Our Supply Chain World we live in means as long as there are multiple sources, we should see prices remain steady as competition does what is is supposed to do: keep quality up and prices down.
But the same larger players at work here ALSO do not want us to get cheap (high quality) lights if they can (eventually) lock up the (any) market. Walmart/Wall Street has been “dumbing down” quality and producing landfill and repackaging 100 yr old OLD technology for TOP dollar (i.e. burning coal for Enron type scams Vs. pushing distributed solar) since I can remember (and I’m over 50).
Question: Where (in the world) can you find lights of this quality for anywhere NEAR what we are paying?
Answer: Nowhere… and in the US you will NEVER get this quality from Walmart or Home Depot who BOTH sell the worst quality junk in the market for any consumer or contractor respectively (and I am both).
Yes, there are a lot of junk lights out there too, but for about the SAME price (and with a little knowledge) we get great quality builds made by craftsmen with a drive to deliver a good, fair priced product— for now
And we ALSO can get parts to improve them to our personal standards.
So for now, life is good but I have noticed recently that batteries are getting a lot harder to find (and ship) to the US specifically; so that is a concern for today- time will tell.
I’ll never put it past any politician (chose a party, they all do the same in my book) to NOT screw things up if they decide to “fix” something. :person_facepalming: And for decades… tariffs have been proven to be THE stupid thing to do here. The real question is who in the US (really) wants a trade war with China (and why are we going back to the dark ages with Draconian, outdated trade policies)? I hope I don’t find out in my lifetime; but I might with the dumb asses running things in the US lately. Not being political, but factual here… all politicians bow to the money, we all know that.
Net neutrality in the US is another BIG future scam of the same ilk- like toll roads in Texas, get ready to bend over for something that use to be free. Now a young person starting out in metropolitan Texas cities pays a fat, mega-rich (usually white) guy (who borrowed tax payer dollars at LOW interest to build toll roads Vs. public roads) to drive to work to make less adjusted income than WE did in 1980. Those toll roads are NAMED after these same politicians— coincidence? :question:
But if we are left alone to trade for a few % of our lights super-low cost (as we are today in the US anyway) and we are willing to learn (here and a few places) how to buy the “good stuff” :+1: - I’m happy to enjoy these little amazing devices while they are affordable and available. We (in the US) ARE voting with our dollars sent to China- not Walmart. Net result: we get QUALITY- not landfill. (sad but true).
I’m am happy to NOT live in a place where I don’t have options and must consume junk (and pay toll road fees to survive my job) and I also thank and respect the craftsmen who listen to us and improve this niche market we are enjoying. Let us hope it remains a viable and FREE market— like we used to have in the US years ago (and we do not today, OR we’d be buying these lights IN the US, right?).
Free trade is great as long as it’s really free, and if it were not for China (AND some smart folks here at BLF too)… this site (and our killer little lights) would not exist. We need each other to make it work, and so again: why the idiotic, non-capitalistic trade barriers and who’s big idea is this really? Answer: BIG $$$ :money_mouth_face: