amortized cost of producing goods, from design to recycling. And you can rest assured that they pay even less attention to such "unprofitable" issues in China than they do here in the west. AFAICT the main reason so many businesses are outsourcing to Asia is that they can get away with murder, quite literally. Prices are so low because, in southern China, life is cheap. High trade barriers are one possible remedy. It's just long-term thinking: sacrifice now for a livable future.

-- Joe

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
S

be

made

Many of the costs are unknowable.

Yeah, and? It's a lot more expensive than it was 30 or 40 years ago.

Remedy? You don't need a remedy for heaven.

Hopefully they will have a prosperous future too.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required