Prepare to think, "Huh?"... How do they do that?

[Zogbert Splod]

Not expecting anything exciting I was intrigued to find a padded envelope lying behind the door.  It contained a package of ten DPDT slide switches that I had ordered just a few days previous from a supplier in Hong Kong.  I had not been expecting to see them before the end of the month based on the 'estimated delivery' which was around the 27th.
I checked the switches to find that they were exactly what I needed.  Just for interest I compared them with the online offering of a certain High Street retailer and, based on the picture and the spec, found the identical item on offer.
OK, so far, all we have is a pretty fast delivery...  But wait, there's more!

These things came so quickly because they were sent airmail.
The High Street price is £2.19 per switch + delivery.
The imports cost £1.24 for 10 including airmail from HK...

Huh?...  How do they do that?  I'm not looking for a thread on slave labour here.  Just let me say that the cost to send a small package from UK to HK appears to be over £4.00 and that's just the delivery aspect...

[jonclox]

The developing east needs our cash (GDP) to expand and give them a 'firmer' handhold on our future with little cost to themselves.
Not commenting on slave labour but even 1 bowl of rice a day is better than none

[Agrippa]

They're probably made in a slum factory with no regulations
on health and safety, pollution , waste management etc,
no national insurance, maybe 10 year old kids working there.

[NeMo]

They're probably made in a slum factory with no regulations on health and safety, pollution , waste management etc, no national insurance, maybe 10 year old kids working there.

All may well be true. Yet not necessarily a bad thing. According to UNICEF, unless you replace child labour with something more useful to the children and their families, banning imports of products actually makes things worse for the children. Specifically, if a child in Bangladesh or wherever is prevented from working in a factory, that child's family will very likely be worse off than before, and that child could very easily end up living on the streets engaged in prostitution, crime, or simply begging. There's a decent summary here:

http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/child-labor-or-child-prostitution

This isn't to say child labour is a good thing; obviously it'd be better if their parents were able to support their families while the children went to school. But that option isn't available in many parts of the world, at least, not yet.

Cheers, NeMo

[Zogbert Splod]

Interesting article NeMo. That's pretty much how I see the situation. Some years back I got involved, as a volunteer worker, with an orphanage in the far east. I have seen both sides of the picture - the working kids and the other kind of 'working' kids. If there was a magic wand that would house and feed them and also school them, I would be the first to wave it.  However, till that wand comes along, the working kids are much better off than the 'WORKING' kids by a long way.
I have also seen the street kids in Bombay, sleeping in cardboard cartons and begging for food. This forum is not the place for some of the tales I could tell you. There is no magic wand but as has been said in a post above, one bowl of rice is better than no bowl of rice.
With all of that said, I am certain that the £2.19 switches available in town came from the same or a very similar factory as the 12.4p ones that I have here. All I will add is that I am quite pleased that I didn't pay £21.90 for my 10 switches because I don't think that the HK kids would have been any better off for it.

[Bob Tidbury]

I agree with you NeMo one bowl of rice a day is better than the poor kids working the streets , unfortunatly that's the way things work in countries like theirs ,at least by working in a factory they won't catch the nasty diseases the would by working the streets sad but true.A few years ago I had this conversation with a customer on the trade stand and she had a right go at me about kids working in what she called slave labour but when I pointed out the alternative she had to admit I was probably right.
Bob

[bridgiesimon]

I would not be surprised if those switches all came from the same factory anyway, just with more middle men taking their cut of the profit pushing the price upwards each time!

Best wishes
Simon

[Mustermark]

I would not be surprised if those switches all came from the same factory anyway, just with more middle men taking their cut of the profit pushing the price upwards each time!

Best wishes
Simon

I think this is the salient point. Same item, same factory, same labour, in all probability. If not the same, then very similar.

So the OP has a valid question. Why should it be so cheap in comparison? I think the answer lies in how much 'handling' happens in the West. Like Simon said, there will be middlemen. The overheads for the high street retailer are probably collosal in comparison to the HK supplier. The handling may include repackaging, but will surely include someone on UK minimum wage to put them in the parcel.

[acko22]

I cannot remember where I read the article but I will have to look for it again. But the article basically said to buy an item from source country it will only be 40% of the prive you would pay in a shop here in the UK.

As for the child labour front well reality is look in your home and the chances are they will have been child labour involved with the making of most items somewhere along the line.