lot of craftsmanship for $83..sheeesh

[Dan Barr]

Quote: "Well, there were 32 reviews of it when I looked, and all but one liked it. Many thought it was very well made.

Just sayin'..."

Not picking on you,

But those "people" dont know woodwork from a hole in the ground. Much less what type of glue is in there, what joinery methods (if any) are hidden in the piece, etc.

With all due respect, that "thing" shouldnt even be posted on this site. If anything, the maker has only made a "look-alike" or maybe something just beyond a "museum display".

Ciao,

dan

[Dan Barr]

I should have posted this with the OP

• Constructed from solid wood
• Finished with rich burlwood oak stain
• Large interior mirror under the lid
• Double hinged necklace side doors
• Soft ivory fabric lining

I am not advocating this stuff, just amazed, thats all...

BTW, I think your number of 2k per container is close to accurate, I just checked the dimensions.... but, that is too the dock.... I bet it can cost another few thou to get it to your destination. But regardless, its less than I thought.

Will, dont take this the least bit personally. I'm just ranting about what gets done to make things cheaper than "dirt cheap".

As for its features:

solid wood: obviously denotes that this thing is made of particle board or the cheapest wood out there. Why dont they specify the species of wood? I didnt know particle board grew in the wild. hey, its all wood pieces and since the entire jewelry box is made of wood chips, its solid wood! Eureka! Yay!!! thats their rationale.

burlwood oak stain: programmed painting machine that literally puts the grain pattern on the particle board in the form of paint. just like your printer connected to your computer. They call it stain because "burlwood oak printed paint pattern" might just give it away.

Large interior mirror: So what! I am humbled by your generosity.

Double hinged necklace side doors: Again, So what! They must want a cookie because they were generous enough, once again, not to go with one hinge per door!?!?!? save another penny huh. but, saving a penny in that country is possibly 2-4% of the production cost.

Soft ivory fabric lining: OOOhhhhhhh. Just another chance to throw a few more soothing adjectives towards you. "soft" and "ivory". Oh, but we forgot about the word "fabric". WHAT!!! That's not velvet. not REALLY velvet. its just fabric with some sort of hairy surface. Well, we saved another penny here. Otherwise we would have had to cut that second hinge out of the design.

LOL

Dan

[David DeCristoforo]

"...joinery methods..."

Joinery??? What Joinery?

Dan Barr: Thanks for that. You took the words right out of my mouth. I will be laughing all weekend!

YM

[Dan Barr]

Youre welcomed,

I'm laughing too.

Ciao,

Dan

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I'd have to see one in person to pass judgement on it. But if all but one of the people who reviewed it liked it.......the customer may not always be right, but the customer is always -- you know. It may be junk or it may not be junk but it sold.

I sold in a craft mall for several years and occasionally helped out. Some of the stuff that was brought to the front that the customer thought was "so cute". Thrown together by people to make a quick buck (not imported) and I had to just bite my tongue and wish them a nice day unless it was the very rare occasion when I was asked my opinion.

[Dan Barr]

Wait til everything is out-sourced to your country and then pass laws to up the minimum wage.

Hmm....

sounds shady to me. who's actually keeping the money and in what percentages? what does the actual worker receive?

ciao,

dan

[Matt Schell]

Thanks for starting the thread, I often look at the "wood" items and "furniture" at these cheap retail stores and try to figure out what they would need to do to produce the products and sell them at low prices and still make a profit.

Usually you don't even need to look very closely to see the very low quality of the materials being used, the complete lack of any kind of joinery beyond a butt joint reinforced with a screw or nail. Also pieces are usually out of allignment with unsightly gaps (very poor fit and finish)

I would imagine as these plants refine their processes and upgrade their toolings eventually they probably could manufacture one specific item cheaply and relatively well.

I am sure that next to a finely crafted dovetailed jewelry box built with real lumber these other pieces would really look terrible the trouble is everything else in these stores is cheap so it all blends in.

[Tom Veatch]

Those boxes are about 2/3 or smaller the size your quoting. I think they are more 12" high x 12" wide x 8" deep. I figure with double boxing close to 2,500 in a 40 container. Each one without box is approx .018877 m3. So I woudl say closer to a $1 each for shipping.

Per the link: 14 L x 7.5 W x 11.5 H Inches

Rounding up for packaging:
16x9x13 = 1872 cu.in. = 0.030676 cu meter

Assuming 90% container packing efficiency:
.9 x 56/.030676 = 1643/container

[Bob Opsitos]

It is starting to make a lot more sense to manufacture at point of use, vs off shore. Our customers landed costs of product is starting to negate any cost benefits of manufacturing in China and we are seeing that work return to the states.

Travis I've recently been hearing the same thing. With the RNB climbing relative to the dollar and shipping/inventory costs (hey you own that shipment while it spends several weeks at sea) there has been talk of things being moved back to mexico (so it can better serve the Latin American market). Also doesn't help that Mexico slaps a health charge on items that say "made in china".

The tide will turn just in time for the US to be the low cost labor force once the our crap economy crushes the middle class.

To the OP, the really distrubing thing is that all those people who bought it are happy and consider it "good quality". It's made for people who want the illusion of quality and quantity. You can't fault the makers and sellers for catering to "our" society's embrace of the impermanent.

Who's next on the soap box?
Bob

Bob