It seems to me, also, that if the US doesn't *want* your business, then you are not violating your principles by going out of the country. You are simply doing what you need to do to produce your product. That said, I have no idea which country would be the best choice, other than to point out that if Canada were cheaper, you could perhaps find a "happy medium" kind of compromise. You could reduce your costs a little bit (though not as much as in China, say), and at the same time encourage local business (since you are moving to Canada). Laurie --- Kristin Looney <kristin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Ok. I've got a debate topic for the Icehouse list. > > --On January 26, 2006 Kristin Looney > <kristin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > Is it at all possible to find a cheaper way to > manufacture the > > > pyramids without sacrificing your conscience? > > > > Yes it is! I can make the pyramids in the USA - > it can be done... I've > > priced it out, and I can do it... but to do it, > we need to make a very > > expensive high capacity mold... and if we do > this, we NEED to be sure we > > are using said mold to make lots and lots and lots > of pyramids - or the > > whole thing makes no sense at all. > > > When I wrote this yesterday, I thought I had a plan. > I thought I had a way > that I could make the numbers work making the > pyramids here in the US - as > long as I was willing to keep making them a while > longer at really short > margins to build up enough demand. > > Then today, I had another long talk with the VP of > manufacturing from the > NJ plastics company that already makes the tubes > that I thought was my > answer to how I was going to do it. Here are the > notes I made after the > call: > > 2006-01-27 at 03:37pm (kristin) spoke with Bill > about assembling Treehouse. > He doesn't even want to bid on the job, there is no > way we can afford for > him to do it... after factoring in good salaries > and vacation and health > insurance - he charges $35 per hour for his assembly > folks time - and > counting out these pyramids and putting on these > little stickers would take > LOTS of time. He told me point blank that the right > business decision for > me would be to just get the product made in China. > Wow. > > > As most everyone on this list already knows, we have > been trying very hard > NOT to resort to making our pyramids in China. Here > are past webzines for > review: > > <http://www.wunderland.com/WhatsOld/2005/WN.04.21.05.html> > <http://www.wunderland.com/WhatsOld/2005/WN.04.28.05.html> > > But tonight, I am again questioning this decision. > > I just put together purchase orders for all the > parts that will go into the > first run of Treehouse sets. (Pyramids, tubes, dice, > stickers, cartons, and > assembly) Even making a print run that is twice the > size of what my current > cashflow can afford - it will cost me $2 a set. And > that's with rock > bottom cheap assembly - from a sheltered workshop > that is subsidized by the > government - that does a decidedly crappy job > packaging the pyramids. If > we are going to greatly increase the volume, I need > to move the assembly to > someplace that can handle it... and I found out > today the assembly will > likely quadruple in price at a real assembly house. > Ouch. > > So I'm thinking we need to reconsider the Made in > the USA question. > > And I would like to make this decision now, not > later, since if we are > planning to keep trying to stick to our principles, > despite the numbers I'm > looking at, we need to price Treehouse at $10, as a > minimum. I don't think > we can go above $10, but I could probably get away > with taking it to $10. > But if we are going to give up on making future runs > of these things in the > US, I should go ahead and keep the price at $9. > It's a better price, and a > price I could certainly handle if I made the product > outside the US. Maybe > Mexico? Does anyone know if they have any > environmental controls in > Mexico? > > Who wants to try to convince us to stick to our > principles? > > Who wants to try to convince us that we should > listen to the numbers, and > to everyone who knows anything about plastic > manufacturing, including this > VP of the company that I was trying to give this job > to in the US? > > You can't say I have not tried... :( > > -Kristin > > > _______________________________________________ > Icehouse mailing list > Icehouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.looneylabs.com/mailman/listinfo/icehouse > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com