Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 213 posts

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#101

Post by user5994461 »

weiming wrote: post #76
hashbig wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask, why are you specifically looking for a spoon that isn't made in China?

Assumption (partly from personal experience) that products may be more likely tainted with unknown or harmful substances for the sake of cost cutting somewhere in the pipeline.

I feel your pain, recalling the last time I moved out. Buying anything on Amazon is a disaster.

Friendly tip. Go to a local supermarket or department store and get what you need there. The item will for sure come from a normal manufacturer/brand and satisfy the local regulations against toxic plastic and stuff, even if it was made and imported from china.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#102

Post by vesinisa »

reaperducer wrote: post #81
nextos wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not entirely true. In the EU, there are lots of tags that guarantee product safety. CE marks (for electronics), OEKO-TEX (safe textiles), GOTS (organic textiles), etc. The US has some equivalent ones I am less familiar with. In fact, both OEKO-TEX and GOTS are global standards. Some Xiaomi products have not been imported to EU because they failed to obtain CE marks. And you'd never encounter a product that sme…

In the EU, there are lots of tags that guarantee product safety Like all those EU-compliant logos on the 1TB SDXC cards that sell for €10? Totally legit.

Of course such tags are completely irrelevant without the effects of the jurisdiction that aims to secure their authenticity. In particular, when buying online from overseas you have very little guarantees of what you'll actually get, unless you are familiar with the brand and/or merchant.

Things are different when buying domestically at a retail store. Retailers have supply chain or import the products themselves. Importing and selling products that violate safety standards, or products that show safety marks like CE without authorization, is not in the retailers' best interest, since the Customs Agents will come down hard on them. As large monetary sanctions are the only effective way to deter corporations from breaking the rules, the fines/reparations are proportional to the volume of the illegitimate products sold.

Not to speak of the civil liability when some kid gets electrocuted thanks to the hazardous phone adapter your company imported.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#103

Post by pbhjpbhj »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #63
fuzz4lyfe wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And you'd never encounter a product that smells formaldehyde with an OEKO-TEX label. These guys will put lead in children's toys but would never be so unscrupulous as to put a fake label on the product? Or lie to obtain certification?

I don't know about manufacturing. But for food products people get prosecuted all the time by trading standards. My friend who works for them has a lot of interesting stories to tell. One story, she visited a local pub and asked for a dairy free ploughman's, the waiter asked if she would like butter on her bread. My friend waited for it to be added, then she put the whole meal, plate and all into a plastic bag and to…

>the waiter asked if she would like butter on her bread. My friend waited for it to be added //

I've heard stories like this before. It sounds a bit stupid on the part of Trading Standards (TS).

Waiter: "Do you want butter"

Customer/TS agent: "Yes, please"

Then the TS agent prosecutes you for putting butter on their food. Well why did they ask for butter. I mean, I realise that people are sometimes absolute idiots but I don't think you should prosecute restaurants for serving what you ask for.

A story in our local press was that the TS agent said "no peanuts for me as I have an allergy, I'll have the lamb bhuna, ..." and then they ordered a load of dishes - as you would for a family - and they included in their order "chicken satay". They specifically asked for it.

Guess what the restaurant did, they gave them what they asked for. And Trading Standards prosecuted them and made them out in the press to be evil.

Now to me it sounded like the person was ordering a bhuna with no nuts and a load of stuff for other people, if they're stupid enough to order a nut dish isn't that their own fault?

I don't know what's happened to personal responsibility but the expectation for businesses to coddle people has gone too far IMO.

/rant

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#104

Post by 55555 »

nkozyra wrote: post #2

Amazing to see an anecdote like this trotted out as newsworthy. There are three total data points and two of them are incredibly vague. Honestly, this feels a bit like propaganda.

It's a company using politics to get free press. Nothing new here.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#105

Post by bigiain »

nraynaud wrote: post #49
nextos wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not entirely true. In the EU, there are lots of tags that guarantee product safety. CE marks (for electronics), OEKO-TEX (safe textiles), GOTS (organic textiles), etc. The US has some equivalent ones I am less familiar with. In fact, both OEKO-TEX and GOTS are global standards. Some Xiaomi products have not been imported to EU because they failed to obtain CE marks. And you'd never encounter a product that sme…

CE mark is a self reported thing. TüV and UL are more reliable, but they are still a minimum standard of safety, not a sign of quality.

Are you talking the Conformite Europe Mark? Or the all but identical China Export Mark?

(Now I'm expecting some Bitcoin "investor" to jump in with "blockchain all the certification marks!" as though that'd solve the problem of people not caring...)

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#106

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly »

obmelvin wrote: post #73
flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But it's a lot of trouble to find high quality items these days. I want to own few things and keep most for the rest of my life. I concur on both fronts. Might I suggest you check out thrift or second hand stores? I have a collection of old aluminum cased power tools made in the mid 20th century in North America, and I think the most I paid for any one of them was $12 CAD. They look amazing. You can take them apart…

Any tips on how you identify such items that are worth buying? Those tools sound like an amazing deal.

It's tougher than it looks.

Especially so with newer Chinese made products actually adding lead weights inside their cheap plastic cases to make their cheap products feel as though they were cut from a heavier cloth.

Some rules of thumb that I have when it comes to buying old power tools are:

Does it look like something your grandfather might have owned?

Is it of all metal construction? If not, are the plastics of a high enough density to make them almost as indestructible as metal?

Does it plug directly into the wall? And does it work?

If you can answer those questions in the affirmative when it comes to any power tool, chances are it is of good quality.

The best way by far imho however is just to get out there and start looking.

After a few months, you'll begin to notice lots and lots of exactly the same items showing up in the same shelving sections.

The same kettles, the same breadmakers, the same drills, the same table lamps, most all of them having been made in the past 20 years and currently knocking on death's door.

Once you've seen enough of that crap, when a quality item displays itself in front of you, you'll know it's a great deal and snap it up with excitement.

I love thrifting.

Good luck out there!

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#107

Post by [deleted] »

threeseed wrote: post #84
jimmaswell wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think allies are going to be permanently "alienated" by one president's remarks.

"Once bitten, twice shy" as the saying goes. For example, the EU has acknowledged that their unflappable trust in the US alliance can no longer be depended on. And they are taking steps to move towards a more independent posture in particular on defence.

[deleted]

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#108

Post by james_s_tayler »

nraynaud wrote: post #49
nextos wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not entirely true. In the EU, there are lots of tags that guarantee product safety. CE marks (for electronics), OEKO-TEX (safe textiles), GOTS (organic textiles), etc. The US has some equivalent ones I am less familiar with. In fact, both OEKO-TEX and GOTS are global standards. Some Xiaomi products have not been imported to EU because they failed to obtain CE marks. And you'd never encounter a product that sme…

CE mark is a self reported thing. TüV and UL are more reliable, but they are still a minimum standard of safety, not a sign of quality.

I know "blockchain all the certification marks!" we can call it "ChainOfCustodyChain" $$$$$$$$$

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#109

Post by [deleted] »

baroffoos wrote: post #55
mymythisisthis wrote: post #23

Bicycles are something that you need to be careful buying. Don't buy a BSO - a Bicycle Shaped Object. Just because it looks like a bike, doesn't mean you can comfortably ride it. An entry level bike is about $1200. You can comfortably ride it for hours, or up hills, carry a heavy load, it won't easily break, and it'll have a smooth ride. I feel bad for people that go out and buy a BSO; BSOs ruin cycling. We need to h…

An entry level bike is not $1200. Thats a mid range high quality bike. If you trips are short you can be totally fine on a $400 road bike. I would just avoid department store bikes that are typically under $300 but are built to look like high end mountain bikes. The suspension on them is totally useless and makes it ride worse than a bike with no suspension.

[deleted]

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#110

Post by bigiain »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #31
nextos wrote: post #8

I don't immediately discard an item because it's made in China, as I know of some high quality items made there. Most Apple products, some Xiaomi products or Meermin/Feit shoes. However, I tend to be very skeptical about its quality. Moving manufacturing to China is most often done to reduce cost. The only industry where it's not done due to cost, but supply chain issues, is electronics. And with cost reduction comes…

>But it's a lot of trouble to find high quality items these days. I want to own few things and keep most for the rest of my life. I concur on both fronts. Might I suggest you check out thrift or second hand stores? I have a collection of old aluminum cased power tools made in the mid 20th century in North America, and I think the most I paid for any one of them was $12 CAD. They look amazing. You can take them apart…

Take a bit of care with those... When I was a kid I was using my granddad's orbital sander - with a beautiful alloy body, when one of the brushes _finally_ wore right through, and the spring and pigtail popped out of the brush holder and put the live 240V AC conductor into the casing... (Not at all helped by the fact I was using the extension cord from the double insulated electric lawnmower, which had earth pins on the plug/sockets, but no earth conductor in the cable...) My arm waved around uncontrollably as I couldn't release the grip in my hand - until it _finally_ bashed itself into the boat I was sanding down and hammered it out of my hand. I have no idea how I came out of that unscathed...
Post reply on HN