justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/07/13 at 10:20:20:It cant be cheaper to buy somehting from china and have it get here, than it will be to send it 300 miles ...
Like I bought a set of billet grips - 12 bucks shipped form china.
If I wanted to ship that to someone 200 miles away ... $12. WTH ...
A conundrum Ive pondered many times.. Look at what can be had for a $20.00 a W-mart, from CHina,, How is it possible to obtain raw materials, run equipment, pay labor, pack, transport to a freighter, ship it, take it off the ship, put it on a truck, send it to Omaha, It just doesnt make sense,,I can buy a hand held mixer for less than $15.00, it has a motor, a switch, a housing, beaters & wisks, a cord,, & its shipped a long way,, How is that even possible? I dont see how that can be done if theres a magic machine that uses no energy, requires no raw materials, never breaks down & needs no one to run it poopin those things out
one every minute.. just boxing them up & shipping them & distributing them & putting them on the shelf otta cost enough to make that impossible,,
Not my point ... in a container full, with a ship full of containers all destined to Walmart they can get it ... there is mark up in everything you try to make ... your metal 2000%, tools 500%, etc etc etc ... so you can never make anything (almost anything) for as cheap as it is @ walmart ... economies of scale my friend ...
Where the math works on the container full ...
Doesn't apply to 1 box.
Chinese post gets it to say NYC or DC for an item to get to me. That box travels 400-600 miles via USPS to get to my door.
That same box I send it just that 500 miles, and it costs more than the item + shipping
Cool.
Srinath.