"I could lose my home" says CEO exploiting cheap labor.
US small business owner says China tariffs endanger her company: ‘I could lose my home’
Trump is bad. I agree... but why is the left suddenly all sympathetic towards rich people & CEOs like this, who exploit cheap labor.
The title is not original to the article. Claiming she is "exploiting cheap labor" is rather misleading. To quote a section of the article:
The other option, the one Trump wants, is a pipe dream: manufacturing her products in the US. Benike would prefer to manufacture here, too. But a mountain of logistics, near impossibilities, stand in her way.
Food-grade silicone, which she uses for her products, is not available domestically. When she looked into the cost of importing the material when she first started, it was more expensive than importing a finished product, and the prices have gone up since then. Manufacturing facilities in the US with the compression mold machines she needed require much larger runs than she can commit to. The minimum requirements for factories here was 20,000 – in China, she could do a couple thousand at a time.
Yeah but the only reason those supplies and services aren't available in the US is because China has all the manufacturing scale. It's not as if China is the only country that can make silicone.
If trump keeps to these tarrifs and importing silicone becomes too expensive then someone will open a factory to produce it here. Same with small scale molding. If there is truly a demand for something the market will find a way to produce it.
It may be more expensive because of higher labor standards, wages and environmental standards, but that just means it's getting closer to the true cost of the product, instead of the one subsidized by environmental destruction and labor exploitation.
Im by no means trying to defend our general reliance on Chinese manufacturing nor attempting to make a case rhat using their abused labor force is fine and good.
I am also very much not in the business of defending the ultra rich mega corpos legitimately exploiting anything and everything they can for profit.
I am only defending what appeaers to be an unfair and unnecessary attack of a persons character. It is true she is using Chinese manufacturing but if her words are to believed at her current scale bringing that to the US is impossible for her. I am not even remotely educated in any of these topics so i can do little more than read the article and respond but assuming her words are true then her actions are understandable.
If trump keeps to these tarrifs and importing silicone becomes too expensive then someone will open a factory to produce it here.
You're talking about a 6-10 year project before it produces anything; but we can't get the Commander in Cheese to stick to his word for 6 days.
6 years is way more than 6 days. It's longer than his presidency should be, but we're not even sure of that.
So she admits that it would cost more to do it here in the US due to labor standards & you're sympathizing that she can avoid labor standards & do it for cheaper in China?
No, dipshit. US manufacturing isnt at a scale large enough to have a solid low-volume industry, period. Shut up and learn to read.
Maybe learn to do a little research to see when someone is a grifter like the Busy Baby CEO:
https://www.protolabs.com/services/injection-molding/liquid-silicone-rubber-molding/
You've provided no proof other than that is what she is claimed. Show me what effort she actually put into doing it in America. You're so gullible.
Food-grade silicone, which she uses for her products, is not available domestically. When she looked into the cost of importing the material when she first started, it was more expensive than importing a finished product, and the prices have gone up since then. Manufacturing facilities in the US with the compression mold machines she needed require much larger runs than she can commit to. The minimum requirements for factories here was 20,000 – in China, she could do a couple thousand at a time.
Making the molds for her products takes about two months. They also are made in China – many American manufacturers send American steel to China to makemolds because they’re better at it there, she said. The molds alone would cost up to $75,000 in the US. If she found a factory and the capital needed to get it all going, it would still take a minimum of four months until she had products ready to sell, she estimated.
“It’s financially impossible for me to manufacture here. But even if I had an angel that just dropped a million dollars in my lap, it doesn’t make sense as a business model for how much we would have to charge for the product and charge the consumer,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense. So I wish I understood the big picture, or how they expect us to pivot in this tiny window of time. I don’t understand, I just don’t understand this.”
——
You really can’t read and are hell bent on putting the screws to someone who is a SBO manufacturing in China. Go be pissed at WalMart, not this lady you troll.
Where are you getting that food-grade silicone isn't available domestically? That simply isn't true in any way whatsoever:
https://specialtyresin.com/products/cast-a-mold-platinum-food-grade
Also, where are you getting 2 months to make a mold? Show me the actual attempts she made to have it done somewhere other than China. All you've told me thus far is that deep down you believe in de-regulation & lowering minimum wage here in the US.
Oh, look at this, low-production silicone parts available within days & even in the state where she lives:
https://www.protolabs.com/services/injection-molding/liquid-silicone-rubber-molding/
Everything out of this woman's mouth has been a lie. You should see her house... maybe she should sell a few acres instead of complaining about not being able to exploit cheap labor. Given the number of flags in front of her house though, she may have actually voted for Trump.
So she admits that it would cost more to do it here in the US due to labor standards & you’re sympathizing that she can avoid labor standards & do it for cheaper in China?
Not "do it cheaper in China" the other choice would be "not do it at all".
From the article:
“It’s financially impossible for me to manufacture here. But even if I had an angel that just dropped a million dollars in my lap, it doesn’t make sense as a business model for how much we would have to charge for the product and charge the consumer,” she said.
Ah yes... The ole gotta believe everything they say cause people never lie. What makes you different than MAGA?
What makes you different than MAGA?
Is that your go-to? If someone disagrees with you then they must be racist authoritarian bigoted misogynistic narcissistic selfish right-wing ultraconservative assholes that MAGA are?
I think we both dislike MAGA and what trump and his kind are doing tearing down America, but your race to anger and accusation are something we on the left have to apologize to others for on your behalf. Please stop doing that. You're embarrassing our side which is letting them paint all of us like you're behaving.
You're embarrassing your own side.
racist authoritarian bigoted misogynistic narcissistic selfish right-wing ultraconservative asshole
Yeah, you just lost to that due to lack of critical thinking skills. Dems went from supporting genocide to demanding cheap labor as well. I hope you learn something.
Well the way Florida is going you may get your wish. Cheap American child labor.
https://www.ft.com/content/e341fdac-80a6-4a19-ba46-741bd0e4efaa
