CBI
Well-Known Member
Received this blog from At The Front talking about price increases. Gives a good example. ATF has always been a great place to buy, too bad those days might be over, not that I am in the market for anything else.............
ignore the usual ATF political comments, par for the course for them some good points here though.................
Prices Will increase on many items over the coming year. For those that keep up with world news, it won't be a shock. Just how bad things are getting has shocked me though.
On average, our cost on everything is going up 25-35% just for the product itself. Let's take a fictional "flying helmet" as an example. Previously they cost $35. New price $50.
The new nail in the coffin is freight. Ocean freight charges are now TEN TIMES what they were a 18 months ago. Instead of 5% average of the item cost, it's 50%. Sometimes worse. So, initial price was $50 + $25 shipping, + $22.50 tariffs = $97.50 total by the time it's in the warehouse.
Generally, everything has a 20% duty. If it's made in China add another 25% due to the "trade war" tax. That's another 45% = $22.50.
Total now is $50 + $25 freight + tariffs/ duties.
Total if made in China = $97.50
If made somewhere other than China, $85.
Previously said "flying helmets" arrived at around $45 total cost.
Bottom line, our costs are about to, on average, double across the board on imported stuff. That means we'd lose money on many items.
Everything will double in price? No, some things won't. Others may or I will simply drop them from the line up until (if) shipping rates come back down.
Why is it still cheap on ebay? The Chinese government subsidizes shipping like crazy (for Chinese sellers) and those products don't yet have duties/ tariffs applied. Many individual items slip through. 40ft containers don't sneak through unless Hunter has a delivery on board.
Sea freight can't be that much! You're lying to excuse ripping us off! On google the top results for 40ft containers say $6500!
Yeah, yeah. Note the lack of a date on that. A few results down one finds "above $20,000" from Aug 2021. No company wants to quote 2022 because no one will click on their link. It's basically the "Call for Price" BS.
The quotes we're currently getting are $35,000-40,000. As of today, sea freight and air freight are basically equal cost. Ugh. It works out to about $10 per pound or more.
Make it in USA! Go team! Well, higher cost aside, we have three problems making that a tough thing to do.
First, thanks largely to the politicians, we can't hire people to make anything. A military contractor a few miles north of us, (uniforms for Army and AF) just shut down- they had plenty of orders, but can't find any workers. We managed to pick up one of their former staff members. One. "Enhanced bat flu benefits" being one of the primary obstacles.
Second, the fabric industry is dead in the USA. The only fabric we can (and do) still acquire in our country is duck canvas. The mills that made wool, cotton twill and HBT are all gone. Bankrupt or sold to Chinese and Indian companies who wanted the product name.
Looming third problem....currently we have 8 people here devoted to manufacturing. Two are over 80, two more are in their 70's, and the sewing machine mechanics in our area are either deceased or too ill to work anymore.
So what the hell are we gonna do? That's a great question. Some items will be put off or discontinued, we're trying to increase what we make here, and others will still be available but the cost will increase. Finally, sales like Black Friday and such will not have the discounts of the past.
Insignia is safe, as is most Fieldgear- we can make much of it, and one can pack enough into a crate that shipping isn't quite as onerous as with garments. When (if) the US boot company finds enough workers (where have we heard that before?) to be able to accept make-up orders again, we'll be good there. It's primarily garments and helmets that are in trouble from all this.
ignore the usual ATF political comments, par for the course for them some good points here though.................
from ATF -Prices Will increase on many items over the coming year. For those that keep up with world news, it won't be a shock. Just how bad things are getting has shocked me though.
On average, our cost on everything is going up 25-35% just for the product itself. Let's take a fictional "flying helmet" as an example. Previously they cost $35. New price $50.
The new nail in the coffin is freight. Ocean freight charges are now TEN TIMES what they were a 18 months ago. Instead of 5% average of the item cost, it's 50%. Sometimes worse. So, initial price was $50 + $25 shipping, + $22.50 tariffs = $97.50 total by the time it's in the warehouse.
Generally, everything has a 20% duty. If it's made in China add another 25% due to the "trade war" tax. That's another 45% = $22.50.
Total now is $50 + $25 freight + tariffs/ duties.
Total if made in China = $97.50
If made somewhere other than China, $85.
Previously said "flying helmets" arrived at around $45 total cost.
Bottom line, our costs are about to, on average, double across the board on imported stuff. That means we'd lose money on many items.
Everything will double in price? No, some things won't. Others may or I will simply drop them from the line up until (if) shipping rates come back down.
Why is it still cheap on ebay? The Chinese government subsidizes shipping like crazy (for Chinese sellers) and those products don't yet have duties/ tariffs applied. Many individual items slip through. 40ft containers don't sneak through unless Hunter has a delivery on board.
Sea freight can't be that much! You're lying to excuse ripping us off! On google the top results for 40ft containers say $6500!
Yeah, yeah. Note the lack of a date on that. A few results down one finds "above $20,000" from Aug 2021. No company wants to quote 2022 because no one will click on their link. It's basically the "Call for Price" BS.
The quotes we're currently getting are $35,000-40,000. As of today, sea freight and air freight are basically equal cost. Ugh. It works out to about $10 per pound or more.
Make it in USA! Go team! Well, higher cost aside, we have three problems making that a tough thing to do.
First, thanks largely to the politicians, we can't hire people to make anything. A military contractor a few miles north of us, (uniforms for Army and AF) just shut down- they had plenty of orders, but can't find any workers. We managed to pick up one of their former staff members. One. "Enhanced bat flu benefits" being one of the primary obstacles.
Second, the fabric industry is dead in the USA. The only fabric we can (and do) still acquire in our country is duck canvas. The mills that made wool, cotton twill and HBT are all gone. Bankrupt or sold to Chinese and Indian companies who wanted the product name.
Looming third problem....currently we have 8 people here devoted to manufacturing. Two are over 80, two more are in their 70's, and the sewing machine mechanics in our area are either deceased or too ill to work anymore.
So what the hell are we gonna do? That's a great question. Some items will be put off or discontinued, we're trying to increase what we make here, and others will still be available but the cost will increase. Finally, sales like Black Friday and such will not have the discounts of the past.
Insignia is safe, as is most Fieldgear- we can make much of it, and one can pack enough into a crate that shipping isn't quite as onerous as with garments. When (if) the US boot company finds enough workers (where have we heard that before?) to be able to accept make-up orders again, we'll be good there. It's primarily garments and helmets that are in trouble from all this.
