Electronics Shopping

Hi,

Miguel Cruz wrote:

pre-made ethernet patch cables that are $15 in the US are $1 or $2 here),
but expensive stuff and name-brand items are usually cheapest in the USA.

And compared to Europe, e.g. Germany?

The most expensive of all (except for places like Mongolia where the stuff
attracts a premium for being such a rarity).

You mean Europe's more expensive or the other way around?

R

--
For contact details, please see www.ralphholz.de.

"michael" kirjoitti
viestissä:r1PLe.216962$5V4.27405@pd7tw3no...

Gasoline is excessively taxed in Europe. However, if I was a Canadian
household, I wouldn't make too much noise on European taxation.

what in the world gives you the idea that canadian "households" (?) are
heavily taxed in comparison to europeans?

I have not written anything whatsoever that I have such a comparison in
mind.

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:11:27 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:58:07 +0300, the renowned "Markku Grönroos"
wrote:


"Miguel Cruz" kirjoitti
...

My experience is pretty similar. In Asia I can find cables, connectors,
USB
doo-dads, and the like in far greater variety and lower cost than in the
US
or especially Europe. Basically, little things, and things where you

Well, chinamen assemble those things 12 hours and by 20 renmimbis a day. If
^^^^^^^^
Your above term is usually considered offensive, even if capitalized.

Its considered offensive mainly by politically correct westerners. The
term Scotsman never seems to be considered offensive, even when spoken
by an Englishman. :-)

a worker demonstrated about lousy salary or working conditions he would be
shot to death, his house demolished and his family dispersed. That's why you
get your USB connectors so economically. "Globalization" seems to mean the
repositioning of production lines into those countries where the authority
and employers can enslave workers.

Funny, the workers really seem to flock to the opportunity to work in
the far better conditions in factories (and for more money than their
other options).

Given the opportunity, they flock to better paid jobs in developed
countries. I'm sure you're well aware of the illegal immigration
issues that the authorities in Hong Kong battled for as long as either
of us can remember when mainlanders sought better paid jobs over the
border. Nowadays, the people-smuggling rings transport these people in
huge numbers to western countries to work illegally.

You'd rather they do back-breaking work in the fields or underground
in the coal mines, which have casualty figures not see in the US since
the early 1900s?

Its not often that I agree with Markku. but to be fair to him he
didn't say he would. The underlying reasons why USB connectors are
sold at giveaway prices in Asia, while being uneconomical to
manufacture in the west are exactly as he said. If he'd just been a
little bit less extreme in the way he put it I doubt whether many
would have challenged him on it. This is what happens when you have
free movement of trade, but not free movement of labour.

Chris

Chris Blunt wrote:
Spehro Pefhany wrote:
You'd rather they do back-breaking work in the fields or underground
in the coal mines, which have casualty figures not see in the US since
the early 1900s?

Its not often that I agree with Markku. but to be fair to him he didn't
say he would. The underlying reasons why USB connectors are sold at
giveaway prices in Asia, while being uneconomical to manufacture in the
west are exactly as he said. If he'd just been a little bit less extreme
in the way he put it I doubt whether many would have challenged him on it.
This is what happens when you have free movement of trade, but not free
movement of labour.

I think you and Markku are a little off the mark. The reason the USB
connectors are sold at giveaway prices in Asia has to do with the level of
absolute profit that is acceptable to retailers.

It's the sort of thing that would get sold at a dollar store in the US but
not in sufficient volume to make it worth their shelf space.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 36 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Queens Day in Amsterdam; the Grand Canyon; Amman, Jordan

"Miguel Cruz" kirjoitti
...
Chris Blunt wrote:
Spehro Pefhany wrote:
You'd rather they do back-breaking work in the fields or underground
in the coal mines, which have casualty figures not see in the US since
the early 1900s?

Its not often that I agree with Markku. but to be fair to him he didn't
say he would. The underlying reasons why USB connectors are sold at
giveaway prices in Asia, while being uneconomical to manufacture in the
west are exactly as he said. If he'd just been a little bit less extreme
in the way he put it I doubt whether many would have challenged him on
it.
This is what happens when you have free movement of trade, but not free
movement of labour.

I think you and Markku are a little off the mark. The reason the USB
connectors are sold at giveaway prices in Asia has to do with the level of
absolute profit that is acceptable to retailers.

It's the sort of thing that would get sold at a dollar store in the US but
not in sufficient volume to make it worth their shelf space.

Low labour costs everywhere between factories and shop shelves?