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Comment by reaperman | Hacker News Reader

I'm worried more about the prototypes my R&D department is designing in partnership with Chinese contractors and fabrication facilities. We manufacture the final products here in the USA, but a LOT of components we air-mail from China.

A huge percentage of the nation's R&D efforts (for DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING) is going to be completely and utterly fucked if they can't rush-deliver niche items from China. This is a disaster.

And it's not just R&D! If you have a big factory here in the USA but you need a rare part/tool/electrical component to fix the factory - often the OEM you buy it from will ship it from their China warehouse and it'll arrive in 1-4 days.

As a person who works in domestic manufacturing, this seems really, really bad for domestic manufacturing.

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I doubt you were using USPS before for those, so your company shouldn’t be affected unless this affects private shipping companies as well.

Honest question, why? USPS is cheap. Is there something special about a stack of blank PCBs (or ICs, or caps, or whatever) that precludes USPS from shipping them? I know they are weird about batteries, but everything else, right?

This is kinda funny. I ordered a bunch of blank PCB's and it was inspected (opened) by ICE. It had their green tape trying to close it up (badly) after they opened it.

I think they're looking for things that can't be X-rayed or scanned.

USPS is cheap! Much cheaper to send from China to the USA than the other way around d for some weird reason. But I’m guessing a business who was interested in air mailing parts and prototypes..isn’t interested in value.

It’s cheaper because USPS has been subsidizing the costs. That’s why a lot of small packages were shipped with usps.

Also cheap because the entire world subsidizes China-to-elsewhere shipping via the UPU continuing to classify them a “developing country”.

Why would China not count as a developing country?

When you’re the worlds 2nd largest economy, technologically advanced, and exerting geopolitical influence like a superpower, it’s somewhat comical to declare yourself a developing nation incapable of participating in global commerce without your shipping costs being subsidized by everyone else.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3921082-house-unanimously...

> “Their economy size is second only to that of the United States. [The] United States is treated as a developed country, so should PRC,” Kim said. “And is also treated as a high-income country in treaties and international organizations, so China should also be treated as a developed country.”

And CCP also usually paints PRC superior to US in everything so it's kind of their choice too...

Which country is poorer: Luxembourg or Kenya? Luxembourg has a lower GDP, after all.

> PPP-adjusted GDPs per capita

ftfy.

on which btw China scores higher than Mexico and World Bank classifies Mexico as an upper-middle-income economy

And the answer is Luxembourg by a mile.

The US is treated as a high-income country because incomes are high. Incomes in China are low. There's nobody disputing either of those claims.

USA NGDP per capita 2024: US$86,600, just below Norway.

China NGDP per capita 2024: US$13,000, just below Malaysia.

Their economy is large because there are more of them. That doesn't do anything for their income.

High income != developed. There are different metrics.

Overall GDP very high, GDP PPP per capita middling, incomes highly disparate, etc. Developing status becomes kinda subjective and this particular move is not insane. Sadly it's unlike many many other moves.

> High income != developed. There are different metrics.

You might want to replace the quote you were citing.

Why?

OK, I guess first you might want to read it.

I did! Did you?

Not so much anymore. Aliexpress shipping has become quite a bit more expensive lately (unless it's "Choice"). Somewhere in this thread you can see my theory about their "Choice" shipping service.

The point is Jeff Bezos wanted AliExpress shutdown because $$$$.

That's not the point. The point is the USPS is abusively discriminating against trade for political purposes.

I would say so, but there are options right? FedEx? DHL?

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