this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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Chinese immigrants in the U.S. are running Temu shipping centers out of their homes (restofworld.org)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 day ago (26 children)

Temu is insanely popular. Don't underestimate this. Yes, it's pure crap, but people buy it. They earn bucks.

Meaning, it's not a valid argument to say it's crap, and then it's not a problem. Temu is a problem.

But then we have to start another discussion about the free market, because then Temu is valid.

Then what? Legit question, I don't have the answer to.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The thing is that it's not PURE crap.

It's kind of like going to a flea market. Most of it is crap and you can still find some decent and good stuff that's way cheaper than it should be.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

Gues why: Ultra cheap labor.
And probably not 100% voluntary.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I don't need to guess. I know from having been to China and having talked to people.

It's mostly a combination of 3 things:

  1. Tons of infrastructure. If you decide to start manufacturing some random thing you can easily get all the stuff you need to get started.
  2. Regulations are generally very favorable to small startups and businesses. This is partly why so much of the stuff on Temu is crap.
  3. A huge population. That's the main source of ultra cheap labor. Farmers in rural China can still make as little as $1.90 per day. All a factory owner needs to offer is more than that and they'll have a line of applicants.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago

But those reasons aren't nefarious

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