Re: sourcing tents from china for relief efforts
the tent suppliers in US buy tents from the companies I just listed. Here is teh basic issue..all numbers are finctional just to illustrate an example.
a tent in china is $10, and shipping cost to Pakistan is $1 so it gets to Pakistan for $11.
the same $10 tent, is sold to US distributors, who add their own $2 to it, shipping adds another $2 to the price, any warehousing costs, all get added up. now when you buy it you are paying $15 for it, and shipping will cost you $2, i.e. $17
Now for speed. Once the sale is executed, China can have the tents in Pakistan the same day by plane or within a few days by ship, depending on which province you source from. it takes longer time to get the tents from US to Pakistan.
For immediate immediate need, if someone is going to Pakistan and wants to take a dozen tents with them tomorrow, then I would suggest talking to any of the outdoors & camping type companies, sports retailers and even military surplus stores.