Chinese postal charges

I think Ketan is taking pictures and measurements of The Great Wall so that he can ask Sieg to make a replica he can sell to Donald Trump. ( that Mexico will pay for ) Colin

National median wealth isn't meaningless though it is true that rich people get taxed and nothing in life is entirely straightforward.  Money can't fix everything.

Wealth gives the people who have it more choice - TV, clean water, cars, Big Macs, health and freedom to travel etc. Property in London is only expensive because a lot of rich people want to live there and they can afford it. Just how much choice you get is limited by how rich you are - it's very sad but I shall never move to London let alone buy Xanadu 2.0 from Bill Gates. But generally, people are more comfortable having money somewhere expensive than no money where it's cheap, like a transit camp. Not having enough money hurts because it makes us powerless.

A South African gold miner on £5 a week might be reasonably happy in Bazlye's low-cost paradise, but he won't be buying a car, educating his children or flying to the UK for his holidays! More seriously he's vulnerable to crime, injury, illness, famine and drought.

Quite a good wheeze is to move from the West to the developing world. Money goes a lot further, but you will have to fit in - don't expect it to be exactly like living in the Cotswolds!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 11/01/2019 13:23:38

As Neil said lets keep to postal costs or taking the mickey out of Ketan rather than drift too far into economics and politics.

My apologies! I accept that my post was a clumsy change of trajectory from the humorous one taken in your own.

In defence of my logic, "he is heading that way" did leave open the possibility that at the time of writing he was not there yet and that he might have seen David Standing's remarks but not yet necessarily had the time or inclination to respond to them.

Ultimately, my post was intended to suggest that, humour aside, there are very real obstacles to information exchange in China, the existence of which your own later reference to Ketan's remarks about WhatsApp serves to corroborate.

Hey Bill and all,

Yes it is a little complicated here with regards to internet access. It has taken me time to get access to this site, but it’s been a great day out and a funny experience to send a WhatsApp message to Jason from on top of the Great Wall, in the freezing cold.

With regards to this topic, that is a complicated subject, discussions on which are on going here by me too, and will continue to be discussed throughout my journey here. There are other similar- related posts on here made over time and I have commented on them. Only time will tell what will be the outcome for U.K. retail companies like us.

Ketan at Arc.

Myself and the Wife working full time did not get close to $61,000 a year. I would have had the means to afford an overseas subscription to the excellent Magazine the fine People who support this forum sell. How's that for sucking up. (I realize the exchange rate is not Their fault.)

Mark

There is a mis-interpretation in Dave's original post. The figures he quoted are for wealth ( also referred to as 'net worth' by those who value us only in monetary terms ) and not annual income as stated. Otherwise most of us effluent bar stewards in Orstralia will be putting in for a very large pay rise to bring us up to the median sum quoted!

Part ( probably a very large part ) of the reason Oz comes out so highly in the wealth rating is due to the high rate of home ownership and an over inflated housing market. Unfortunately it doesn't translate to disposable income ( = bigger lathes and more overseas purchases ) as a result of high personal debt, mainly the result of having to pay the mortgage on the over-priced house.

The main reason I purchase less and less from overseas is due to the insistence of many suppliers, model engineering and otherwise, in using expensive couriers when a postal service would be perfectly acceptable. Typical shipping cost when importing from the UK is about 40 pounds ( even for relatively small items ). Costs from the US are now so ridiculous I seldom contemplate it. It seems odd but Germany and the Netherlands have been m the most cost effective of the 'first world' countries I have dealt with in recent times, although this may be down to the suppliers used.

However my obvious wealth does allow the purchase of both ME and MEW although with the depreciating Oz dollar my good fortune may only be temporary!

Pero

The best shipping cost depends on your point of view I would say - Obviously if you have not the cash to pay for a courier type cost then the shipping is too expensive regardless. It also depends on how much you want/need whatever it is you wish to purchase! I have taken the tack that whatever I 'need' to purchase, I insist that it is couriered in the quickest most reliable manner - Feddex, DHL, whatever - Here in Namibia I have to obtain almost everything from abroad - even our South African neighbour is no longer able to supply a fraction of what they could 10 years ago - and I have had so many postal parcels simply not arrive having been appropriated along the African Route, since all postal items enter Namibia mainly via road transport from reception and 'sorting' at Johannesburg.

The last postal delivery I endured was a bunch of Model Engineering books ( workshop practice series, etc) from Amazon UK, and out of 27 books, 8 never arrived, not even 5 months later - Amazon carries the can for this which amazes me, but they re-sent all 8 - 5 arrived within the next 2 months and then after anther month we agreed to just re-fund the balance. And guess what - I ordered 3 more books from them August last year and they no longer even offer postal delivery to Namibia!

My tack is that the cost of the item is the sellers cost added to the courier cost. If that cost can be endured I receive the item within a few days and I get on with life. I will never use postal services again. I have had even worse experience with banggood - and it is a HUGE battle to obtain a refund - you easily (painfully!) wait and fight for 4-5 months! So I only purchase banggood items with expedited shipping which is normally sent DHL. In the long run, it all works out less costly - Less stress, goods arrive, Insurance is in place, delivery is generally fast, etc.

Where I do have issues is with heavy items - I am looking for an X/Y slide, such as for the smaller benchtop mills, and am keen on some of the UK suppliers offerings - as well as a few other bits, a spare small lathe headstock, etc. Nothing available in Africa (Surprise!) , some options in the USA as well, but on such items courier shipping it almost impossible. Metal things that weigh a few 10's of kg and couriers make it very expensive.

Excuse the rant..But I think that for a hobby that helps keep one sane, provides the enjoyment and pleasure that all 'forumers' seem to obtain from participating in the hobby, that keeps the brain working, the eyes and mind focused, keeps old age and its faribl's at bay, its better to spend the the painful cash on a courier than on Valium...

I say all this meaning no sleight at all to folk who truly do battle financially, and I know there are many.

Joe

Joe

You are quite right in that if you add the shipping cost to the purchase price and you still need ( want ) the item then go ahead and be happy with the outcome.

However here in Australia I have had a 100% (or very close to it ) success with postal deliveries from the UK, Europe, USA and China so have no qualms about use of the postal service. I can fully appreciate why you do not.

Again, I do not need the speed of a super dooper overnight courier. I am quite happy to wait a week or two so again the postal service is quite adequate. It obviously depends on local conditions and circumstances whether this applies to others.

My experience with heavy items is that it doesn't much matter where they come from ( even China ) the transport costs are going to hurt and have to be factored into the purchase decision.

At the end of the day I suspect that almost all of us have limits, large or small, to our expenditure and it's a matter of getting the best value for the dollar, pound or whatever spent. 

Pero

Edited By Pero on 12/01/2019 06:25:31

The snag with purchases from China is the cost of returning them if found to be faulty - often many times the original purchase price including postage.

For this reason I always treat purchases from China as if there is no warranty which does seem unfair to uk suppliers who have to comply with the sale of goods act

Agreed. I always treat them either as disposable or as a source of materials to make into something useful.

Russell

Very, Very, funny