Facepalm

I work in manufacturing supply chain and tbh it may actually be better to buy direct from the factory via Aliexpress than the same thing that’s already been imported.

Because of our “gimme it now” consumer attitude and shit like Prime last mile expedited delivery, the only way to ensure that service (as a corporate distribution strategy) is to overbuy and disseminate finished product geographically - the goal should be Just in Time restocking to each local warehouse/distro hub, but after the pandemic supply crunch we literally re-wrote the textbook and businesses are holding more inventory than before.

And the “locally made with global materials” manufacturing is even worse. Any scrap/waste during production represent materials that were likely transported via sea freight using bunker fuel, and the snowballing volume of intermodal packaging required to ship raw/semifinished material instead of a finished product adds up QUICK.

The real answer? Buy nothing; Thrift, Rent/Borrow. And if you have no alternative, seriously consider spending more on durable goods that’ll last instead of the cheaper or fancy whiz-bang option. DIY is for hobbies, you can’t beat economies of scale and efficiency unless it’s something very basic or simple.