On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:49:47 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:49:27 +0000, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:

That is really the issue - it's another attempt to redistribute income
only on an internationlist scale.

If that really is the issue, you are looking to blame the wrong people.
It isn't the environmentalists, it's the capitalists. If we are buying
all the out-sourced, pollution intensive products of the eastern
economies, who's pollution is it really? The Chinese, or ours? Part of
the "attractiveness" of out-sourcing is, in addition to the dollar a day
wages, companies don't have to put up with our pesky pollution laws.

If you really get down to it, it's not the environmentalists nor the
capitalists. It's the consumer ... looking for the lowest prices for
products and the highest return on their stock market investments.

That's part of it - but not the complete picture.

I think I told you this once, but I've been in the process of bidding
out some lures that I designed and built prototypes of. There are
size variations, but they have one single theme in five flavors. I
have orders in hand for them from local shops for the hand made ones I
sell now and there's been interest in distributing them overseas.

As I developed the business plan, I made a decision that I would try
like heck to have these made in the US if at all possible. I set a
price point that was reasonable for the type and style of lures that
they are based on current prices I've seen in Wal-Mart, Bass Pro,
Cabela's, etc. It seemed that if I could have these made at a price
that was equal to, or slightly lower than, similar models, they would
make an impression and sell - maybe even attract a buyout from a big
time manfuacturer (which I have done before).

I could not find, in the US, Mexico or Canada, a manufacturer who
could do the entire job - from wire forming, injection molding and
packaging. I could find piece work makers - ok, change in plans.

As I developed more information it became apparent that I would end up
making nothing if I stuck to NA manufacturing. My good friend who
runs a machine shop made some inquires for me on purchasing injection
machines, but the ROI was too large for a small operation - it was a
losing proposition based on projections for at least 7 years.

To make a long story short, I spent close to a year looking - I have a
pretty unique concept so it it's not like I was being closed out by
somebody else - there is a niche for this type of lure. Anyway I
figured it, I was not going to be able to make anything in sufficient
quantity at a cost point that made it break even, not to mentino
actually make a profit. The best cost I could develop was $3.17 per
lure which was less than .15¢ profit not including shipping.

Finally, my good friend down in Australia put me in touch with a
manufacturing rep for a Chinese manufacturer. I talked with the guy,
we chatted, I gave him a rough idea of what I was trying to do and he
sent me sample of lures made in China along with a spec sheet on price
points and purchasing.

Including shipping to New Jersey, UPS to my house it was just under
..63¢ a lure.

This Chinese manufacturer isn't a slave shop - they pay their people
well compared to the living standard in China - the factory was new
and located in a area of China where afflulence is becoming the norm.
They guarenteed the product safe. The rep said he would put up a
performance bond on behalf of the manufacturer to quarentee the price.
Trust me - I asked a lot of questions over five or six days about a
half hour per phone call.

I went to AmerInd tribes, handicapped manufacturing organizations,
small manufacturers looking for business - local guys who are
machinists and injection molders - couldn't do it for under $3.17.

Now, you tell me what's wrong that I can't do something that would
benefit me, give work to people who might have trouble finding work
benefitting them and sell a decent idea to market without having to go
overseas to do it.