Thread: A Rant- Buying OS

Originally Posted by echnidna

China will go the way of Japan in the future.
Their costs & prices will increase,
then India will be the cheap place,
after India will come African countries.

Spot on echnidna, was reading an article that stated that Adidas is pulling out of China because of rising costs and increasing "regulation". So they will have to find another country with slave labour and lax rules.

:aussie3:U-Beauts little bit.

• U-Beaut is all Australian
• All our own products were designed/formulated here in Australia, by me.
• The business is entirely owned and staffed by Australians, me and Pauline (even though she was born in Scotland, she's been here for 50 years and that's close enough for mine).
• Everything we manufacture is made right here in Geelong Australia.
  
  
• Where possible we buy Australian made raw/base materials.

However....... and here comes the rest of the story.

For us like most others it's impossible to have everything 100% Australian and here's why:

• Shellac - (the good stuff) comes from India and is processed all around the world depending on the quality and grade you require.
• Carnauba wax - Comes from Brazil.
• Ozokerite - From Germany, USA and other expensive places.
• Tripoli Powder - mined and refined in USA

Most of our other raw products come from Australia.

Paraffin wax - we buy from the local manufacturer even though we can get it for less than half price from China.

Mineral Turpentine - Well, it's a petrolium product, so who knows where it is sourced from all I know is we pay a whopping fuel tax on every litre we buy.

Ethanol (metho) - Locally produced, mostly by CSR.

Bottles and jars - all locally produced and again all perto chemical so who knows where the base stuff for manufacture comes from.

Packing boxes (fibreboard/cardboard) - all locally made from recycled paper.

Labels all locally made from locally manufactured paper.

My random thoughts:
We're being slugged with higher and higher prices for everything petro chemical from fuel to containers, solvents, waxes, yes and even clothing. China can and is producing most petro chemical products miles below the same thing in Australia. The USA can produce the same stuff for way less than in Australia.

It makes sound financial sense for many Aussie manufacturers to go off shore to manufacture or buy goods. It is getting harder and harder to manufacture in Australia and say it is an all Australian Product.

As a 2 person (with a little help from time to time) we find it virtually impossible to get a worker to do what we require at our speed and to our standard. We have proved it time and again. We spend more time fixing others mistakes and low standard work practices than we would spend doing the job ourselves. I'm glad we aren't a bigger business because personally I reckon we'd be out of business unable to compete in no time.

I won't even bother going into the Export of Dangerous Goods side of the business. That's a whole 'nother story which gets worse with every shipment we send. Thank you 9/11......

Finally:
I could fill a small book with problems and why it would be better to import everything from overseas or manufacture everything overseas.

Price for most people is the bottom line.

Pride in what we do, pride in producing the best product we can and pride in being Australians, is Pauline's and my bottom line. With that in mind we have always sourced as much as possible right here in Our Own Back Yard (Australia) and will continue to do so as long as my bum points to the ground.

Sorry just gotta do it....:aussie3:AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE OY, OY, OY,

Cheers - Neil

Onya Neil and Pauline

Australia is not part of Opec but all our petro chemical related products are priced as if we are.

This is mainly due to the fact that the big petro chemical companies are NOT australian (European or US owned) and are screwing the australians for every cent they can.

Australia (thanks to Howard) is selling LPG to china for 12c per lt delivered so why should we be paying the price we are at the pump. So the US companies can make profit!!!!

Shell pays very little corporation tax in australia. One reason is they pay $100M in royalties for using the shell logo. This should be money remaining here in australia. Most non- australian multi national companies are doing the same costing the australian tax payer billions of $ in tax evasion legally supported by the Australian government!!!!

Australia has its own oil and even with extraction, processing and duty costs we should only be paying 60c per lt for our fuel. We are currently paying twice what they are in the USA. Again ALL the profit going to US corporations.

With steel and other resources they are all priced on the US commodity market which makes it cheaper to manufacture abroad and import the steel back to australia.

If you take the cost of extraction of the raw materials and local manufacturing costs australia should be the cheapest source of the manufactured products and have every other country buying from us but NO the multinationals again determine the price of OUR raw materials and the Australians get sharfted again with ALL the profits going abroad.

a 25% export tax on raw materials would enable every australian to receive $50K per year tax free. Think about that when the next election comes around!!!!!

arthur

Arthur, whilst I am a bit reluctant to defend the multinational oil companies, I think that some of your figures are just a tad misleading.

First of all, part of the reason for the high cost of petrol at the pump is govt excise with GST on top of that, ie a tax on a tax. Currently excise + GST accounts for about (round figures) $0.55/litre of petrol.

Secondly, petrol (or as they call it, gas) is selling in the US, depending where you live for $US3.30-$US3.50, with some place as high as $US3.99, per US gallon (3.78litres)
If we take $US3.50 as an average figure, that equates to $US0.93 per litre, which is $A1.01 per litre. If we then add the $A0.55 of excise, you get to $A1.56 per litre. I don't know how much excise there is on the US petrol cost, but as you can see the differential is not as high as you state.

Our govt in its' wisdom has tied the oil price in Australia to the TAPIS (Singapore) crude price, likewise the LPG price is tied to the Saudi Index.
In case you were wondering why the price of LPG has risen as much at it has over the past 12 months, Suaid CP price in Jan 07 was $US545, in Dec07 it had risen to $US860.

Having said all that, I'm not suggesting that the oil comapnies are doing it hard!!!

I am not that fussed about the cost of petrol, I have had a dual fuel car for years, I really can't see why people drive petrol cars

Originally Posted by Big Shed

If we take .50 as an average figure, that equates to .93 per litre, which is .01 per litre. If we then add the .55 of excise, you get to .56 per litre. I don't know how much excise there is on the US petrol cost, but as you can see the differential is not as high as you state.

Big Shed

the US price includes duty and sales tax so you cannot add the australian GST and Duty to the price you get from the US.

Here in the northern rivers of NSW we are paying over $1.50 per lt with regular pricing of $1.70. On your calculations of $A1.01 thats basically 50% more we are paying than in the USA.

Aussie tax is $0.55 plus the gst part. Production and transport relate to another $0.20 to $0.30 per lt depending where you are from a refinary. Most retail outlets wil tell you they only make 10% on fuel so that leaves 50% plus going back to the US corporations. If you want to check these figures look at the public company tax reporting to see how much its costing the companies and how much profit they are actually making.

I agree with you about petrol cars as here in australia we have the potential to produce 100% Biodiesel at a fraction of the cost of petro chemical diesel with the majority of profit going to aussie farmers. Even if the price is the same I would buy just because its Australian grown and owned

the US price includes duty and sales tax so you cannot add the australian GST and Duty to the price you get from the US.

No, the US prices on the pump never include sales tax, that is added at the check out and varies from state to state, generally 6-8%.

Aussie tax is $0.55 plus the gst part. Production and transport relate to another $0.20 to $0.30 per lt depending where you are from a refinary. Most retail outlets wil tell you they only make 10% on fuel so that leaves 50% plus going back to the US

The $0.55 includes the GST component already, you can't add it twice! Even our govt is not that brazen!

I agree with you about petrol cars as here in australia we have the potential to produce 100% Biodiesel at a fraction of the cost of petro chemical diesel with the majority of profit going to aussie farmers. Even if the price is the same I would buy just because its Australian grown and owned

That opens a whole different argument, grwing fuel where we used to grow food, it is a big factor in the rising price of various foods around the world, eg corn in the US now goes to ethanol plants and the price of corn is going through the roof. Meanwhile poor people can't afford to eat!

I say again, what is wrong with using LPG, less pollution less CO2 emmissions and it is a by-product of the oil refineries that gets burned off!

Bio diesel and ethanol can only compete with oil based fuels with govt (ie tax payer) susbsidy. A bit like wind and solar power really.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

writes....

well cleared up Big Shed!

Orstralia is short of workforce, and fully employed. that is a situation that if anything will drive inflation up and hence interest rates, and reduce our relative competitive advantage.

Wages growth and inflation are bad mmm kay. Guess what - when you buy Orstralian for the sake of buying Australian without regard to cost, you simply encourage inflation, and encourage the workforce to sell their labour in areas that cant compete over the long term.

long term is very important -you can be prepared to spend twice the money on a pair of williams boots, but sooner or later, there's not enough of you, and williams heads over to asia to manufacture - all your good deed did was extend the inevitable.

Well......... I buy goods and services from who ever suits ME best. I don't care about the supplier, if they are Australian or from overseas. If the service or quality siuts ME, I will speak with my wallet.

It is becomoing more common they are from OS, which can be done at the click of a mouse!!

China can do things cheaper as they sometimes use broad brim hats with foam on top as hard hats. They're building a 1600 foot high building and instead of scaffolding, the just walk over the beams (400 wide and 200m above the ground). Saw this other method for scaffolds, Three blokes standing on a plank while one went to the end (over what drop I don't know). Cantilevered with a good factor of safety, but crikey it looked ominous

Originally Posted by Big Shed

No, the US prices on the pump never include sales tax, that is added at the check out and varies from state to state, generally 6-8%.

Not so anyplace I've seen. Sales tax might be included somehow, but most places the pump itself is the checkout, and a credit transaction is untouched by human hands; except in New Jersey where fuel transfer must be done by an attendant.

Our gummint has a "Department of Commerce" whose original mission was to encourage domestic production as well as export. Now, they seem to be devoted to allowing offshore HQ's that are little more than a letter drop and a phone booth, all with tax-free incentives.

The late David Brinkley beat me to the quote farm, but soon enough our Gross National Product will be reduced to doing each other's laundry.

Joe