• Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Is the owner of the company purchasing a year’s worth in order to keep the price they charge down, or in order to raise prices in February when their customers expect it because of the new tariffs, and pocket the difference? While having avoided paying bonuses?

    • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      Obviously I don’t know the business in question, but it’s quite possible that the company has a bunch of longer running contracts that would become a loss if the inputs become much more expensive.

      Of course, businesses will use the opportunity to charge more, but sudden price hikes are a very real problem.

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        This is almost certainly what’s happening. The proposed tariffs will be very hard on American businesses and devastating for the consumer. It’s quite literally a fairly severe tax on domestic companies and the American people. But, honestly, we could do with a less consumerism in this country. Unfortunately, it’s likely to cause a tough economic downturn that will hurt poor people the most.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          Be hilarious if Trump simultaneously collapses the economy and starts a green movement built around an inherent need for a second hand economy.

              • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Well, they didn’t disappear into thin air. 12 million less people voted for Harris, so basically the democrats lost the election more than Trump won it. Trump got basically the same number of votes as he did against Biden.

                • Captainvaqina@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 month ago

                  Yes that’s what I meant though. Their votes disappeared. Our electronic voting machines have known first hand vulnerabilities.

                  I think they figured it out finally. They’ve been trying to gain access this entire time, and some Republican traitors are being prosecuted for it as we speak. Or were. I guess laws don’t matter anymore since America is finished.

                  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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                    1 month ago

                    Lol. K. You don’t think it might be that votes aren’t finished being counted, Harris was uninspiring, and people are sexist? No! It must be a vast conspiracy! Good to know being a paranoid idiot isn’t exclusively a right-wing thing.

      • stoned_ape@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I want to hope that it’s this

        I sell steel, and we have been telling everyone to buy as much of their estimated annual usage as possible right now in order for us to hold the pricing, especially if it isn’t mill runs and double especially for exotic alloys.

        It’s going to fuck over so hard the small machine shops that are prevalent everywhere that just do whatever jobs get called out and don’t really have the sway or size to be able to negotiate a better deal.

        The same machine shops that were flying Trump memorabilia.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Large and small manufacturing companies have contracts for orders for months to years out with set prices, some of which might have wiggle room for costs but not to this extent. Plus manufacturing already tries to balance out costs across projects due to fluctuating prices for materials. If their materials double (or more) in price they will be screwed by the contracts and guaranteed to lose money on all of them.

      Buying at the current prices means they will have to pay to have the materials stored in a warehouse, which will cut into their planned profits for those existing contracts. Hell, they might be buying at a higher cost than they normally would when fulfilling the contracts.

      The company is getting screwed, not trying to fleece customers or their employees.

    • AcidOctopus@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Without having more detail I can’t speak with certainty, but, general principles of inventory management and cash flow discourage having a surplus of stock, as that ties up a significant amount of working capital in the costs of storing and handling it all - you risk not being able to pay your liabilities because you’ve sunk all your funds into inventory that hasn’t yet sold and generated more revenue.

      Companies often have longer term contracts with specific prices agreed that can’t always be easily changed. Those contacts could quite easily become unprofitable if there are sudden increases to the direct costs of fulfilling them. So, rather than trying to fuck customers, this company is likely trying to stock-up at current market prices to ride-out the first year of tariffs, but in doing so, needs a large injection of working capital to cover the expenditure (hence cancelling bonuses), and also puts itself in a very vulnerable position where cash flow is concerned by tying up that capital in inventory - any further sudden and unexpected costs could lead to the business folding.

      • Djtecha@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        But that’s not even the point of this. It’s not the company is greedy or not, it’s this administration is causing this.

        • AcidOctopus@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          Oh I know. I was just trying to shed a bit of light on whether this company’s decision was an attempt to take advantage and screw people over, or a genuine survival measure.

          The root cause is ultimately the tariffs that will be imposed by the US government.

          In reality the decision will be more nuanced, and this company will likely raise prices wherever it can whilst also securing long-term stock at current prices to both avoid the tariffs and increase margins to recover the capital quicker.

          But yeah. It’s all down to the government’s tariffs.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      That’s the thing though, most customers don’t expect the price increase because they’re fucking idiots who believes tariffs are good for the economy.

    • adarza
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      2 months ago

      they’ll pocket the difference, jack up prices, refuse bonuses next year, business slows, lay off half the staff, buy material on credit–maybe siphoning some of that off, bonuses are now a distant memory, jack prices up again. business slows to a crawl, lay off more. business falters. file bankruptcy with millions of outstanding debt to write off.

      just like their diaper-wearing idol would.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Well you’re 💯 correct on what Trumps would do!

        As an individual small business owner however, they could have gotten caught in the squeeze between contracts and tariffs.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Does it matter? This wouldn’t have happened without Trump being elected and the looking threat of tariffs. Whether the owner is using that as cover for jacking up the prices or not, it’s still a LAMF moment.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Oh I don’t disagree! I’m just wondering if the owner is face-eaten or face-eating. Small business owners are more varied than big business leopards.

    • Nasan@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      If they’re reputable enough and tend to operate in good faith, they could be giving their customers time to prepare for the incoming price hike. They’ll probably lose customers that can’t afford to operate with the new price later on but the transparency would go a long way towards maintaining healthy business relations with the remaining customers.

    • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      if anything like it happens in Turkey, most businesses will buy early, stockpile goods as prices keep increasing (increased effect of tariffs + shortage of goods in market) and release them to the market for a hefty profit