• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why is SX so cheap?

#61
Simo98 said:
This is how it works, but from what i have been told by friends of mine who have visited quite a few factories is that while some of them provide reasonable living conditions (still often far less than what we experience in western culture) many also accomodate there employees with absolutly horrible housing and food.

as for SX basses, does anyone know where you can buy them in Australia, guitars here cost a fortune =/
Click to expand...

While this may be true, I see parallels to the same thing here in the US. Not every company pays fairly or on par for similar positions around our own country, some offer really crappy medical & dental plans, some offer great insurance plans, others none at all. Same for other benefits such as 401K. Of course, the vast majority of US companies don't offer employee housing, but parallel lines can be drawn between great swings of variance in the quality of employer-supplied benefits in almost any country. :cool:
 
#63
Do the math ... an SX bass costs a little over $100 USD. Rondo has a markup. There is Shipping from the other side of the World. SX as a profit. There are materials costs. There is the cost of the manufacturing facility. So how much from each bass goes to the worker? probably less than $25 dollars. Perhaps less than $10.
 
#64
Dark Horse said:
The reality is that many Chinese Corporations are similar to "small cities" unto themselves. They have apartment buildings surrounding them, food stores, etc - all of which are provided to employees as part of their pay. So an employee will work in exchange for food, housing, transportation, etc for his family. In addition they'll receive a small amount of money for their work, which is used to buy extras for the family, other vehicles, etc. This amount of money is pretty small, and is what people see as "slave labor", all the while forgetting to factor in that the Chinese people that work for these corporations typically don't have to worry about day to day living expenses like we do.
Click to expand...
I've been there, to the 'factory cities,' for my job. It's exactly as you've described. Those kind of jobs are the good ones, too. Clean, ultra-modern, at least the ones I visited.
 
#65
Well, I've noticed recently that this happening in pretty much all industries, but mostly, the Chinese are doing the same thing the Japanese did 30-40 years ago.

You can't expect the quality of life of the Chinese to keep improving while they slave away making ultra-cheap goods and importing everything of quality. Their growing middle-class is starting to want to produce their own high-quality products. However, being "made-in-China" still has a stigma to it, so they can't actually sell these high-quality products anywhere near the same price that their international competitors are. Add to that a much lower cost of living, and this explains why SX basses, and many high-quality chinese goods, are comparatively very cheap.

But like it has for Japan, prices will eventually rise. For the most part, the population at large is unaware that the chinese are producing more than just cheap junk. Once this is more known, demand will rise, prices will rise, chinese workers and buisnessmen will earn a lot more money and cost-of-living in china will rise as well, pushing the prices up as well.

So let's enjoy it while we still can, because when this happens, us in the western world will be in big, big, big trouble.
 
#67
Ric5 said:
Do the math ... an SX bass costs a little over $100 USD. Rondo has a markup. There is Shipping from the other side of the World. SX as a profit. There are materials costs. There is the cost of the manufacturing facility. So how much from each bass goes to the worker? probably less than $25 dollars. Perhaps less than $10.
Click to expand...

I have no problem with this. If I cranked out ten of these babies a day at $25 bucks a pop, I'd be making considerably more than I do at my American job.

Rondo is still charging well under what the market would bear for all of his instruments. Everybody walks away happy the way things are now.
 
#69
Ric5 said:
Do the math ... an SX bass costs a little over $100 USD. Rondo has a markup. There is Shipping from the other side of the World. SX as a profit. There are materials costs. There is the cost of the manufacturing facility. So how much from each bass goes to the worker? probably less than $25 dollars. Perhaps less than $10.
Click to expand...

Should we be doing American math or economic scale math? In American math that doesn't sound like much - if your "numbers" are anywhere near accurate in the first place. If said workers are employer-supplied with housing, food, utilities, etc. That means whatever the take home pay ends up being, the vast majority of it is more likely to be profit in the bank. Wish I could say the same about my take home pay - how 'bout you? I don't pretend to know how much food/clothing the Yuan will buy as related to what a dollar here will buy, can you tell us? It would help us decide just how "bad" the average Chinese factory worker actually has it. But if a quick currency calculator helps, $100.00 US dollars is roughly $683 Yuan.
 
#72
ENOUGH with the "Chinese Slave Labor". Workers in China are now paid fair wages. Since I have been managing projects in China, worker wages have gone up at least 6x. Current wages for entry level worker are around US$30-40 per week. Yes, it is a LOT less than here, but so is their cost of living. Plus, they get free room and board, uniforms to wear, medical, and now Social Security and Unemployment. There are minimum standards for their living spaces that are rigorously enforced.

SO - Why are SX instruments so low priced??

1. AUTOMATION - There is as little hand labor as possible in ALL Chinese manufacturing now, since wages have gone up. The smart factories are investing in new automated machinery to replace hand labor.

2. QUANTITY - The factories making the products make them for others as well, so the common parts and materials can be bought for a lower price.

3. DIRECT MARKETING - Rondo is essentially the importer, distributor and retailer, all in one. There is only ONE markup instead of 3 or even 4 as with other products. Usual markups can be 30-40% for each step.

4. NO EXPENSIVE ADS - Another huge cost eliminated. If SX products were being sold at GC and advertised they would be the same price as Fender.

5. RONDO is not being greedy.


#3 and 4 alone can cut the cost by 50-60%.
 
#78
I'm thinking of ordering a P-Bass from Rondo. I've seen the documentaries on the self contained "factory-cities." while I joke about slave labour, the Chinese are doing what it takes for them to advance economically to the point of overtaking the Japanese and the Americans. It seems imminent.
 
#79
Why are they so cheap? Shhhhh! Don't ask any questions and buy as many as you can, while you can!

p.s. Gio...thanks for the fresh air! Other than the fact that the average Chinese worker has to live in a Commie country, things are looking a whole lot better for them than for most of us over here in the good ol' US of A. Yeah sure we make a whole lot more money (for those that still have a job), but the gov'ment just takes it all...uh...well..I better stop now...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back