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The Real Reason LA port is backed up

The tariff paperwork has always existed. I have been hit with it a few times depending on what I ordered. I deal with electronics. The new tariff Trump put into place was a 25% fee on electronic parts. Not completed items. So sub assembles for items that are going to be assembled in the US, got an extra 25% fee. The paperwork adds a few days delays for me, but I deal with smaller items.

Completed items, like Phone and anything else ready to ship, do not have *this* tariff applied.
This makes zero sense to me!
So your saying if i bring in some circuit boards from China to make a robotic arm and hire 1000 US workers to do the metal work and assemble the product I am charged duty but the guy who gets the whole robot arm built in China pays nothing!
 
This makes zero sense to me!
So your saying if i bring in some circuit boards from China to make a robotic arm and hire 1000 US workers to do the metal work and assemble the product I am charged duty but the guy who gets the whole robot arm built in China pays nothing!

So I don't know if there is zero tariffs on completed items. Next to the one off small items I order, I don't order many large completed, items from China.
But on all the larger PCB and component orders I do, (normally over $500), there is a 25% tariffs.

My understanding was the bill was to apply 25% for all imported electronics, but the Apples of the world (and other brands) screamed, and the bill was changed to just parts.

It did make the 2 PCB manufactures left in the US more price competitive to China. But China still has the manufacturing speed. I can design a PCB click order and have it made in China and in my hands in the US in 4 days (well, pre covid). The US based companies take 2 weeks just to make it.
 
DW worked for an electric bike company that was complaining about tariffs. The bikes came maybe 80% assembled so I wonder if that was to save $$. They had full containers backed up for weeks. This was a year ago.
 
This is all what happens when people get put in charge of the transportation department because they are owed a favor .... and actually know nothing whatsoever about transportation and the complexities involved.
 
This is all what happens when people get put in charge of the transportation department because they are owed a favor .... and actually know nothing whatsoever about transportation and the complexities involved.
I hear "Mayor Pete" Buttigieg (transportation secretary) is on maternity leave after adopting twins. LOL
Thanks to Porch for explaining how the EPA screwed up the trucking situation.
 
One article (don't have the link on this computer) had truckers blaming the backlog on time for cranes to load.
They said the $250,000/year operators worked slowly, took long lunches, skipped over truckers who complained.
The truckers waste hours waiting.
But, there is a robotic crane being used, and they love getting loads there because it is fast.

Here's a similar article:


"The robots, guided by remote computers using Wi-Fi, will deliver cargo to trucks parked outside the container storage yard."

Hmm, how much money could I make selling jammers to the union?
 
They have been trying to automate the port for 20 years. Every time, blocked by the union.
 
Unfortunately within a decade the truck drivers could be eliminated too. FSD depot to warehouse will be the first to automate.... even before cars IMO.
 
Unfortunately within a decade the truck drivers could be eliminated too. FSD depot to warehouse will be the first to automate.... even before cars IMO.
As much as I think that self driving cars is cool and all, that last 10% to get it good enough, is going to take longer then 10 years. The cheaper option for shopping goods, would be more rail to places along with easier loading and unloading.
 
Interesting article from a shipping website that indicates the problem with expanding hours is on the trucking side, essentially because the distribution centers where truckers deliver the containers aren’t open after hours.

I am a firm believer in the free enterprise system. If there is a product or service in high demand (truckers and 24/7 distribution centers) someone new will step-up and make big money doing it. Heck I’ll fly to CA, lease a truck and start moving containers at night if the price is right.

The only exception to the free enterprise rule is when external forces inhibit or prohibit someone new from expanding into a market demand. Typically these would be government and labor unions.

Also surprised more container ships are not diverting to Mexico if there is available port capacity there.
 
I think the dedicated and programmed routes
As much as I think that self driving cars is cool and all, that last 10% to get it good enough, is going to take longer then 10 years. The cheaper option for shopping goods, would be more rail to places along with easier loading and unloading.
Programmed for major truck routes would seem to be easier than every minutia possible for the cars to get down every unmarked situation.
Trains are underrated too. These need to be automated more also.
 
I read an article about how the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) has long been dragging their feet on automation and third & weekend shifts, leading to LA & Long Beach being one of the least efficient large ports in the world.

I think they caved recently and agreed to extra shifts (Biden did a victory lap as usual). However the same article states US Customs continues to take weekends off.
 
I think the dedicated and programmed routes

Programmed for major truck routes would seem to be easier than every minutia possible for the cars to get down every unmarked situation.
Trains are underrated too. These need to be automated more also.
You don't need to program them for routes. That's the whole shtick.

AI can handle the job. It's just a matter of time to train the AI.
 
Conservative Tree House is a fake news website.

Believe NOTHING that comes from these websites without independently verifying it.

Why would the forum owner even allow this thread to remain?
What a ridiculous statement. Do you watch CNN ?
A friend just told me this in response to the EPA over-regulating the trucking industry :

My Uncle and Cousins (his sons) own and operate a medium trucking company outside of Atlanta. My SIL is an over OTR Trucker and neither of them allow their drivers or trucks to enter CA because of the regulations. Those family members all drive 'glider' trucks. New trucks that are sold as rolling chassis and they have mechanics install older rebuilt engines and trans. They run better and longer than any new engine.

Most OTR drivers will not drive in CA except for the large companies that can afford to purchase new trucks almost every year. This also keeps road side assistance cost and costly repairs down. Good of course but the down side is new fleets and lots of trucks off the road for warrantee work.

There are large hubs all along the CA boarder in those other adjoining states that are independent holding and transfer areas just so truckers don't have to go into CA to pick up loads.
-----------------
This Christmas when you can't find the gifts for people you need, remember the politicians who are telling us to "adapt to a new reality."
You can bring back the old reality next election !
 
Also I sense a trend for anything reported from a "conservative" group is politically biased against anything that goes against big oil.
I assume the Koch brothers are probably behind this.

I would tend to believe the BBC or CBC explanations of the reasons. Once in a while the biased news sources get it right but I have a hard time getting around the possibility that they don't have it right.
 
Read for yourself and draw your own conclusions:

Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program Overview​

https://www.portoflosangeles.org/environment/air-quality/clean-truck-program
Thanks Delmar.
Maybe some of these non-believers will read this. It's no wonder we are waiting 3 months for batteries !

New 2021-2026 Clean Truck Concession Agreements Now Required​


All 2014-2021 Clean Truck Concession Agreements expired on September 30, 2021, regardless of when a Licensed Motor Carrier (LMC) applied.

All LMCs must apply for a new 2021-2026 Clean Truck Concession Agreement to continue to operate at the Port of Los Angeles.

LMCs who fail to submit a new Concession Agreement will not be allowed access to Port of Los Angeles cargo terminals starting October 1, 2021.
 
So I don't know if there is zero tariffs on completed items. Next to the one off small items I order, I don't order many large completed, items from China.
But on all the larger PCB and component orders I do, (normally over $500), there is a 25% tariffs.

My understanding was the bill was to apply 25% for all imported electronics, but the Apples of the world (and other brands) screamed, and the bill was changed to just parts.

It did make the 2 PCB manufactures left in the US more price competitive to China. But China still has the manufacturing speed. I can design a PCB click order and have it made in China and in my hands in the US in 4 days (well, pre covid). The US based companies take 2 weeks just to make it.

This is a huge problem for me (and us) !!

For example.... The MidNite DIY inverter(s) and controller(s) come from China and are a completed product with around 7% tariffs, delivered...

This is part of the reason why we offer those inverter/controllers in the first place. Very hard to compete with that. Some like made in America products but most people go on lowest price.

We manufacture controllers and stuff that do use some parts that must come from China and other countries. Chinese components are normally 25% but there has been 40% parts. One part for instance are snap-in electrolytic capacitors at 25% tariff. The US does not make any decent caps anymore. The US does not make hardly any of the components to manufacture electronics anymore. Not even packaging and aluminum castings, etc.

Another example is a simple shipping box and (I think) the Styrofoam packing. Our usual US source wants $15 for that. China wants like, $3.
Even with tariffs it is a no-brainer.

This is totally backwards ! What we have heard is that this backwards mentality results from lobbyists in the industry. Us little solar guys don't have lobbyists.

And the tariffs are not going away soon. BIG debts to pay off I guess.

India, Taiwan and Mexico are alternatives for some of this. OutBack and Schneider are built in India but they are also sold in India.

I long for the good old days before all of this but here we are.

boB
 
What a ridiculous statement. Do you watch CNN ?
A friend just told me this in response to the EPA over-regulating the trucking industry :

My Uncle and Cousins (his sons) own and operate a medium trucking company outside of Atlanta. My SIL is an over OTR Trucker and neither of them allow their drivers or trucks to enter CA because of the regulations. Those family members all drive 'glider' trucks. New trucks that are sold as rolling chassis and they have mechanics install older rebuilt engines and trans. They run better and longer than any new engine.

Most OTR drivers will not drive in CA except for the large companies that can afford to purchase new trucks almost every year. This also keeps road side assistance cost and costly repairs down. Good of course but the down side is new fleets and lots of trucks off the road for warrantee work.

There are large hubs all along the CA boarder in those other adjoining states that are independent holding and transfer areas just so truckers don't have to go into CA to pick up loads.
-----------------
This Christmas when you can't find the gifts for people you need, remember the politicians who are telling us to "adapt to a new reality."
You can bring back the old reality next election !
No, I don't watch CNN, I don't watch television at all.. no one in my family watches television because we don't want to become a bunch of brainwashed zombies.

Do you watch FOX News?

California has the right to regulate their state as they see fit.. if you don't like it, don't move to California or order anything that has to go through California. Its not rocket science.

But to sit there and complain that you don't like someone else's rules because they cause you inconvenience stinks of the typical American spoiled entitlement.

What's next? Are you going to imply China is our enemy while typing away on your Chinese keyboard, sitting in your Chinese office chair, on your Chinese computer monitor and Chinese mouse?
 
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