Tariff increase for glasses from China...

Got this list from a link to Barron's from The Washington Post:

Which Products Will See the 10% Bump?

2018 import values of selected products subject to new tariffs, in million of dollars

Product	Total imports	China imports	Relaince on China
Pneumatic mattresses and other inflatable articles of plastics	523	503	96%
Porcelain or china ceramic sinks, washbasins, baths, bidets, water closet bowls, urinals & similar sanitary fixtures	658	502	76%
Sound recording and reproducing apparatus using magnetic tape, optical media, or semiconductor media	591	500	85%
Spectacles, goggles and the like, corrective, protective or other, other than sunglasses	836	472	56%
Single loudspeakers mounted in their enclosures	688	468	68%
Containers (including containers for transport of fluids) specially designed and equipped for carriage by one or more modes of transport	628	463	74%
Women's or girls' knitted or crocheted swimwear of synthetic fibers	900	457	51%
Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy, other than flashlights	490	457	93%
Aluminum, cooking and kitchen ware (other than cast), enameled or glazed or containing nonstick interior finishes	740	456	62%
Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor

I think that is a good idea!

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

Got this list from a link to Barron's from The Washington Post:

Which Products Will See the 10% Bump?

2018 import values of selected products subject to new tariffs, in million of dollars

Product	Total imports	China imports	Relaince on China
Pneumatic mattresses and other inflatable articles of plastics	523	503	96%
Porcelain or china ceramic sinks, washbasins, baths, bidets, water closet bowls, urinals & similar sanitary fixtures	658	502	76%
Sound recording and reproducing apparatus using magnetic tape, optical media, or semiconductor media	591	500	85%
Spectacles, goggles and the like, corrective, protective or other, other than sunglasses	836	472	56%
Single loudspeakers mounted in their enclosures	688	468	68%
Containers (including containers for transport of fluids) specially designed and equipped for carriage by one or more modes of transport	628	463	74%
Women's or girls' knitted or crocheted swimwear of synthetic fibers	900	457	51%
Portable electric lamps designed to function by their own source of energy, other than flashlights	490	457	93%
Aluminum, cooking and kitchen ware (other than cast), enameled or glazed or containing nonstick interior finishes	740	456	62%
Electromechanical domestic appliances, with self-contained electric motor

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Originally Posted by JERRY HUANG

I think that is a good idea!

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Thanks for the post Jerry as someone who is living it from our field.

I know Trump may be clumsy in his ways but I did read in the Washington Post how our trade agreements and sharing intellectual property are lopsidedly exploited to China's benefit and targeted tariffs can help change that.

Do you see more than that from the eye wear end of things?

Reminder - let's stay away from politics of any kind please.

I assume we can talk about any anticipated frame price increases in percentage terms- correct?

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

I assume we can talk about any anticipated frame price increases in percentage terms- correct?

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Of course, but you know how slippery this slope is.

How are you all handling these new tariffs? Are you passing them along to patients and adding this into the costs of the frames?

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Originally Posted by OpticalNinja

How are you all handling these new tariffs? Are you passing them along to patients and adding this into the costs of the frames?

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Yes we are and I fear when this all gets resolved we are not going to see any decrease. Is anyone noticing this- even those "Made in Italy" are jumping up disproportionately to tariffs? (Rumor has it much of the work is done in China anyway;)

I think the tariff is 10% and may not even have happened. Maybe Doc in China could verify. (I miss Chris Ryser's research abilities and Chris for that matter :cry:)

Anyone else remember when real gold was fairly common in frames and when the OPEC oil embargo happened the prices skyrocketed. Most manufacturers stopped using it but kept their price the same.

Ray Bans and AO Suns especially turned to junk and took many years to recover to where they are now- but even that isn't like the quality they had then.

I also remember the day when prices adjusted once a year after the New York show so everyone stocked up then. Now they can change literally a couple of months after introduction if they are popular.

Analytics I suspect drive this. Or is it our inability to stop the tail from wagging the dog? :rolleyes:

I won't be surprised to see frames starting to be priced by region in the near future because of this.

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Originally Posted by OpticalNinja

How are you all handling these new tariffs? Are you passing them along to patients and adding this into the costs of the frames?

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Step 1. Don't but Chinese frames
Step 2. ?????
Step 3. Profit

But, seriously what other choice do you have if you buy and sell these products than to pass on the cost? It's no different than if your rent went up, COG increased, shipping costs went up, etc. It's not likely any of your customers are going to notice, they only buy glasses every few years if we are lucky. A 10% bump in retail price of Chinese frames shouldn't be a large dollar retail markup anyway. The general public has about zero clue what makes a frame worth $30 dollars vs $300 dollars, they won't notice that a $250 dollar frame is now $275.

It will be interesting to see how the different manufactures handle this. I know Altair is just increasing their base price. I'm sure Marchon is the same. I think Safilo is keeping their base prices the same and adding a tariff charge. I ordered cases from Rons recently and they had a tariff charge too. I am curious to see if the tariff situation changes will the companies who added it to the base frame price revert their pricing.

I have seen tariff charges, Ron's was 15%, it was on the invoice as a Tariff surcharge. Kenmark had a Tariff surcharge that was 2%. I do know that some others have incorporated the tariff into the cost of their product. Kenmark mentioned on the invoice that tariffs would not be applied to frames that they had in stock prior to the tariff being implemented.

No tariffs on American made goods. Might be time to start making frames and mountings here in the USA.

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Originally Posted by rbaker

No tariffs on American made goods. Might be time to start making frames and mountings here in the USA.

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I think that is the whole point of tariffs.

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Originally Posted by CME4SPECS

I have seen tariff charges, Ron's was 15%, it was on the invoice as a Tariff surcharge. Kenmark had a Tariff surcharge that was 2%. I do know that some others have incorporated the tariff into the cost of their product. Kenmark mentioned on the invoice that tariffs would not be applied to frames that they had in stock prior to the tariff being implemented.

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That's a great way for manufacturers to address this issue. Hopefully, if the tariffs are removed, the charge can be removed as well.

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Originally Posted by CME4SPECS

I think that is the whole point of tariffs.

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Except this is what will be making them:


http://www.fretor.com/en/machines-for-eyewear



Up to 88% of manufacturing jobs are lost to automation- not to where they are made.

The U.S. has lost 5 million factory jobs since 2000. And trade has indeed claimed production jobs – in particular when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Nevertheless, there was no downturn in U.S. manufacturing output. As a matter of fact, U.S. production has been growing over the last decades. From 2006 to 2013, “manufacturing grew by 17.6%, or at roughly 2.2% per year,” according to a report from Ball State University. The study reports as well that trade accounted for 13% of the lost U.S. factory jobs, but 88% of the jobs were taken by robots and other factors at home.

Is there room for Made in USA eye wear? yes- but will we support it? I know Randolph Engineering near here makes quality sunglasses but do you carry them?
The slip-n-slide on a hill article;)

https://fortune.com/2016/11/08/china-automation-jobs/

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Originally Posted by AngeHamm

That's a great way for manufacturers to address this issue. Hopefully, if the tariffs are removed, the charge can be removed as well.

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I'm not going to get into a debate about if Tariffs are good or bad, I'm not qualified, most of us probably aren't on a global scale. But, I think that is horrible way for manufacturers to address anything. It's called the cost of doing business. Don't try and pass the buck of responsibility to someone else by itemizing the charge. It's like restaurants itemizing crap onto the end of the bill. 3% minimum wage fee, 2% mandatory healthcare fee, 4% county waste disposal fee, etc. It's ridiculous. I don't need to know what makes up your COGs, give me the final price and I'll decide it the product is worth it to buy. Whatever industry we are talking about.

I agree with Andrew. This is hopefully a soon to be resolved issue and the tariff dispute on eye wear, once resolved, allows them to quickly go back to their original price.

I imagine frame manufacturer's have a dizzying array of places they need to post and publish prices and this a is simple, temporary line item.

I'm leery of those that are putting it into their permanent price lists as before you know it, everyone forgets why the increase occurred.

Also- if it's an international company the tariff only affects the US market.

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

I agree with Andrew. This is hopefully a soon to be resolved issue and the tariff dispute on eye wear, once resolved, allows them to quickly go back to their original price.

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Why would they? If people still buy their frames at the increase price, why lower it? If the market shows it will bear the higher cost, these corporations will continue to charge the higher cost. When it comes down to it the only things that matters is the bottom line. $$$$$$

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

I imagine frame manufacturer's have a dizzying array of places they need to post and publish prices and this a is simple, temporary line item.

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I imagine they do as well. But, I don't see how adding a line item is any easier than changing a line item, and it is not like this is the only time they will ever change prices. I assume most of these companies change prices annually if not more. I would bet they are pretty efficient at it.

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

I'm leery of those that are putting it into their permanent price lists as before you know it, everyone forgets why the increase occurred.

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Do you check with your wholesalers every time a price change happens, inquire why, and record it? Do you know why the last price change happened to any of your frame lines? If warehouse costs increased last year and they raised prices, do you expect them to lower prices if their shipping costs go down this year? I highly doubt it. When was the last time a wholesale company lowered your frame costs? If you can squeak out a new 2% discount on your lab bill, are you lowering your retail prices, or pocketing more money? When was the last time you checked on the reason for an annual wholesale frame price increase from let's say 49.95/frame to 54.95/frame, that's 10%. I bet most people wouldn't even notice, let alone question why it happened. If you are that diligent, I applaud you sir.

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Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

Also- if it's an international company the tariff only affects the US market.

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I don't understand why that would matter. I assume most of these companies have different end costs all over the world, not one global set price structure.

Looks like a start to end the trade war is near- or maybe not.

History and update to Nov. 11,2019:

https://www.china-briefing.com/news/...ar-a-timeline/