I've used AliExpress with surprisingly good results. Then again, I was also a very careful shopper, and I did give up on it about two years ago when it started turning into another Temu.
How about Amazon? Apple? Nestlé? Airlines? Big Oil? Do you think you're free from the ambit of any given megacorporation that have inroads to many other lives, whose products of convenience are difficult to replace or shun? Even when malfeasance such as those shown in the video have been uncovered, people will not stop patronizing these things, fact. It's easy to grandstand if transactions don't blatantly affect you, until it does. There's already forever plastics in table salt, btw...
The sad truth is that most people just don’t care. They just want the “cheap deal”. Thanks for doing this George, I’ve been waiting for this since your SHIEN video.
it becomes more difficult to care when one is in poverty. everyone wants to have a good life and MANY MANY people do not make enough money to thrive. blame the politicians. any goverment can make temu illegal. but they dont. not my fault. nor any other peon who is just trying to survive the week. but hey even with "normal" companies like HM, Monsanto and so many others, they obscure the production and supply lines , which at the bottom always show horrible working conditions and sometimes legitimate slave labor.
Call me cynical, but I'm not convinced that billionaires shop by buying cheap crap from dodgy Chinese data harvesting operations. I'm pretty poor by British standards and even I can afford to shop at Primark.
As a billionaire, I got rich by saving $5,745,422 on my doodads and investing it into a mom-and-pop app called uMet selling legally distinct doodads. (We engineer them in reverse)
"Shop like a slave exploiter." btw lead can't be that dangerous - why else would the largest political party in US fight against the "wasteful spending" of getting rid of lead water pipes?!
The fact is that old people who haven't grown up in the modern world are most prone to manipulation, because they simply are used to different social rules and operation. This is also why there is such extreme political weirdness worldwide. The elderly are so easily manipulated that getting their views and money now dominates almost all media, since the returns are much higher.
Well, with that tagline of "shop like a billionaire" they are being honest. "Shop like you're a person that gleefully exploits untold numbers of innocent people to maintain your lifestyle."
lol, it's like, who's the actual billionaire? Obviously, the one who made the app . . . so when you use the app, you're experiencing that person's "billionaire energy"
I saw an investigation in to the Chinese factories / sellers on Temu who are also being screwed over. Apparently a lot of people want in on that money wagon, so much so that the number of suppliers willing to initially sell at a loss is always high. Temu will sell those products at a loss for the supplier and then, when pay out day comes, they'll stop listing those products and just replace the supplier with the next one who is willing to sell at a loss. It's not uncommon for Temu to find some excuse to not pay out at all, often citing complaints from customers as to why that seller has been removed from the platform. What an interesting world we've built.
Leveraging rolling loss leading by using an endless stream of hopeful sellers makes perfect sense if you're essentially running to destroy markets and market societies - almost like the whole operation is a wrecking ball to trade and traders alike, oppressing and enslaving a people here, economically and socially undermining another there.
When I was younger, I thought that the world would grow kinder. More ordered. Instead, it's degraded to the bonkers bananas stage of consumption where discussing an actual, this-is-really-happening-and-grandma-is-knee-deep-in-it situation sounds like a whole haberdasher's-worth of tinfoil hats. Thank you as always for your work, sir. It's grim, but necessary.
Georg is an absolute gem of this website. Thank you for your work. I already avoid most online shopping like the plague. I think I bought a Fear and Loathing shirt once online. But, I do still participate in it by asking my friends to order myself the occasional item. Never from Temu, just the other monster Amazon.
my mom and her friends were the exact demographic to get lured into becoming regular temu buyers. she complains about all the incessant coupon reward games, but somehow always ends up making orders with the supposed discounts she gets from them. lip gloss that stings her skin, junk that looked nothing like the ordered product, and yes... solar lights. she now buys more expensive items from them that ship from american warehouses, comparable to amazon prices, just because she associates the process with being cheaper. they must know she's a keeper, because the return process is usually very easy for her, enough to come back after being totally burned. I don't really know if the app is much of a security threat, but their business model seems perfectly tuned for america even without their nefarious data practices.
I believe we can fight it, it's not just Temu, but their strategy - if people can be rehabilitated from a gambling addiction, then they can be saved from these predatory companies!
@@martian8987 You can't.. American elderly people are always targeted for scams because they've been trained to be gullible. If you try and teach them different, they tell you how old they are, call you a "leftist" and "unamerican". On the bright side, only idiots are being scammed.
13:10 And yet for some reason, companies like Apple who are apparently "the only tech company that cares about your privacy" allows this app to run unquestioned on iOS. Funny how their rules become more lax the bigger a potential revenue source you are. And TikTok is no better.
Google banned Pinduoduo from the Play Store because they were so dodgy. Temu is the same as Pinduoduo... same parent company, many of the same execs and engineers, most of the same unethical business practices. Google and Apple are prioritising profits over people (of course).
"Tim Apple" is a numbers guy, not an innovator. The Board couldn't be more pleased with the reduced costs yet increased revenue. Tim took polish off the Apple but the obedient crowd hasn't noticed yet.
Companies in China are able to post things internationally more cheaply than they would be in a western country because China is classed a poor country and therefore get very favourable rates. But China isn't really a poor country! If this classification were to end, Temu and similar companies would be kneecapped by the more realistic postage rates.
I don't think that's true any longer. However the Chinese state heavily subsidises the part of the transit all the way from the place of origin to the destination airport in your country, so you mostly end up paying for the part of shipping from there to your house door. When your local seller ships something to you, they pay for that plus a chunk more for domestic transit plus for the upkeep of the domestic mail subsidiary and sorting centre network, thus subsidising foreign mail once again. The rules were made with an assumption that the volume of mail both ways is similar in magnitude, but they start breaking down when China sends 100 times more than receives.
@@SianaGearz The International postal union in Switzerland counts China as a developing country, so other members subsidise them. Once you have an aircraft carrier you are no longer a developing country tbh
@@geoffhoutman1557 Interestingly basically none of my China packages this last year came in via general postal service, instead being delivered by a private courier business, mostly Hermes. I wonder what's up with that, how it ends up being cheaper for Chinese businesses if postal service delivery is allegedly locally subsidised as a developing country.
@@SianaGearz That is interesting. I read recently that entire small ships of Temu packages have been sailing to the US. Of course it was found that some packages were fentanyl and even pill pressing machines too. I think they get regularly searched now...
@@geoffhoutman1557 Well pill pressing machines are nothing special, you can just buy them openly locally or not. If someone wants to make herbal supplements for their own and family use why not. Not any weirder than me buying leatherworking tools or microcontrollers or any other hobby tools and supplies. You wouldn't be surprised about a 3d printer or pick-and-place robot being bought from China right. Actual regulation meds with extreme abuse potential though... yikes. Not entirely surprising as a smuggling scheme inside some other product, though odds are, even Temu wouldn't actually list that as a product to openly buy. Heard of some mates ordering a tiny lipo battery though and instead of it being shipped PROPERLY, as in by rail via Kazakhstan and with correct hazard class markings, regulation compliant protective casing etc, which is how i received mine when i ordered them from my suppliers in China, which are more on the serious business side, it being stuffed into a shitty little plastic jeep toy so they wouldn't have to declare it, and airmailed.
I know people who sell/import for TEMU/eBay/Amazon (generally all at the same time) you might not be surprised to know 80%-95% of reviews are paid for.
$$$$$ is why! China is the eternal enemy but to business and corporations they are best friends. And the political parties can't go against the whims of their owners.
If I walked into a retail store that required me to play games in order to receive discounts on my purchases, I'd leave immediately. I feel no different about Temu.
In recent years, I've taken great care in buying quality items where I can confidently say that the workforce behind them are adequately paid for their work, and that the corporate structure behind the company is, at the very least, in good standing. Other than buying local, artisan made goods, or crafting them yourself, this is the best I can do. When I discuss with other people about this, I often hear things like: "That cost you 130$? I have one that looks identical and I got it for 20$ on Temu". To me, trying to convince people that buying cheap is bad is a losing battle, and I'm made to be irresponsible with my money because I don't want to contribute to the worst companies. The biggest issues, I feel, is the lack of alternative. People talk a lot about how bad Temu is, but what alternative is there? Less brainless consumerism? Try telling that to someone who just want to get a 4$ fondue kit for Christmas. Anyway, cheers Georg. Keep fighting the good fight.
Frankly I just tell them the truth. That £20 shirt that you got from temu isn't going to last and it was made with the blood of slaves. By paying extra you are getting better quality and without a guilty conscious Can't afford it? There are charity shops that sell second hand goods. Even if you buy something that made by those companies in those places it's going to (hopefully) a better cause.
Better yet, adopt minimalism an stop buying any stuff at all. Which is what we'll all end up being forced to do anyway. There's simply no virtuous consumerism, you're only coping.
@@_oBSOLEte_ Agreed on minimalism. Slightly disagree on coping, but I may be coping on that also. I am not against consumerism as a concept; I do like my comfort items. I don't travel, I don't go camping, etc., but I enjoy my espresso machine, having nice bedsheets, and a couple good pieces of furniture. Going minimalist is a work in progress when you spend your life surrounded with stuff. Going with bare necessities and needs, ignoring wants, can be tough (it is to me anyway). My goal wasn't to seem virtuous or better than anyone; I was just venting my frustration on Temu and other ultra-cheap offerings that slowly replace everything else.
Christmas gift with steep debt to humanity and a few bucks on top, seems like a sick and twisted joke, how ironic. The cure to consumerism is to find better lies that Money to believe in. Anything from Justice to Freedom or Power to Hierarchy. Money is only as valuable as what you can buy for it so I'd ask them: What do they value? What do they want to exist even if they didn't? What do they do to cause more of that thing to come into existence?
@@dom.wizard You might want to start trying tea at some point in the near future. Coffee is one of this week biggest tragedy. It will increase to its highest price ever. Retailers are doing stocks right now to buffer the rise. I wont be surprised if at some point Nestlé comes up with some synthetic caffeinated products as a substitute.
Any rights you cannot enforce are not rights, only requests. -Someone Somewhere. All we can do is vote with our money and our votes. Buy less and buy local, join local support networks, and live the lives we advocate for to the best of our abilities.
@pablobronstein1247 sort of? Hear me out - a lot of people get offended when you say “no” to a request, and do you know why? Because they felt they had the right to you saying yes. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have been offended…
"Basic safety requirements" aren't something Chinese manufacturers even seem aware of. Very few items our company purchases direct from China are good-to-go from the outset. Most need revisions to make them compliant with regulations in US and Canada.
is it evil? undoubtedly. do i use it? absolutely not. but it's becoming increasingly difficult to know where products are produced, and i'm not exactly convinced when a western company says their products are """""ethically souced"""""
Yes, this is a real problem. I do my best to avoid Chinese (i.e. cpp controlled) sources, but it isn’t always easy to be sure that you aren’t being deceived about the real source.
Well I'm glad I ordered my American Eagle Trump guitar and I don't care if anyone thinks it's made in China. When it arrives I'm going to take over the world with my Kid Rock licks!
This video coming from a man who has coaxed me into filling my entire house from floor to ceiling with Hiptang, to the point where I’m now living in my driveway during the winter months, is pretty rich. Hypothermia and destitution? That’ll be the Hiptang, huh, Georg?
Interesting enough my Ma’s been a huge Temu shopper and 2 days ago she sent me a Temu link for a promo and never mentioned it to me when I saw her which struck me as odd, might have to ask her about it
I mean, it should be a given at this point in time that anything that costs well below what it should means either it's overstock, labor didn't get paid or they used cheap materials. Literally every time. All the time. For instance, I got a fold up bike for 200 bucks. 200 bucks is not the price of a fold up bike. Guess what broke the 3rd time I rode it? It said Schwinn on it. Turns out I don't think it was. That was purchased from Amazon, too.
Part of the problem is that we've been desensitized to what things should cost... Someone has been paying the price for our 4 euro T-shirts for years, they're just living on the other side of the world...
A majority of the products are all made in the same places in China. I don't understand why people think temu is so much worse. Do they think amazon is treating its employees fairly? That's a joke. This comment section is all snobs with a fake sense of moral superiority.
I'm shocked that it is older people who have been taken in by this. Everything else makes sense as far as my understanding of the world works... but that..?! Wow! I would never have guessed.
I'll have to take people's word but... Don't know any old people who'd trust it/know how to use it. But how antivirus suites don't just block all associates sites... 🤷♂️ Oh well! More rules for the firewall
What people often miss about Chinas wealth generation and making one part of populace somewhat middle class, all the way to actual millioners.. Is that the part of populace that prospered is barely 1/3 of all Chinese citizens.. You know how China really "beaten" poverty? They simply said that if yesterday, a person living of a few dollars a dsy isn't under poverty line no more, since from today only those living of less then 1.5$ is considered under poverty line and voila.. poverty is beaten forever, only prosper and progress from now on.. china has over a billion people. That means that it still has about 600 million people or more who are deep in poverty and will work any job as long ad it pays enough so that they got for food. I laugh hard whenever I hear someone saying China is communist. At worst it is hard gouverment led capitalism.. As for those lucky ones, the minority that actually got wealthy, they are more capitalistic oriented then any American. They are educated, got connections and are always trying to find a way to become millioneires since 2/3rds of Chinese will still work for peanuts,just to survive, unless they use actual slave labor, like Ugyurs.. And so we get companies like this malignant cancer called Temu.. but you shopoholic addicts just shop away.. You damn junkies for low cost trash you don't need..
I applaud you for the way in which you present these topics. These are things we all must be made full aware of. You can't hold back and you can't sugarcoat it, else folks might not see if for what it truly is and maybe convince themselves that those deals really are worth it.
Huh, suspicious amount of comments under this video in support of Temu. either people foolishly trying to assuage their own guilt or actual shills. gross either way.
going back through and reading every comment I now only see about 3 that are seemingly defensive of temu, and a couple more than are simply minimizing the harm temu does or obfuscating. There's like 3 times as many comments as when i said this, but the proportion of temu defense versus condemnation has shifted down. Maybe some got deleted, but no I don’t know that your youtube is specifically an echo chamber.
@@AnarchoCatBoyEthan I rarely see opinions I disagree with, though I'm not an avid internet user with multiple accounts across many platforms. I have concerns, let's say, though do not don the tinfoil headwear. YET.
Great, just discovered I have the app on my phone. Must have got it years ago as I don’t remember getting it. Never used it. Now deleted it..too bad, too late by the sounds of it 🤨like I don’t have enough to worry about.
Given that, in the West, wimmin account for 80% of discretionary spending, it's not hard to see who this is aimed at and who is responsible for its propagation.
I'm not normally a proponent of trigger warnings, but some kind of a heads-up would have been welcomed. I watched this while eating, I only kept eating because wasting food while being told about starving slaves would have seemed somehow worse.
@frag0638 I'm fully grown up thanks, it's why I don't leave hysterical messages for people asking for content labelling, especially when the video is largely the issues of a lack of labelling and sensible governance
I have never had anything to do with Temu. I will continue to have nothing to do with Temu. Thanks for the video.
Indeed. Their stupid ads alone are offensive enough to warrant this video. They even sound like fly-torturers from the get go.
I've used AliExpress with surprisingly good results. Then again, I was also a very careful shopper, and I did give up on it about two years ago when it started turning into another Temu.
How about Amazon? Apple? Nestlé? Airlines? Big Oil? Do you think you're free from the ambit of any given megacorporation that have inroads to many other lives, whose products of convenience are difficult to replace or shun? Even when malfeasance such as those shown in the video have been uncovered, people will not stop patronizing these things, fact. It's easy to grandstand if transactions don't blatantly affect you, until it does. There's already forever plastics in table salt, btw...
Careful, the elites will put you to work in a labor camp "fulfillment center" if you discourage terminal consumerism
I’m going back to buying from Acme. When their products explode, catch fire, cause electric shocks etc they are at least more ethically sourced.
My rocket powered roller skates from Temu were dangerously shoddy. I did not feel well shod.
My Temu Portable Hole actually went up instead of down. Despicable.
@@elsen3066 but they were cheap, right? When you bought them you felt like a billionaire . . . you felt so rich . . .
THINK OF THE COYOTES
Okay Mr. Wile E. Good choice.
TH-cam just ran an add for Temu on Rocko's video. This world is hilariously dystopian.
'Dystopian' being an understatement.
More like a fever dream...
* ad-block
Shopping in Temu while looking for free real estate in Northern Gaza.. the ads I got.
The sad truth is that most people just don’t care. They just want the “cheap deal”.
Thanks for doing this George, I’ve been waiting for this since your SHIEN video.
Thank you.
They crave the dopamine hit, like lab animals.
Every month I wonder if my Costco card is worth it....
What the f are you people even buying..if you are temu addicted you are a lost cause..
it becomes more difficult to care when one is in poverty.
everyone wants to have a good life and MANY MANY people do not make enough money to thrive.
blame the politicians. any goverment can make temu illegal. but they dont. not my fault. nor any other peon who is just trying to survive the week.
but hey even with "normal" companies like HM, Monsanto and so many others, they obscure the production and supply lines , which at the bottom always show horrible working conditions and sometimes legitimate slave labor.
@@cycleistic1365 i'm sure you've ascended the status of an animal, despite humans literally being categorized as apes. right?
Literally a temu ad under this video 😅😂
Don't ever change TH-cam...oh wait. No. Change. Change a lot please.
Lucky. They showed me a youtube automation scam that targets Africans.
Me too!😅
Opening ad for this video, Temu!
Got a temu mid-roll ad 🤦🏾♂️
>>Don't ask questions, just consume. 😉
"Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next product" - Jay Bauman
@@StarxLolita I heard he knows the legendary rich evans, is this true?!
@@NagasakiBladers He has AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIDS.
@@StarxLolita
Loyalty to Temu!!! Loyalty to the brand!!! Loyalty is Salvation!!
Thanks for this video. Just deleted the app.
Thank you!
Get the phone or computer checked for malware.
Hmmm. There are ad blockers... Wonder if the world could use a more specific ad blocker or if someone has already thought of that? 🤔
Same
You aint too bright but you are going in right direction
Tbf, buying shit you don’t need off the backs and labour of 1000s of exploited people is actually shopping like a billionaire.
Call me cynical, but I'm not convinced that billionaires shop by buying cheap crap from dodgy Chinese data harvesting operations. I'm pretty poor by British standards and even I can afford to shop at Primark.
As a billionaire, I got rich by saving $5,745,422 on my doodads and investing it into a mom-and-pop app called uMet selling legally distinct doodads. (We engineer them in reverse)
🎯
The only people who are surprised by anything in this video are definitely the type of people to buy things from temu
Temu is great if you’re looking for a Blu-Ray copy of Star Wares; Return of the Jedo
I want to see this now
@@ian_strachs I heard that it's better than the holiday special and at least 2 sequels.
Strangest Temu influencer I've seen yet.
"Shop like a slave exploiter."
btw lead can't be that dangerous - why else would the largest political party in US fight against the "wasteful spending" of getting rid of lead water pipes?!
I’m surprised their demographic is so old. Obviously age doesn’t equate to more sense.
Yeah, that was unexpected.
Older people are usually far less aware / don't care about the ethical issues with capitalist consumption
They turned a shopping website into a glorified slot machine. The elderly were always gonna find Temu and get addicted lol
@ actually my first thought while watching this was of old ladies playing slot machines, lol
The fact is that old people who haven't grown up in the modern world are most prone to manipulation, because they simply are used to different social rules and operation.
This is also why there is such extreme political weirdness worldwide. The elderly are so easily manipulated that getting their views and money now dominates almost all media, since the returns are much higher.
This is ridiculous that we live in an era where we can raise this awareness, but the app is still up.
Greed destroys everything.
Greed is killing the planet, it could end everything.
It blows my mind how many people say why does it matter if China gets my data. The short sightedness is crazy!
It's all shared with the intel capital, a bit east of China, far west africa
Well, with that tagline of "shop like a billionaire" they are being honest. "Shop like you're a person that gleefully exploits untold numbers of innocent people to maintain your lifestyle."
wow. that was what crossed my mind as well. fucking sick.
lol, it's like, who's the actual billionaire? Obviously, the one who made the app . . . so when you use the app, you're experiencing that person's "billionaire energy"
I thank them for it --- that line immediately excluded them for me.
You don't wear designer clothes? Have any brands? Who made the device your on? Umpalompas?
@@GavinTownsley There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
What's your point?
"...without thought, taste, or class." Indeed.
Temu should be banned before tik-tok
All CCP apps should be banned from US networks. Hardware too.
At the same time is fine.
Tick tock is making users ADHD. And We todd ed
@@gypsydildopunks7083 Uuh no, that's not how ADHD works.
@@gypsydildopunks7083that's not how ADHD works
I saw an investigation in to the Chinese factories / sellers on Temu who are also being screwed over. Apparently a lot of people want in on that money wagon, so much so that the number of suppliers willing to initially sell at a loss is always high. Temu will sell those products at a loss for the supplier and then, when pay out day comes, they'll stop listing those products and just replace the supplier with the next one who is willing to sell at a loss. It's not uncommon for Temu to find some excuse to not pay out at all, often citing complaints from customers as to why that seller has been removed from the platform.
What an interesting world we've built.
Leveraging rolling loss leading by using an endless stream of hopeful sellers makes perfect sense if you're essentially running to destroy markets and market societies - almost like the whole operation is a wrecking ball to trade and traders alike, oppressing and enslaving a people here, economically and socially undermining another there.
That's a good business model. It's basically how President Trump got rich
Who we bruv, it's China dude.
When I was younger, I thought that the world would grow kinder. More ordered. Instead, it's degraded to the bonkers bananas stage of consumption where discussing an actual, this-is-really-happening-and-grandma-is-knee-deep-in-it situation sounds like a whole haberdasher's-worth of tinfoil hats. Thank you as always for your work, sir. It's grim, but necessary.
progress isnt linear
But the world growing kinder. It's legacy is just so unimaginably dark that it defies comprehension.
Most people are decent, it's just that the bad ones do a helluva lot of damage.
A temu ad before the video, a temu ad sitting under the video in the youtube app. Temu's out here like: "Any publicity is good publicity."
I already thought Temu was bad for several reasons and now I am aware of all new horrors.
Got a temu ad.
Man, the ad system has a werid sense of irony.
Georg is an absolute gem of this website. Thank you for your work.
I already avoid most online shopping like the plague. I think I bought a Fear and Loathing shirt once online. But, I do still participate in it by asking my friends to order myself the occasional item. Never from Temu, just the other monster Amazon.
Aliexpress is cheaper than Amazon and better than temu.
One of my friends sent me a link to save 30 percent at Temu just before this video was released so I sent sent her a link to your video.
They'll be asking why you've got to be so negative soon then..
my mom and her friends were the exact demographic to get lured into becoming regular temu buyers. she complains about all the incessant coupon reward games, but somehow always ends up making orders with the supposed discounts she gets from them. lip gloss that stings her skin, junk that looked nothing like the ordered product, and yes... solar lights. she now buys more expensive items from them that ship from american warehouses, comparable to amazon prices, just because she associates the process with being cheaper. they must know she's a keeper, because the return process is usually very easy for her, enough to come back after being totally burned. I don't really know if the app is much of a security threat, but their business model seems perfectly tuned for america even without their nefarious data practices.
Georg tacfully mentioned the target demographic is 59+ year olds, when everyone knows it's actually 59+ year old women. :D
I believe we can fight it, it's not just Temu, but their strategy - if people can be rehabilitated from a gambling addiction, then they can be saved from these predatory companies!
@@martian8987 You can't.. American elderly people are always targeted for scams because they've been trained to be gullible. If you try and teach them different, they tell you how old they are, call you a "leftist" and "unamerican".
On the bright side, only idiots are being scammed.
13:10 And yet for some reason, companies like Apple who are apparently "the only tech company that cares about your privacy" allows this app to run unquestioned on iOS. Funny how their rules become more lax the bigger a potential revenue source you are. And TikTok is no better.
$$ go *brrrrrrrrrrrrrr*
Google banned Pinduoduo from the Play Store because they were so dodgy. Temu is the same as Pinduoduo... same parent company, many of the same execs and engineers, most of the same unethical business practices. Google and Apple are prioritising profits over people (of course).
"Tim Apple" is a numbers guy, not an innovator. The Board couldn't be more pleased with the reduced costs yet increased revenue. Tim took polish off the Apple but the obedient crowd hasn't noticed yet.
This almost sounds as if you have previously believed in apple actually caring about customers.
@droopy_eyes I didn't, but lots of the press and faboys do.
Etsy is full of drop shipped products now too.
That is most of Etsy any more.
I stayed on Ebay
Aaaand there goes my TEMU commercial. Right as Georg is talking about lead in baby products 🤦🏾♂️
This is the sort of stuff that makes me not want to engage in trade anymore.
I ve never bought anything from the site.
To save money, I buy second hand.
Companies in China are able to post things internationally more cheaply than they would be in a western country because China is classed a poor country and therefore get very favourable rates. But China isn't really a poor country! If this classification were to end, Temu and similar companies would be kneecapped by the more realistic postage rates.
I don't think that's true any longer. However the Chinese state heavily subsidises the part of the transit all the way from the place of origin to the destination airport in your country, so you mostly end up paying for the part of shipping from there to your house door. When your local seller ships something to you, they pay for that plus a chunk more for domestic transit plus for the upkeep of the domestic mail subsidiary and sorting centre network, thus subsidising foreign mail once again. The rules were made with an assumption that the volume of mail both ways is similar in magnitude, but they start breaking down when China sends 100 times more than receives.
@@SianaGearz The International postal union in Switzerland counts China as a developing country, so other members subsidise them.
Once you have an aircraft carrier you are no longer a developing country tbh
@@geoffhoutman1557 Interestingly basically none of my China packages this last year came in via general postal service, instead being delivered by a private courier business, mostly Hermes. I wonder what's up with that, how it ends up being cheaper for Chinese businesses if postal service delivery is allegedly locally subsidised as a developing country.
@@SianaGearz That is interesting. I read recently that entire small ships of Temu packages have been sailing to the US.
Of course it was found that some packages were fentanyl and even pill pressing machines too.
I think they get regularly searched now...
@@geoffhoutman1557 Well pill pressing machines are nothing special, you can just buy them openly locally or not. If someone wants to make herbal supplements for their own and family use why not. Not any weirder than me buying leatherworking tools or microcontrollers or any other hobby tools and supplies. You wouldn't be surprised about a 3d printer or pick-and-place robot being bought from China right.
Actual regulation meds with extreme abuse potential though... yikes. Not entirely surprising as a smuggling scheme inside some other product, though odds are, even Temu wouldn't actually list that as a product to openly buy.
Heard of some mates ordering a tiny lipo battery though and instead of it being shipped PROPERLY, as in by rail via Kazakhstan and with correct hazard class markings, regulation compliant protective casing etc, which is how i received mine when i ordered them from my suppliers in China, which are more on the serious business side, it being stuffed into a shitty little plastic jeep toy so they wouldn't have to declare it, and airmailed.
great doc. you had actually new info about these scumbags and I appreciate it. Your doc should be shown in all middle schools and high school.
Best TH-cam videos are the one you walk away without feeling the need to buy more junk. Tho I kind of miss the lava lamp.
I have never and will never buy anything from temu!
Got the "Shoppin' like a billionaire" Temu ad before the video started.
I know people who sell/import for TEMU/eBay/Amazon (generally all at the same time) you might not be surprised to know 80%-95% of reviews are paid for.
Why are they banning TikTok but not Temu?
$$$$$ is why! China is the eternal enemy but to business and corporations they are best friends. And the political parties can't go against the whims of their owners.
I already knew it was worthless crud for cheap and likely a scam, but did not know how deep it went.
If I walked into a retail store that required me to play games in order to receive discounts on my purchases, I'd leave immediately. I feel no different about Temu.
i think that would be a huge success. I mean, look at temu.
It seems it is fair to say, if you buy from this company, you're a bad person. Ignorant and greedy at the very best.
In recent years, I've taken great care in buying quality items where I can confidently say that the workforce behind them are adequately paid for their work, and that the corporate structure behind the company is, at the very least, in good standing. Other than buying local, artisan made goods, or crafting them yourself, this is the best I can do.
When I discuss with other people about this, I often hear things like: "That cost you 130$? I have one that looks identical and I got it for 20$ on Temu". To me, trying to convince people that buying cheap is bad is a losing battle, and I'm made to be irresponsible with my money because I don't want to contribute to the worst companies.
The biggest issues, I feel, is the lack of alternative. People talk a lot about how bad Temu is, but what alternative is there? Less brainless consumerism? Try telling that to someone who just want to get a 4$ fondue kit for Christmas.
Anyway, cheers Georg. Keep fighting the good fight.
Frankly I just tell them the truth. That £20 shirt that you got from temu isn't going to last and it was made with the blood of slaves. By paying extra you are getting better quality and without a guilty conscious
Can't afford it? There are charity shops that sell second hand goods. Even if you buy something that made by those companies in those places it's going to (hopefully) a better cause.
Better yet, adopt minimalism an stop buying any stuff at all. Which is what we'll all end up being forced to do anyway. There's simply no virtuous consumerism, you're only coping.
@@_oBSOLEte_ Agreed on minimalism. Slightly disagree on coping, but I may be coping on that also. I am not against consumerism as a concept; I do like my comfort items. I don't travel, I don't go camping, etc., but I enjoy my espresso machine, having nice bedsheets, and a couple good pieces of furniture. Going minimalist is a work in progress when you spend your life surrounded with stuff. Going with bare necessities and needs, ignoring wants, can be tough (it is to me anyway).
My goal wasn't to seem virtuous or better than anyone; I was just venting my frustration on Temu and other ultra-cheap offerings that slowly replace everything else.
Christmas gift with steep debt to humanity and a few bucks on top, seems like a sick and twisted joke, how ironic.
The cure to consumerism is to find better lies that Money to believe in. Anything from Justice to Freedom or Power to Hierarchy.
Money is only as valuable as what you can buy for it so I'd ask them:
What do they value? What do they want to exist even if they didn't?
What do they do to cause more of that thing to come into existence?
@@dom.wizard You might want to start trying tea at some point in the near future. Coffee is one of this week biggest tragedy. It will increase to its highest price ever. Retailers are doing stocks right now to buffer the rise. I wont be surprised if at some point Nestlé comes up with some synthetic caffeinated products as a substitute.
Any rights you cannot enforce are not rights, only requests. -Someone Somewhere.
All we can do is vote with our money and our votes. Buy less and buy local, join local support networks, and live the lives we advocate for to the best of our abilities.
Does that mean that requests are unenforceable rights?
@pablobronstein1247 sort of? Hear me out - a lot of people get offended when you say “no” to a request, and do you know why? Because they felt they had the right to you saying yes. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have been offended…
"Basic safety requirements" aren't something Chinese manufacturers even seem aware of. Very few items our company purchases direct from China are good-to-go from the outset. Most need revisions to make them compliant with regulations in US and Canada.
Well that was grim.
is it evil? undoubtedly. do i use it? absolutely not. but it's becoming increasingly difficult to know where products are produced, and i'm not exactly convinced when a western company says their products are """""ethically souced"""""
Ethical dropshiping.
If you don’t know or aren’t sure where something is manufactured than it’s most likely manufactured in Asia.
Yes, this is a real problem. I do my best to avoid Chinese (i.e. cpp controlled) sources, but it isn’t always easy to be sure that you aren’t being deceived about the real source.
Well I'm glad I ordered my American Eagle Trump guitar and I don't care if anyone thinks it's made in China. When it arrives I'm going to take over the world with my Kid Rock licks!
Got a temu add right at the baby killing portion of the video
isn't Temu basically AliExpress wearing a fake moustache
Yes exactly
Temu... it's like aliexpress but more expensive and with a much larger marketing budget.
HOOOOO MYYYY GOOOOD the screenshot at 3:47 creates so many more questions than it could hope to answer.
Primary among them, PINK EYE???
13:31 buying any of that off Temu is diabolical.
Hilarious how everything is always almost sold out.
This video coming from a man who has coaxed me into filling my entire house from floor to ceiling with Hiptang, to the point where I’m now living in my driveway during the winter months, is pretty rich. Hypothermia and destitution? That’ll be the Hiptang, huh, Georg?
Sounds good. Where can I buy this "Hiptang" you speak of?
Temu only sells one thing--- CRAP
Temu is Chinese for "Trump"
Ironic that the advert before your video was for Temu
Interesting enough my Ma’s been a huge Temu shopper and 2 days ago she sent me a Temu link for a promo and never mentioned it to me when I saw her which struck me as odd, might have to ask her about it
I mean, it should be a given at this point in time that anything that costs well below what it should means either it's overstock, labor didn't get paid or they used cheap materials. Literally every time. All the time.
For instance, I got a fold up bike for 200 bucks. 200 bucks is not the price of a fold up bike. Guess what broke the 3rd time I rode it? It said Schwinn on it. Turns out I don't think it was. That was purchased from Amazon, too.
Part of the problem is that we've been desensitized to what things should cost... Someone has been paying the price for our 4 euro T-shirts for years, they're just living on the other side of the world...
A majority of the products are all made in the same places in China. I don't understand why people think temu is so much worse. Do they think amazon is treating its employees fairly? That's a joke. This comment section is all snobs with a fake sense of moral superiority.
Proud to say I have never bought or had anything to do with it. I will be showing this to someone I know who is addicted to Temu.
horrifying
You'd think that some of the concern about tic-toc would be better applied to temu.
Another cheerful video, thanks chap!
😂 Georg directly targets TH-cam sponsor heavyweight and creator of most annoying ads. 🏆
Give that man a bigger wheel barrow 👍
And wow with good cause. I thought they were pretty bad and I'm no optimist. Turned out they were even worse. 😮
I ordered some hip tang from temu. it's not the same 😢
Yeees! It's sweet in a sort of...well... leady way?Right!?
@@tttm99Well, lead is sweet, so I suppose you could call it a sugar substitute.
leady and moldy yes
I got a temu ad on this video and a Grant Cardone ad on a Coffeezilla video yesterday..... *THEY'RE* *LISTENING*
*OBEY*
Take these
One day, people will pay Amazon for Temu quality, and pay Temu to not get shanked when opening the box.
Thanks for this Georg, I will not be using this company.
P D D... i dont know, but sounds like like P. Diddy to me :O
I'm shocked that it is older people who have been taken in by this. Everything else makes sense as far as my understanding of the world works... but that..?! Wow! I would never have guessed.
I'll have to take people's word but... Don't know any old people who'd trust it/know how to use it. But how antivirus suites don't just block all associates sites... 🤷♂️ Oh well! More rules for the firewall
16:59 "Hey, I've heard this one before!!!!"
Yup, Temu pre-roll.
It's not just Temu.
Slavery is a world wide modern problem. Hard to believe this is the state of the world in 2024.
Congratulations, you discovered a fact that cheaper products are of worse quality, who could have guessed
The alternative is to pay for overpriced brands who are also made by slave labor. I'll pick the cheaper option tnx.
The reason Temu can harvest all that data, is because the OS's are designed to facilitate that.
The 'revelation' is just politics.
Glad to see you growing your hair out!
fantastic video mate
What people often miss about Chinas wealth generation and making one part of populace somewhat middle class, all the way to actual millioners.. Is that the part of populace that prospered is barely 1/3 of all Chinese citizens.. You know how China really "beaten" poverty? They simply said that if yesterday, a person living of a few dollars a dsy isn't under poverty line no more, since from today only those living of less then 1.5$ is considered under poverty line and voila.. poverty is beaten forever, only prosper and progress from now on..
china has over a billion people. That means that it still has about 600 million people or more who are deep in poverty and will work any job as long ad it pays enough so that they got for food.
I laugh hard whenever I hear someone saying China is communist. At worst it is hard gouverment led capitalism.. As for those lucky ones, the minority that actually got wealthy, they are more capitalistic oriented then any American. They are educated, got connections and are always trying to find a way to become millioneires since 2/3rds of Chinese will still work for peanuts,just to survive, unless they use actual slave labor, like Ugyurs..
And so we get companies like this malignant cancer called Temu.. but you shopoholic addicts just shop away.. You damn junkies for low cost trash you don't need..
I love how the CCP has raised 400 million people out of poverty, into slavery...
The whole Chinese economic miracle is a sham. Propped up by government propaganda
Ah, that Friday feeling.
NGL I'd kind of like astronaut sandals. Now with 50% more lead!
Good for blocking radiation.
I applaud you for the way in which you present these topics. These are things we all must be made full aware of. You can't hold back and you can't sugarcoat it, else folks might not see if for what it truly is and maybe convince themselves that those deals really are worth it.
🎵I know it's hard to defend an unpopular policy every once in a while
Plastic people, oh baby, now you're such a drag🎵🎵
Finally slightly more positive episode!
Huh, suspicious amount of comments under this video in support of Temu. either people foolishly trying to assuage their own guilt or actual shills. gross either way.
What is weirder, that 34 minutes later, I can see no such supportive comments. Is my youtube a curated echo chamber?
going back through and reading every comment I now only see about 3 that are seemingly defensive of temu, and a couple more than are simply minimizing the harm temu does or obfuscating. There's like 3 times as many comments as when i said this, but the proportion of temu defense versus condemnation has shifted down. Maybe some got deleted, but no I don’t know that your youtube is specifically an echo chamber.
@@AnarchoCatBoyEthan I rarely see opinions I disagree with, though I'm not an avid internet user with multiple accounts across many platforms. I have concerns, let's say, though do not don the tinfoil headwear. YET.
They're most likely bots from you know where. At least they're being removed this time.
Got a Temu ad for this video... Talk about missing the mark
I'm sure a lot of us have Temu relatives. 50+, doesn't typical shop online, spending is getting out of control.
I knew this was going to be grim but fuck me. Guessing ali express just as bad...
And wish
Heh! Guess what the ad at the beginning of this video was for!
You're my favourite Horror Host, Georg!
Tere si no such thing as "gamification" there is only addictification.
Thanks for highlighting important stuff. Love u babe.
Millions of items. 100% crap.
Great, just discovered I have the app on my phone. Must have got it years ago as I don’t remember getting it. Never used it. Now deleted it..too bad, too late by the sounds of it 🤨like I don’t have enough to worry about.
18:02 "the products are made by slaves"
So it's a typical capitalist endeavor. Gotcha.
CONSUME MORE !!
I was the one who introduced my elderly family to Temu who are now addicts directly supporting the CCP. I'm definitely going to hell if there is one 😔
Given that, in the West, wimmin account for 80% of discretionary spending, it's not hard to see who this is aimed at and who is responsible for its propagation.
I'm not normally a proponent of trigger warnings, but some kind of a heads-up would have been welcomed. I watched this while eating, I only kept eating because wasting food while being told about starving slaves would have seemed somehow worse.
Grow up
@frag0638 I'm fully grown up thanks, it's why I don't leave hysterical messages for people asking for content labelling, especially when the video is largely the issues of a lack of labelling and sensible governance
It's an online dollar store.
The sponsored ad for this vodeo is Temu! Cant escape it!