The Wholesale Forums

[wholesale_gifts]

With use of the internet on the rise it is getting increasingly easier for people to compare wholesalers and the cost of products online. I am ALARMED at the way people endevour to source goods at the lowest possible price BUT AT WHAT COST to people and the enviroment?

I am yet to hear one single thread on this forum where exploitation, poor working conditions, slavery, pollution or child labour have been discussed in detail. If you are sourcing products from overseas without asking the right questions or performing the proper background checks on your suppliers you are probably contributing to this growing world crisis.

The next time you talk to a potential supplier ask to see pictures of their staff at work, try to ensure your products are not being made in dark and dingy sweat shops or produced by children as young as six or seven working long hours for pittance every day of the week rarely seeing daylight. Sure we all want to line our pockets but at what cost?

Would you dump industrial waste into a river upstream of a village where children play on a river bank? No, of course you wouldnt ... but what about the people making goods for you on the cheap so you can make a couple of quid extra?

What I have said above effects each and every one of you. I would like to ask everyone who has taken the time to read this post to think, if you can spare the time unicef, the anti slavery alliance and human rights watch (website links below) have information relevent to you and your business.
http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.html
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/...hildlabour.htm
http://hrw.org/children/labor.htm
http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/childlabour

This isnt scare mongering. Dont be part of the problem - be part of the solution.

[greedyboy]

Although I agree, most of manufacturing in based on cheap labour. At the end of the day everyone wants mass produced goods at the cheapest prices.

It's a nice thought but at the end of the day price is the most important factor in manufacturing.

[D M]

I think the whole idea of buying from China IS the cheap labour.

[wholesale_gifts]

Originally Posted by D M

I think the whole idea of buying from China IS the cheap labour.

The biggest difference I have seen when buying from china as opposed to Indonesia or Vietnam is the final finish of the products. When sourcing from Indonesia for example you get some really nice hand made stuff that isnt available anywhere else but they are no good at branding, presentation, bar coding, etc...

The stock we have sourced from china is packaged into inners and outers to a very high standard. Stock arrives by the container and we store loads of outers in our warehouse. The minimum quantity of any product orderable is 1 outer wich contains anywhere from 4 to 24 inners dependant on the size of the product. The inners are what you see on the shelf in a retail shop.

This is an example of something we have sourced from china in bulk:-

This is an inner (what ends up on the shelf)

The outer is a brown double corrogated box with the product name, code, weight, sku, etc. The outer in this case contains 6 inners. You just wouldnt get this sort of finishing elsewhere. This products (BBQ Golf Utensil Set) is made by machines and not so much people so labour costs arent really a consideration. What is cheap in China is the total cost of manufacturing and the speed at which they produce goods.

[D M]

I should have said it's south east asia as a whole, not just china that uses cheap labour.

I bet a load more cheap labor went in to that than you'd have thought.

[wholesale_gifts]

Originally Posted by D M

I should have said it's south east asia as a whole, not just china that uses cheap labour.

I bet a load more cheap labor went in to that than you'd have thought.

I would like to hope not. Since we are a fairtrade wholesaler we put an awful lot back into areas than we take out. In the past we have been responsible amoung other things for improving schools and irrigation. Even the packaging for this product is made from recycled materials a claim not many companies who source from China can claim. Being a socially responsible and ethical company has a lot of benefits.