How can a mainland Chinese company ship a product overnight to the US (Often with free shipping) while a similar parcel & product class from Canada usually takes nearly 2 weeks to make a shorter trip?

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How can a mainland Chinese company ship a product overnight to the US (Often with free shipping) while a similar parcel & product class from Canada usually takes nearly 2 weeks to make a shorter trip?

In: Economics

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Chinese subsidies are a thing but more likely the company has a local distributor.

They don’t wait for a buyer before shipping. They ship over a whole container load by boat, which takes weeks, but is the cheap per item.

They hold them here in a warehouse until customers are lined up, then ship from the stateside warehouse.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The Chinese company probably has the volume of China->US business to make customs pre-clearance and duties/tariffs a done deal. The Canada->US company probably doesn’t, or hasn’t bothered yet. So that Canada package if you look at the tracking history probably sat in a customs warehouse for better part of a week. The China package was precleared through customs probably before it left for the airport.

Anonymous 0 Comments

China’s government heavily subsidizes shipping of goods to make their products more attractive, more affordable, more attainable for Americans. They know Americans won’t want to wait 3 weeks for an iPhone case or pay twice as much to ship it as the item costs. By subsidizing the shipping, it allows companies to sell directly to customers, growing their business, increasing economic output, employing more workers, etc.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s all about money. Any company anywhere can throw something on a plane and have it delivered next day, but it’s expensive. Chinese companies make this up by having very aggressive distributor contracts, with most companies being owned by the CCP. Additionally, their profit margins are much higher than a Canadian based company because they pay their workers next to nothing, or use slave labor in their supply chain, as we’ve seen with cotton. This allows them to absorb more cost in shipping. It’s an ugly truth but most people shop on price not morality, because they too are struggling. It’s also very hard for consumers to have insight into the source of the products they buy. The onus is on the company to source from reputable suppliers but companies prioritize profits over people.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The product already is in the US.
They ship it there in containers and distribute it from warehouses.

Shipping from China takes a few weeks.

Air freight is quick but very expensive.