Welcome to Dragonmart (China uber alles and a dig at Walmart too)

[JCMach1]

Okay, as some of you know I live in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Today I had the scary privelege of visiting a HUGE new mall here called Dragonmart. The kicker is that the place is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of import shops from China. I was struck and overwhelmed at the variety of goods coming from China now. I was also struck by how many of them are things America USED to make. Parts, tools, textiles, appliances, electronic, toys, gadgets, just everything...

Globalization through companies like Walmart are stealing American jobs and importing these Chinese goods at cut-rate prices while exploiting the Chinese labor.

Hey, the exploitation doesn't stop there. The other person being taken for a ride is the American consumer. The goods at Dragonmart were about 20% of American prices for the same items. It's the old monopoly thing. Walmart and other big stores control the import supply and thus the price. They keep prices low BY AMERICAN standards and make immoral amounts of profit.

I have seen the future and it is DRAGONMART.

[DrDebug]

1. Forced laborcamps are very good at keeping price low

There is no way anybody can compete with that. My keyboard broke down (a couple of years ago as well) and I bought a new one. $10. Made in China. Just look how much things components are in a keyboard. Is it possible to make it for such a tiny amount of money? Yes, it is if the labor costs are close to zero. Welcome to 21st Century Slavery.

[JCMach1]

2. Price here= 10AED

or about $3... Now, tell me how much the store you purchsed this from was making?

[DrDebug]

3. The store probably made 25-40% (standard rates)

Another 10-15% for the warehousing. Another 20-25% for shipping. Indeed that would leave $3 for China.

[JCMach1]

4. the $3 here is after shipping

and after the retail markup.


:(

[DrDebug]

5. And means that they even make huge profit on those $3

25-40% are pretty normal rates for retail. And that's a fair margin. If you lower the retail markup then you end up with ... Walmart practises :rofl: