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'Why PC Builders Should Stock Up on Components Now' (pcmag.com)
Michael Kan, writing for PCMag: NZXT is a popular PC desktop case vendor, but the California-based company recently had to raise its prices. The reason? The new US tariffs on Chinese imports includes PC cases. In September, the Trump administration imposed the 10 percent duty, which also cover motherboards, graphics cards, and CPU coolers from the country. As a result, NZXT had to introduce a 10 percent price increase on PC cases to deal with the added costs, VP Jim Carlton told PCMag in an interview.
And building a PC could get even more expensive in 2019; US tariffs on Chinese-made goods will rise from 10 percent to 25 percent in January. "If I needed to build a system in the next six months, I'd definitely build it before the end of the year," Carlton told us. For PC builders, the tariffs risk adding a few hundred dollars to the total cost of components for a custom desktop. "If it's a $2,000 purchase on 25 percent tariffs, it's going to be a $2,500 purchase," Carlton said. "So we are very concerned with the direction of where this is going. I don't have a 10 percent [profit] margin I can just throw away and absorb the tariffs," he added. "And certainly no one has a margin for 25 percent."
And building a PC could get even more expensive in 2019; US tariffs on Chinese-made goods will rise from 10 percent to 25 percent in January. "If I needed to build a system in the next six months, I'd definitely build it before the end of the year," Carlton told us. For PC builders, the tariffs risk adding a few hundred dollars to the total cost of components for a custom desktop. "If it's a $2,000 purchase on 25 percent tariffs, it's going to be a $2,500 purchase," Carlton said. "So we are very concerned with the direction of where this is going. I don't have a 10 percent [profit] margin I can just throw away and absorb the tariffs," he added. "And certainly no one has a margin for 25 percent."
People often dislike tariffs because it means more expensive goods. But they don't stop to think about why those good are inexpensive.
It all pretty boils down to the fact that, even when accounting for the cost of living, youcould not take a factory building anything in the third world andbring it to the use because of.
1. Labor laws...minimum wage, working hours, overtime rules.
2. Government regulations...safety, healthcare, discrimination, etc.
3. Environmental laws...emissions, hazardous waste disposal, etc,
Most would agree that all these regulations and laws are for the good and that we don't want a steel plant in the US operating like it does in China.
However, the same people who don't want to have the dirty, dangerous manufacturing here are more than happy to have it somewhere else and then take advantage of the cheap prices. Hence, their opposition to tariffs.
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It's too bad that machined sheet metal is too difficult technically speaking for an American company to start producing. Whatever will we do?
Concern over hardware with a long supply chain like cpu's, mobo's, ram etc is one thing.. but something as stupidly simple to produce as a fucking metal box? come on.
Hopefully the outcome of these tariffs is that another country (maybe even the US?) will step up and start producing and supplying components. It is somewhat foolish to allow one single country to have a near total monopoly on something as important as electronics.
(But more than likely some enterprising individual will setup shop in Mexico or Canada; and import the goods from China, then just ship them across the border to avoid the tariff.)
in 2020. The one thing that's kept my meager standard of living up is cheap goods from China. It's not like tariffs will stop the flow of cheap labor from India flooding IT. Meanwhile Trump's tax cut wasn't as big as folks think. A lot of people set their withholding lower than they should and are going to get an unpleasant surprise in April when they either have a smaller than average refund or maybe even owe.
Normally the decisions made by a president don't show up immediately. It took close to 8 years for Obama to repair the damage from the 2008 crash. But tariffs and tax cuts are immediate. If folks don't see a positive effect they're gonna get uppity. We'll know in a few years.
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You seemingly don't realize that this is just a tax on American citizens... There is no "American-made" alternative to most of these components, so it will serve only to raise the prices Americans are forced to pay while the countries of production don't notice a difference.
So when the orange moron changes his mind again on a whim and the tariffs go away, you can lose a ton of money. Sounds like a great business plan. Good luck!
The reason there is no American alternative is because, although all of this was designed in the US, China used it's slave labor force to build this stuff by people required to work 14+ hour days. And every time American ingenuity came up with a way to compete with the slave labor force, the Chinese government changed the exchange rate to make sure we weren't competitive. Who needs a tariff when you control the exchange rate?
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Meanwhile Trump's tax cut wasn't as big as folks think.
It was plenty big for certain people with several commas in their annual income. That isn't the real problem though. The real problem is that they cut taxes without cutting either Medicare/Medicaid or the defense budget or social security which together account for around 3/4 of federal spending. So we continue to accrue debt at a rate of nearly a $trillion per year with no end in sight which our children are going to have to pay off sooner or later. In 2017 we basically borrowed the entire defense department budget. ALL of it.
So enjoy the party while it lasts. Sooner or later the bills will come due and your children will "thank" you for it.
Sounds like a business opportunity to make PC cases in the US so Americans aren't 'forced' to buy Chinese shit.
Apparently you missed the past decade where big businesses has been positioning to transition to using south american cheap labor instead of southeast asian cheap labor.
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Mod parent up. Absolutely right on. The US has been and continues to be a manufacturing powerhouse. It's just that American manufacturing involves very few people (relatively speaking) and is highly automated, involving robots and CNC machines.
There are still some things in American industry that are very labor-intensive (such as building construction and agriculture), but even those involve a very small number of workers relative to the population, and still have a fair amount of automation involved. And it's work that few Americans are interested in doing.
The problem with Trump's tariffs are that they actually punish the domestic industry and manufacturing that we have without creating the new industries promised. For example the already high cost of farm machinery is rising by 25% also now, which puts pressure on everyone else down the line. Farm machines are for the most part made with steel produced in US plants, often right next to the manufacturing plants. But the tariffs drive up domestic steel prices nearly as much as foreign steel.
Local suppliers will need steel. Last I heard there are higher tariffs on that as well, because we don't make that here anymore either.
But keep moving the target. I'm sure the yokels in the the red parts of the flyover states won't catch on that their Fearless Leader is lying to them.
He's certainly declared bankruptcy more often and garnered more scorn than the average person.
Its sad when someone points out that getting lots of money through money laundering & fraud and cheating on your immigrant wives to get some extra sex is now the american dream.
I know the case isn't $2000, but people blinging out on their case are not exactly price sensitive. It's not a dig - I have a nice case because I like the look, noise suppression, vibration reduction, and the serviceability. But let's be honest, it's a frivolous expense - my old stamped sheet metal case with the sharp edges was perfectly serviceable.
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