211–220 of 423 posts
This news has been circulating on the internet for a long time and it is indeed real, but the question is, if people want to buy something, they will look for alternatives.
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> the quality is so poor for many items that it simply is no good for society in any way. There are some that are genuinely dangerous and bad for society, but there are tons of goods that are "the same thing but half the price because it lasts a quarter the time" that have genuine utility. Harbor Freight has basically made a drop-shipping business out of it. I often have tools that I need but will probably use 4 time…
> some that are genuinely dangerous ... tools that I need but will probably use 4 times in my life, and the Harbor Freight stuff is crap but will probably work 4 times Forehead hit hood, but I caught myself so it was a "gentle" reminder instead of a concussion. I should have splurged that time I broke a socket tightening an axle bolt. 150 ft-lbs + 180 degrees is a fair bit of torque.
Anything that unpredictably dumps large amounts of kinetic energy on failure is one of those.
I had a buddy that bought the tool for getting car suspension springs on from Harbor Freight, and I definitely wouldn't roll those dice.
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There is totally a market for a global website which instead of shipping goods direct from China by plane instead has local warehouses 1 per city and can deliver to your house within a few hours by motorbike. Aka like Amazon but with much smaller margins. The savings would come from the fact sea freight is so much cheaper than air freight.
And the losses from having warehouses storing zillions of products that do not get sold for a long time. There’s a reason the likes of Aldi and Lidl have limited product choice.
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Feels like the EU is always going to find something to fine you over. Think of it as a tax. The purpose is compensating for the lack of notable domestic tech giants.
And stopping Temu from passing on junk, as in this case.
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But I still think chargers and children's toys are exactly where the line should be drawn
No, let them suck on the poison Happy Meal toy instead. The line should be drawn by parents. The paternalism really has gone too far, and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now.
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My line is a little bit further back. Any electronics that will be plugged to a wall... Lots of appliances are not safe.
Yup. I've even had an (Amazon rather than Temu) power-strip-and-USB combo noticeably sparking and tripping the apartment circuit breakers when plugged in just 6 months after purchase.
Say what you may of Temu, and I do think more vetting of certain goods is a good idea, but they fill a very real need. In the part of Europe where I live, the choice is only between intermediaries for the same products coming from China. The local intermediaries sell a very limited picking at staggering margins. And when it comes to certain things, like electronic components, the choice is between importing (old) Ame…
But I still think chargers and children's toys are exactly where the line should be drawn
Edit: Reply to Scroll_Swe as I am rate-limited to posting new comments. The chargers in budget stores are identical to Temu chargers are are frequently recalled.
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No, let them suck on the poison Happy Meal toy instead. The line should be drawn by parents. The paternalism really has gone too far, and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now.
It's all fun and games until your neighbour in a terraced house or apartment building unwittingly starts an uncontrollable battery fire. Electric scooters and those 'hoover boards' from a few years ago are notorious when it comes to that, but plenty of underspecced small electronics will fail spectacularly.
but, you’re only going to achieve moving the cheapo builders stateside where they’re easier to enforce on.
That race to the bottom isn’t going anywhere - if someone can save a grand half-heartedly wrapping their own packs, they’re going to.