It has always struck me as mad that I can order an individual widget from China for less than it would cost for the postage of that widget in my own country.
No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
301–310 of 508 posts
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#302So is drop shipping from China now dead? A major benefit of drop shipping from China was the pretty much $1 shipping for almost any item via ePacket. Obviously the products are still cheaper, but with a 25% tariff on most goods, and what I can only assume will be a close to DHL price for shipping, a t-shirt drop shipped from China will probably cost more than one made and shipped domestically. To continue to be compe…
Express packages typically cost $2+ per KG for average consumers within China, if you volume is massive, you can negotiate the price to $0.5 to 1.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
>So is drop shipping from China now dead? Probably. This is going to drop a lot of sellers off of Amazon and eBay, and likely have major effects on independent small business dollar/99c stores.
Also businesses like Harbor Freight will benefit, because it will be much harder/more expensive to buy direct. Same thing with the "cheap" brands at places like Menards. This will slow the pace of innovation in a lot of areas, especially among electronics hobbyists. Cheap chinese circuit boards from Shenzen are a major driver for electronics related businesses, robotics, drones, and lots of other areas. This is going…
There are lots of companies that buy in bulk from China and have US distribution. They will still be around for your Shenzen electronics needs.
I have very little sympathy for people who were depending on what was essentially taxpayer-subsidized shipping from China. If you can't do what you're trying to do without that subsidy, you probably shouldn't be doing it. I'm certainly not interested in having the USPS lose money so someone can save a few bucks on a servo or flight controller vs. buying it from a legitimate retailer like Adafruit or Hobbyking (which has US warehouses in addition to its HK ones; I expect they'll need to expand the domestic ones now).
The end-user cost of a good needs to encompass the price of manufacturing it and transporting it, inclusive of as many externalities as we can. Too many problems in the world are caused by artificially cheap goods that don't capture their full cost.
Keeping stuff cheap for the purpose of having cheap stuff is not a noble goal.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
> hobble the USPS in 2006 by requiring them to suddenly pre-fund their pension obligations Maybe it's a flawed methodology (arguable), but being fiscally responsible about pensions is something that should be encouraged. In California pension liabilities are out of control and at impractical levels, causing all sorts of havoc and manipulation (corruption). https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2018/12/07/governor-jerry-.…
Fully funding pensions out to 50 years in the future goes beyond "fiscally responsible". Consider that the nominal working lifetime of an employee is only 47 years (18 - 65) -- they're being required to fund pensions for hypothetical employees who are still in high school.
Postal workers' retirement age is 55-57 (https://about.usps.com/manuals/elm/html/elmc5_058.htm).
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
In terms of dollars per unit weight moved, yes. They are not only moving massive amounts of cargo with low drag, they're also relatively lightweight compared to the product being moved. Also, there's no maintenance cost to keeping a flat path across the Pacific like there is in keeping roads free of potholes. In terms of environmental damage, not at all. Container ships burn some of the nastiest, most sulphrous and d…
Granted the US and EU could agree to regulate emissions from container shipping.
UN is doing something already. By January 2020, the limit for Sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships operating outside designated emission control areas will be reduced to 0.50% m/m (mass by mass).
http://www.imo.org/en/mediacentre/hottopics/pages/sulphur-20...
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#306Really what needs to happen is that the UPU in general needs to be redefined. The Chinese sellers can still access Europe, Canada, and basically anywhere else, which isn't going to stop especially since most countries are not as aggressive as the US when it comes to China trade. Hopefully the reduction in sales due to the US leaving the UPU kills off a bunch of the Chinese businesses but it is definitely still going to be a problem elsewhere.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#307> This is great news for U.S. sellers, especially eBay sellers. Exactly the intended consequence. Why should US taxpayers subsidize shipping costs for products to come from China? It made no sense at all in today's economy unless the only thing you care about is paying less for your goods regardless of the consequences, which I don't think is a majority position of adults today.
A better question might be to ask why US taxpayers should continue to subsidize direct marketers. Thats all I get anymore. Everything else is electronic.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact it went on this long is the confusing part to me. Why didn't anybody come and say "Hey! This is weird. Let's stop this" before 2016?
A certain someone has a real hate-on for China?
It really isn’t a personal issue. I believe the issue is non-partisan (and no brainer). Or maybe I’m being naive in today’s world in thinking that.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
The actual consequence will be Chinese sellers using US warehouses and drop-shipping from there. Others send over a container with each ordered good and slap a local post’s label on it. Possibly that local post’s label is attached in China and the container just gets dropped off at a USPS DC by the private freight forwarder. It’s already fairly common. Overall, a few more US jobs, and maybe more USPS revenue for what…
They'll have to raise their prices to accommodate the additional expenses, unless their plans include selling at a loss to eliminate competition.
Lord help any industry that attempts “dumping” with today’s president.
Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers
#310This actually sounds like a good thing. It costs Chinese shippers almost nothing to send stuff directly from China, while it costs me quite a lot to send stuff within the US, largely because I'm subsidizing all the Chinese shippers. Moreover, for me to send any parcel (even very small ones, like 2 oz.) outside the US costs a small fortune these days, again because I'm subsidizing the Chinese shippers.
I bought a A1 sized picture frame from a french seller for around $50 on Amazon. It was a total pain getting an affordable frame in A1 size, because the best we can get easily in America is a 24x36" which is just far enough off to be unusable. When it arrived, it had some damage to the acrylic and I wanted to return it. Amazon Support said they would reimburse me up to $20 for shipping it back, but when I took it to…
I find that price hard to believe. Has anybody else had an experience like this?