So yeah, we’re raising massive tariff’s on Chinese manufactured goods, and yeah, a lot of them have to do with toys and park merch (and popcorn buckets) and it means such things will cost more to get to these shores. But DOES that obligate a huge price rise where your rubber hits their road? Alarmists tell you yes. I’m here to say it ain’t necessarily so.
Let’s consider the “action figure” as an example of this kind of item. IF you make it in Chinese sweatshop labor conditions, the people doing the grunt molding, assembly, and packaging work are getting the equivalent of about 50 cents an hour U.S. IF you made it in American factories that’d be minimum wage at least so say $15/hr more or less—clearly a huge difference.
Rows of Rainbow Pride Star Wars toys at Disney's Cast Connection
BUT…does all of that difference HAVE to go onto the eventual retail pricetag? OF course not. IF the average retail of such a figure is about $30-$40 or so for a good one (varying greatly on size, detail, and of course IP license costs) then between the factor, the shipping costs (transported by the containerload, not individually of course and that savings is not a tariff issue at all) the middlemen/distributors and the eventual retailers) have a LOT of room within the current price where they have been used to making a pretty MASSIVE profit margin thanks to that labor cost disparity. Add in the tariffs and you shrink that profit but nothing says you have to make it all back.
