While I enjoy a bargain, I don't consider foreign goods to be cost effective for the most part. In many cases the quality is appalling, and the goods expensive considering the low quality. That is never a bargain.
An example: My husband bought me a portable coffee cup for Christmas. He paid $4.97 for it at WalMart. On the 4th usage, I went to unscrew the lid so I could put it in the dishwasher and the rim separated from the black plastic cover. That was rather expensive considering the amount of use I got out of it. I'd rather pay $10.00 and have it last a year.
And the capitalists keep insisting that the goods are "cheap." Not so. Goods are priced at what the market will bear. So 'cheap' doesn't have anything to do with it.
Nikes cost $5.00 per pair to manufacture and ship into the United States. Why is it the price is still $95? I've never noticed goods cost less just because companies employ cheaper labor overseas. Au contraire, they cost just as much if not more than they always did.
I'll NEVER forget my local MSM attempt to sell GATT/WTO because it would mean cheap German beer. Becks never dropped in price.
Pricing, at least at the consumer level, generally is done by what the market will bear rather than the intrinsic value of a good or its cost of production. (Though both do form something of a lower bound, it can be a mighty elastic one.)
Your paying for an image and brand name with Nike. If you want cheap import shoes try another brand. You will find many shoes for $20 and less at WalMart.
"Nikes cost $5.00 per pair to manufacture and ship into the United States. Why is it the price is still $95?"
You are buying a name! When you learn to shop for equal quality at the best price rather than buying a name that your peers will approve you will learn that there are shoes just as good as Nike for one fourth to one third the price.
Too many Americans believe the old saw "you get what you pay for", realize that the truth is "you almost never get more than you pay for but you very often pay for more than you get". I have learned over the years that most retail prices are determined by factors other than the actual cost of production and very often the best is NOT the most expensive.
Exactly. I bought a thermostate coffee mug for $2, on the first use the lid leaked and I got coffee all over my shirt. So the mug is crap and my shirt is dirty. What a bargain.
Exactly. Look at the cost of manufacturing an SUV and the sales price. Talk about a rip off, but the perceived value is much much higher then the actual physical value.
It depends on where you buy them. If you shop at stores that sell for less, you can get Nikes for $59.00 a pair. Like Beale's (sp.?) in Florida. I just visited a friend there and that was what Nikes were there. I got a pair of Adidas for less than that.I agree about the quality of some things. Mama always says you get what you pay for. However, some things are fine, no matter where they are made. I would rather buy "Made in U.S.A.", but you don't see a lot of things that are made here. We have priced ourselves out of the market. Why is that? With our technology, why can't we mass produce cheaply here?