Why are statues made in China?!

[XIIIWARRIOR]

What, we don't have talent here in the States?!

[BlackestNight]

Huh? Talent?

It has nothing to do with talent, it has to do with the cost of manufacturing. You could not pay US citizens a rate to produce the product to sell anywhere near the current prices of these statues. It would double if not triple.

[Yojimbo]

Why?

$$$

[RPG_FAN128]

Why not? Everything else is made in China. It would break tradition any other way.

[Phoenixblazes]

It’s somewhat obvious.

As said above it’s got nothing to do with talent, as it probably doesn’t take much to instruct an assembly line painting team.


But with rising wages and standards of living, China soon will be pricing themselves out of it. Even before more recent events factories for other industries have slowly been moving away from China to even more lower cost countries.

If you want these to be made in your own countries just be prepared to pay substantially more.

[LiquidsGold]

Hopefully this is a joke post.

[Silas Loki]

Recent events have highlighted the main issues with offshoring and outsourcing manufacturing. We're seeing it in the cycling industry as well.

What started out as a great financial opportunity has turned into a nightmare. The low cost of labour, and precious little legal oversight made China a money printing opportunity - that offset issues like extended supply chains, as well as repercussions of poor quality.

As of today, companies across the manufacturing spectrum are considering carefully if the benefits of a changing Chinese landscape really offers the financial benefits of yester year.

I don't see statue production moving from China anytime soon. Especially when some of the most significant statue producers are From that region. However, with the price rises, extended wait times for released products AND the on going patchy quality....I see an opportunity for change.....If the statue community wants it.

With technology coming on in leaps and bounds, in both capability and cost - who says statues still need to come from China? There used to be a healthy garage kit movement - and there could be again. Why pay $1000's to get in line for a massed produced product out of a Chinese factory, with dodgy quality and unreasonable wait times, when you could spend hundreds on a high quality locally 3D printed, locally painted, and with a small production run, statue piece that you could have in hand in weeks after you've ordered - rather than years.

[TheLastMan]

Minimum wage and labor laws. That's why.

I am curious how much statues would cost if Made in USA though.

[Sonic Boom]

Wages aside, the start up costs would be too high. It would be too expensive to build or procure a factory and then train the employees. I think the future is printing and painting our own statues at home (or somewhere nearby) once the technology improves. We could just pay a fee for the sculpt to SSC.

[Mister H]

I’m more interested in our antibiotics being made in the U.S. than I am about statues. Start with the most important things first.