The wonders of a global market and costs...

[Spule 4]

I was looking at buying an inline lubricator from two well-known loco builders for a project.  

The lubricators? One is made in the UK, the other in China.

Many moved production to China as a cost savings in the past 15 years.  So some cost-benefit study was performed, both prices quoted by the manufacturer/importer:

USA cost of the lubricator from China?  $35.

USA cost of the lubricator from the UK? $21.

Factoring in shipping, one from the UK will still be over US $10 cheaper.

As has played out in the news, the days of cost savings by production in China are gone, and hence why they are seeing some of the issues we saw in the west in the past five years in economic downturn. Most recently, an unemployment rate of >50% for recent college graduates for starters!

[Busted Bricks]

I still have to go to China for many parts. First of all many UK suppliers don't even bother responding to requests and secondly many are not interested in low volume (under 1000 pcs.) production runs. When I got UK quotes for steel wheels they ranged from £2 to £3 per wheel! With the price of a complete wheel set from Accucraft being around the £4 mark you can easily work out that buying locally would not be a viable option.

However you are right that times are changing and there are certainly products that are affordable locally.

[benchmark]

USA cost of the lubricator from China?  $35.

USA cost of the lubricator from the UK? $21.

Factoring in shipping, one from the UK will still be over US $10 cheaper.

As has played out in the news, the days of cost savings by production in China are gone, and hence why they are seeing some of the issues we saw in the west in the past five years in economic downturn.  Most recently, an unemployment rate of >50% for recent college graduates for starters!

In this and similar cases , are you sure its not just a case of a greedy middleman or importer that has added too much markup profit without bothering to check around? .
The fact still is that nowhere else in the world has labour as cheap as it is in Asia, it is so low that it is almost criminal to pay so little for manpower.

China is not the enemy for doing the job they are approached to do, its the middle man that takes the job to them in the first place that is to blame because he wants to make maximum profits.

A typical example of 'do not hate the player , hate the game!'

[Busted Bricks]

A typical example of 'do not hate the player , hate the game!'

Very well put. I know what things cost from China and am sometimes amazed at the markup before they hit shops in the West. I try to keep my prices low by buying direct where I can. I know that there are many costs involved in running a business and most distributors offer fair prices but there is always the occasional "chancer" going for a huge profit. They normally don't stay in business that long.

[Spule 4]

No middle man (per se) as I posted above, both are from the importer (call him Mr A) from China and the Manufacturer (call him Mr R) from the UK.

Surprising on the low-volume stuff, as my dealings with US manufacturers is that China does not make econmic sense, nor wants orders typically on low volume items.

Agreed on not being a hater, we did this to ourselves, but at least here in the US, we are seeing some things come back....slowly.

The other problem is the labor costs....China is not the China of a few years back. Sure, the base wage may be $100 a month, but that does not factor in bonus, housing allowance, a brand new VW or Buick, health club membership, etc that middle to upper level folks are getting.

The other shoe that is dropping is that the basic laborers are at a bit of a loss, many are finding the volume of work or hours promised are no longer there, so without the ability to make a ton of cash and send it home, many are just going home.

That and energy, fuel and materials costs have gone sky high there.

A case of so it goes, with a dash of export or perish!