Shane and the other guy both have very good on camera presence! Good hook, BTW, to put part II first. I spent the last ten minutes looking on You Tube for the first part, which was really just an intro, but did find more videos to watch. I've always loved the peek into the mfg. process. And, even if those workers are making $8 a day rather than hour, OMG, I wonder how they can even sell those things as cheaply as they do. Sounds like several hours per loco to put those details together.
If their locos sell to wholesalers for 50-60% of retail and between rivet and operators the 3000 locos he mentioned range from $124-$260 average $180 or so at MSRP, then they gross about $300,000 for that model, and at an assumed 20% profit, only net $60,000 K for a few years of work. Maybe the salary and benefits for one guy here in the US! And, that's if they sell out. I don't know full production costs, etc. but hopefully, they make more like 50% profit on a successful model.
Okay, just checked what it cost to ship a 20 foot container from China to Savannah - 40-42 days and $2400-$2600 each. I bet it's the same to get it from Savannah to Tennessee by truck. I did some quick math, and the small container holds up to 12,000 typical sized HO pieces, so that works out to only $.20 per loco/car or so, maybe $.50 or so for total shipping to factory, and probably that much again to LHS or wholesalers. I guess it does pay to work in China.
So, short version, and I know some of you will remember I have done this before over the years, I hope we can dump any mention of "greedy" model railroad mfgs. It's just not that great a biz.
Especially for Scale Trains who have taken chances on rare proto models, like the C39-8, which are among the best 2 N scale locos I own, but which cannot be sell outs, especially in N. (I spoke with Neal of Neal's Engaging Trains at a show, and he didn't order any, and wondered what kind of weird duck would want that paint scheme? Well, apparently the weird duck who has an N scale switching line set in 2000 and is looking for recycled 1980's diesels patched over in lease service. How many of me could there be?
