Reply to: Dave says "Re-shoring" key to West's economic recovery

[zeitghost]

I note that tomorrow Lidl have a PIR available for £3.99 that is identical to the B&Q version priced at £15.99.

The LIDL LNA satellite stuff is £3 against Maplin charging nearly £20 for the same thing.

Dunno how they do it for the money.

And the kit is good.

Can't imagine buying 10 lightbulbs in Lidl & having every one of them fail immediately you turn them on, & if they did, you'd get an immediate refund UNLIKE THE CRAP RESPONSE FROM MAPLIN WITH THEIR FAULTY LIGHTBULBS.

[vetran]

FTFY.

Good quality stuff in Lidl.

Definitely gets the ZeitRecommendation.

Indeed Lidl & ALDI tools are great, brought a great mini circular saw at £25 don't use a handsaw now. & a shredder for £50 which has chopped up a years worth of clippings without a stutter.

[Smartie]

Ze Chermans have it

What! Are you German or something?

The British way is to import millions of cheap workers. Exploit them to the hilt. Spend the cash on buying and selling houses.

Sorted.

The answer is to be like Germany. They manufacture high quality stuff and export it.

Unfortunately being like Germany is complicated - we need to re-institute a proper apprenticeship system for a start. We need to stop sending everyone to university to do mickey mouse degrees with no job at the end of it. We need local small and medium sized companies who invest in staff and have representation for them on the board rather than international companies who pay no tax and use zero hours contracts. The companies need to be spread out across the UK rather than centralised in the South East. Etc.

[vetran]

Not everyone wants "quality". They simply want something that will do the job. if you want to get from A to B a banged out old Skoda will do the trick. If you want to get from A to B in style and comfort you can buy a new one.

No until the Skoda was brought by Volkswagen no one touched them because they were so unreliable.

People want good enough quality at reasonable prices.

If they use something heavily or it provides value having better quality many people will pay for it.

I buy a £1 tool from poundworld because I will use it once. I buy a £100+ tool when I will use it every week.

What happened was every hand tool in the UK cost roughly £20 with £4 profit because of high taxes & wages (relative to skill), then supermarkets etc discovered Taiwan and bought the tools at £1 and sold them for £15 with £14 profit. The good tool manufacturers went bust or swapped to Asia goods.

We are now seeing quality tools come back at reasonable prices because there is a market for them.

[DodgyAgent]

When the business is capable of recognising quality then that may happen. They see 'they cost a third or a fifth of what UK resources do' I CAN GET A BONUS FOR COST SAVINGS.

As is often bemoaned on here most people buy cheap Chinese Tat, the stuff we made in the UK failed to compete frequently on price. Who do you think buys the tat?

Not everyone wants "quality". They simply want something that will do the job. if you want to get from A to B a banged out old Skoda will do the trick. If you want to get from A to B in style and comfort you can buy a new one.

[Flashman]

We should try competing on quality instead.

What! Are you German or something?

The British way is to import millions of cheap workers. Exploit them to the hilt. Spend the cash on buying and selling houses.

Sorted.

[Troll]

It's defenestration that should happen.

FYFY

[AtW]

It's de-offshoring that should happen.

[vetran]

Agree the Re-shoring will result in more automation but it will also create support jobs for other activities.

Tax take will also improve.

The costs of setting up etc are quite significant in the UK.

[Mich the Tester]

Using Dyson as an example who shipped manufacturing to Malaysia in 2003 for cost reasons

Av monthly wage in Malaysia for manufacturing = 6,431 MYR = £1167
Av monthly wage in UK for manufacturing = for semi skilled = £1497

This will get interesting when you factor in wage inflation in different sectors and countries.

[Troll]

That's the good news.

The bad news is that we're going to compete on wage rates.

Using Dyson as an example who shipped manufacturing to Malaysia in 2003 for cost reasons

Av monthly wage in Malaysia for manufacturing = 6,431 MYR = £1167
Av monthly wage in UK for manufacturing = for semi skilled = £1497

If you use UK min wage instead (more likely) then that becomes £1010 @ £6.31 per hr

What isn't available are the costs associated with employment in both countries - taxes etc - and reducing those is really what Govt should be doing

[tomtomagain]

frequently known as managers.

Management structures are self-preserving. You may have noticed but we outsourced most of the workers but kept the management.

Dave C. is talking about the re-shoring of physical stuff. Not the re-shoring of IT development.

And I don't believe that bringing the making of stuff "home" is likely to create as many jobs as people imagine. The level of automation used will eliminate the requirement for a large workforce.

[scooterscot]

frequently known as managers.

And who employs the managers?

[vetran]

People with no sense of value.

frequently known as managers.

[scooterscot]

Who do you think buys the tat?

People with no sense of value.