Fake Parts

[mad082]

the option is still up to the customer though. they could speak with their dollars and only buy the aussie made stuff and not buy the imported stuff, and then shops would only stock the aussie made stuff. but until such time as that happens, having a house to live in (rather than going bust and having the bank take the house) is somewhat more important.

[Streeter]

I need a roof over my head too, so I guess in the end it doesnt really matter where the parts are coming from as long as the customer is happy with the price/service?

[discern]

What about the people who can't afford to buy at the RRP prices (or 'sale' prices for that matter) from local vendors. I for one would love to be able to order everything locally and have the great pros such as warranty, face to face/after sales support and (usually) faster or immediate receipt of items. However, if I went by this rule I might maybe the basic bolt-ons for my previous cars if I'd have been lucky. IMO local businesses need to adapt and change their structures and processes. The globalized progression of imported parts is similar to people downloading TV shows here instead of waiting months for them to air..

[mad082]

but it isn't the local guys who are the reason for the higher prices. as i explained above, there are many reasons why the prices are higher, and in a lot of cases it just isn't viable for either the shop or the importer to drop their prices. at least not to drop them enough to make a difference. and as it is, car parts generally work of a relatively small mark up compared to things like clothing and jewelery that make anywhere from 2 to 5 or even 10 times the amount of profit for an item selling at the same price.

[scathing]

the option is still up to the customer though.

But we've already established that customers are no-good cheats. And, as a technical person, I've learnt that the golden rule is that if you ever give customers an option they'll always choose the wrong one.

The answer seems quite clear.

they could speak with their dollars and only buy the aussie made stuff and not buy the imported stuff, and then shops would only stock the aussie made stuff.

We seem to be a bit chicken-and-egg there. However, the way I see it, if shops only stocked Aussie made stuff then they'd only be able to buy Aussie-made stuff.

Actually, if we just shut our borders to all imports (parallel or authorised distribution) then people would have to buy Australian. Which means our local economy would be even stronger since there's no external source sapping our currency. f**k people's freedom of choice and the market forces of global competition, we know what's better for them in the long term and we need to save them from themselves.

but until such time as that happens, having a house to live in (rather than going bust and having the bank take the house) is somewhat more important.

I suspect that this same motivation is what drives customers to privately import goods from overseas.

[mad082]

But we've already established that customers are no-good cheats. And, as a technical person, I've learnt that the golden rule is that if you ever give customers an option they'll always choose the wrong one.

The answer seems quite clear.

We seem to be a bit chicken-and-egg there. However, the way I see it, if shops only stocked Aussie made stuff then they'd only be able to buy Aussie-made stuff.

Actually, if we just shut our borders to all imports (parallel or authorised distribution) then people would have to buy Australian. Which means our local economy would be even stronger since there's no external source sapping our currency. f**k people's freedom of choice and the market forces of global competition, we know what's better for them in the long term and we need to save them from themselves.

I suspect that this same motivation is what drives customers to privately import goods from overseas.

the chicken and the egg bit is pretty much spot on. however if shops only stocked local made stuff, you would just have more stuff being privately imported. closing the borders to imports would result in 100% employment, however would result in a dramatic drop in products available unless they were able to be made under licence.

basically the only way for australian prices to compete with imports is to drop the prices of everything. this includes labour. so if you want australian shops to sell the same stuff as overseas at the same prices, then convince everyone to take a paycut. basically it is a cycle that it going to continue for ever. everytime people get a payrise the prices of goods are going to have to go up for businesses to be able to afford to pay the extra wages. this then prompts people to want another pay rise, which then rises prices again.

a prime example of this is the USA. sure they have cheap prices for good, but look at the minimum wages. the US federal minimum wage is $7.25 (some states are higher while some are lower. thie highest is around $8.40), where as here in australia it is $14.31. to put that into context, a company employing 4 full time staff in australia has to make $123,285.80 a year profit just to pay the staff if they are on the minimum wage (that includes super). now if you go off the average profit margin of around 35%, that means that the business has to sell over $350,000 worth of goods before they have even made enough profit to pay any other bills. now compare that to the US. 4 staff will cost $62461.36, which means that a company can sell stuff and run at 20$ profit and after selling $350,000 worth of product (which would be easier due to having will have 15 times the population) will have made just over $6500 more profit.