TARIFFS AND THE SKATE INDUSTRY

[WideFeet]

HLC is starting a woodshop in Texas. I think they make Flip and Skate Mafia. Maybe a couple others.

They’re not BBS, but they don’t look terrible. Only checked it out and stood on it. Didn’t skate it, so not sure how the quality really is.

I’m sure they’ll still be expensive, but they may not be as pricey as some other brands.

[botefdunn]

tariffs on canada are such a bad look. It's the douchebag picking on his own friend at a party to look tough, and for what? To scare the west into turning a blind eye when the u.s. starts circling the wagons and defaulting on chinese debt? Countries suck, and every neo who thinks they have the moral high ground until the dice start shaking out wrong.

sorry yall, just venting a little

[alien porkchop]

Decks cost $50 when I started skating in '97. In that time a 55¢ candy bar now costs $3.79. Gas was $1.09 when I got my license. I really don't give a fuck if decks cost more, and am surprised they don't already. I have a job and am going to buy skateboards no matter what. Maybe instead I should spend my time worrying about shit I have no control over.

big new learn

[realtalk66]

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Do not see these tariffs being applied to Canada. Imports from Canada are cheap, reliable and the infrastructure-logistics have been in place for decades. The skate industry will unintentionally benefit, from some multinational corporation stepping in and being like wtf, stop this madness.

[close]

Are you not reading the news? They’re placing a 25% Tariff on Mexico and Canada with 10% to China. This will fuck the skate industry so bad if it goes down.

[close]

I am not.



No doubt tariffs have the potential to fuck things up. But they also make room for bartering.


Also though the skate industry isn't going to see much of an effect. We did this shit with Trump already when his shit response to covid caused lumber prices and inflation to skyrocket and stay there practically. The industry did not die. Largery in part cause folks stopped bitching about 70 dollar decks almost immediately. The problem with skateboarding is the consumer. Regardless of what they charge for this bullshit they will buy it and continue to do so. If decks go to 80/90 bucks people still gonna buy em. They could do that now no tariffs and people would still buy em.

I'm not saying that tariffs don't have the potential to fuck up life for us temporarily but in all the media doom posting they don't mention that they could also benefit of it us.

There's always this focus on the American economy and American industries with this shit. But the idea that Mexico or Canada is gonna find a trade partner as large as America overnight is odd to me. These exports to American are ingrained in their own economies. One of mexicos biggest export is automobiles and heavy equipment that for the most part are made entirely in accordance to regulations in America. You can't just ship those cars and machines elsewhere without completely reforming and retooling your manufacturing industry. This gives America leverage.

If the Canadian lumber relies heavily on America. Specifically the building of houses out of wood. Something alot of European and even central American countries don't do. They use concrete and bricks and other building materials primarily. Again there is leverage in our favor there. Canandian Automobiles factories the same.

It's not as simple as the media makes it out to be. Regardless of where you fall on the political aisle. Trump is crazy and no doubt fucking things up. But you can't fall into the doom inducing shit just yet. Its to nuanced and complicated an issue.

On one hand you have a guy who just says shit to say it. But like on the other you a have media that refuse to tell you that these tariffs could just as quickly help the economy and existing trade deals in multiple ways. Be it by bartering current agreements with these countries. Or by putting more reliance into industry and commodities domestically.

Idk not a trump guy and am scared regardless but it's just not as simple as you'd think or at least what most media is leading you onto beleive.

Imagine typing all this when you coulda just said "Im a fucking clueless idiot"

[augustmoon]

Boy are we about to find out.  Hope you all have a stash of wallboards or hand me downs.  Skateboarding is about to not be a priority for many.

[BeachChicken]

Has anyone read the tariffs or understand that Mexican wood shops buy directly from Canada and not through a U.S. vendor? The tariffs extend to specific goods and last I checked skateboard decks are a type of consumer good not listed. Other prices will go up for sure, no doubt, but it's not every single thing produced even if an American brand owns it.

[Mongo Lloyd]

tariffs on canada are such a bad look. It's the douchebag picking on his own friend at a party to look tough, and for what? To scare the west into turning a blind eye when the u.s. starts circling the wagons and defaulting on chinese debt? Countries suck, and every neo who thinks they have the moral high ground until the dice start shaking out wrong.

sorry yall, just venting a little

Don’t apologize, preach it!

[skateboardnorth]

It would actually present an opportunity or two to open woodshops in the US to support people here and avoid tariffs.  It would be cool to open one and provide jobs for the homeless making boards.  Getting people back on their feet and knowing the conditions are probably better for the workers than they would be in the factories in Mexico and China.

A large portion of hardrock maple comes from Canada.

[skateboardnorth]

Sucks for us Canadians as the wood comes from here, goes to Mexico to get turned into boards and then is shipped directly back to the Canadian distributors to sell to Canada.

Technically this shouldn't affect our board prices but for sure prices are going to get jacked up across the board (no pun intended).

Ah well I'm going to get to work on a board pressing factory in my garage in the middle of the winter and start recruiting unhoused people to make them.

We have a massive skateboard manufacturing company here in Canada. It’s called ControlMFG. They supply a big portion of the skateboard industry. Their shop is insane.

[globe fusion]

lot of the wood is from US now for some reason, still great lakes region

[pantyhero]

lot of the wood is from US now for some reason, still great lakes region

If it’s anything like forestry in the Pacific Northwest, it’s probably just that upper Great Lakes maple is readying for harvest now.

[Rosstradahmus]

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At a Maverick, 7-11, Circle K, Valero, any gas station in Colorado. I don't care if you found some special deals from mega stores online. Way to miss the point dipshit.

[close]

You made your point quite clearly: You are unreliable source of information, you are irresponsible with money, and you make disingenuous arguments.

I don't want to get sucked into this as I'm sure you'll move the goal post, so I'm going to click ignore on your profile, use evidence to show you are off base again, and move on.

Let's start with the first place I think of when I think of Colorado, King Soopers. I know it isn't a gas station, where you will pay the absolute highest price for stuff like this, but it is a grocery store, you know, where most people purchase their food  :
$1.59 for a Snickers
https://www.kingsoopers.com/p/snickers-football-milk-chocolate-candy-bar-full-size-bar/0004000042431

Mavericks, Colorado via DoorDash
$2.59 for a Snickers
https://www.doordash.com/store/maverik---adventure%E2%80%99s-first-stop-clifton-2308084/?dd_device_id=dx_0247ee3c4f5b47a1bb00bdf17077bfb0

Valero, Colorado via DoorDash
$1.99 Snickers via DoorDash
https://www.doordash.com/store/maverik---adventure%E2%80%99s-first-stop-clifton-2308084/?dd_device_id=dx_0247ee3c4f5b47a1bb00bdf17077bfb0

7-11 Delivery Colorado
$3.29 King size Snickers
King size Snickers is nearly double regular size, so this means you are paying roughly $1.70 per regular amount of Snickers
https://www.7now.com/search-results/snickers-king-size-3.29oz

I'm sure you'll figure out a way to claim a $1.59, $1.99, $2.59, $3.29 (for a King size bar) are equal to  $3.79, but you'll still be wrong and since you are on ignore, I won't have to suffer through your mental gymnastics.

[close]

You are the only one putting yourself through "mental gymnastics". I used to skate to the corner store and get a King Sized candy bar for 55¢. The point is everything else has doubled in price but skateboards. You are a level of douche that I can't even imagine how much the people you know dread your annoying presence.

[close]

You live in one of the wealthiest, most Caucasian conservative cities in Colorado, nobody here gives a fuck if you’ll continue to buy boards and ride them once a month at your local skatepark. Since you appear to be incredibly self absorbed and arrogant let me explain, the entirety of the industry will feel this and many skaters even up to a sponsored level will be negatively affected by this, not you and your double parked Tesla buying plan B boards from CCS. Idiot.

I'm a check to check carpet installer with wife and four year old who drives a 01 Maxima with 196,000 miles. I buy shop decks Try again buddy. I definitely rode a skateboard and bought 55¢ Butterfingers king size when I was a kid and bought gas for $1.09 to $1.29 when I was sixteen in 2005 and dipshit can Google stuff all day and it still doesn't change the real facts.

[botefdunn]

Definitely some funny zingers and good amount of facts, but please stop fighting each other, times are heavy enough.

[Sedition]

Definitely some funny zingers and good amount of facts, but please stop fighting each other, times are heavy enough.

This.

[nah-nah-nah]

[sus]

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At a Maverick, 7-11, Circle K, Valero, any gas station in Colorado. I don't care if you found some special deals from mega stores online. Way to miss the point dipshit.

[close]

You made your point quite clearly: You are unreliable source of information, you are irresponsible with money, and you make disingenuous arguments.

I don't want to get sucked into this as I'm sure you'll move the goal post, so I'm going to click ignore on your profile, use evidence to show you are off base again, and move on.

Let's start with the first place I think of when I think of Colorado, King Soopers. I know it isn't a gas station, where you will pay the absolute highest price for stuff like this, but it is a grocery store, you know, where most people purchase their food  :
$1.59 for a Snickers
https://www.kingsoopers.com/p/snickers-football-milk-chocolate-candy-bar-full-size-bar/0004000042431

Mavericks, Colorado via DoorDash
$2.59 for a Snickers
https://www.doordash.com/store/maverik---adventure%E2%80%99s-first-stop-clifton-2308084/?dd_device_id=dx_0247ee3c4f5b47a1bb00bdf17077bfb0

Valero, Colorado via DoorDash
$1.99 Snickers via DoorDash
https://www.doordash.com/store/maverik---adventure%E2%80%99s-first-stop-clifton-2308084/?dd_device_id=dx_0247ee3c4f5b47a1bb00bdf17077bfb0

7-11 Delivery Colorado
$3.29 King size Snickers
King size Snickers is nearly double regular size, so this means you are paying roughly $1.70 per regular amount of Snickers
https://www.7now.com/search-results/snickers-king-size-3.29oz

I'm sure you'll figure out a way to claim a $1.59, $1.99, $2.59, $3.29 (for a King size bar) are equal to  $3.79, but you'll still be wrong and since you are on ignore, I won't have to suffer through your mental gymnastics.

[close]

You are the only one putting yourself through "mental gymnastics". I used to skate to the corner store and get a King Sized candy bar for 55¢. The point is everything else has doubled in price but skateboards. You are a level of douche that I can't even imagine how much the people you know dread your annoying presence.

[close]

You live in one of the wealthiest, most Caucasian conservative cities in Colorado, nobody here gives a fuck if you’ll continue to buy boards and ride them once a month at your local skatepark. Since you appear to be incredibly self absorbed and arrogant let me explain, the entirety of the industry will feel this and many skaters even up to a sponsored level will be negatively affected by this, not you and your double parked Tesla buying plan B boards from CCS. Idiot.

[close]

I'm a check to check carpet installer with wife and four year old who drives a 01 Maxima with 196,000 miles. I buy shop decks Try again buddy. I definitely rode a skateboard and bought 55¢ Butterfingers king size when I was a kid and bought gas for $1.09 to $1.29 when I was sixteen in 2005 and dipshit can Google stuff all day and it still doesn't change the real facts.

All I picture is this dude angrily typing this with a mouth full of butterfinger chunks

[roba]

four year old who drives a 01 Maxima with 196,000 miles

this kid sounds pretty badass

[Sick_McCrank_]

Im gonna put the USA on my official list of uncool countries yo

[pointandclick]

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Sucks for us Canadians as the wood comes from here, goes to Mexico to get turned into boards and then is shipped directly back to the Canadian distributors to sell to Canada.

Technically this shouldn't affect our board prices but for sure prices are going to get jacked up across the board (no pun intended).

Ah well I'm going to get to work on a board pressing factory in my garage in the middle of the winter and start recruiting unhoused people to make them.

[close]

We have a massive skateboard manufacturing company here in Canada. It’s called ControlMFG. They supply a big portion of the skateboard industry. Their shop is insane.

too bad their boards are mediocre at best. when i ordered from them for the shop i worked at, the sales rep i had was super challenging to deal with. they would often substitute board sizes and not fulfill the quantities of sizes you ordered, aswell their boards tend to not have a fully routered top ply which gave them a cheap feel.

[GnarAlarm]

If the Covid supply chain issues taught me anything, even if the all the tariffs are eventually lifted someday, the prices will not go back down. Companies will keep charging the tariff price and pocket the savings.

[pantyhero]

I just said this in the "industry" thread, but if the tariff bullshit continues unabated, one of the first thing I think the skate industry will see is the collapse of these zombie brands which seem to have been teetering for decades and stayed alive only through ridiculously low interest rates and dirt cheap third world labor. If you work for Sole Tech, it's probably time to start polishing up your resume.

[artskool]

I ran a small company during the last go around with Trump, and our seasonal shipment arrive during the maybe 60 days that Trump had slapped a 25% tariff on imports from China. We could maybe have re-negotiated pricing with every wholesale account basically a week before delivery, but felt like that would be in breach of our promise to deliver goods at a specific price point.

The 25% we paid out of pocket to land the goods was basically our entire profit margin for the year. It was one of the many reasons I got out of the business all together. Not just what damage the tariffs caused, but you can't reasonably run a business with that kind of uncertainty.

[rawbertson.]

I am sad because I really like going to the US and I think a lot of the people are really rad there. I am hoping for the most part everything just stays how it was. But I could see some of these events domino effecting into people not liking eachother etc. going to pay for something at the store in USA and I have to show canadian ID or soemthing and then some goof starts chirping me is not something I want to experience personally. It is kinda making me not want to go there now

Last night I saw some dumb ass shit people were booing the US National Anthem during the Toronto Raptors game... I dont agree with that cause not everyone in USA wants this to happen its not the average persons fault.

[Síota]

What happened to NAFTA Or whatever it was called? I remember that shit when I was a kid in Canada.

[left knee cap]

I am sad because I really like going to the US and I think a lot of the people are really rad there. I am hoping for the most part everything just stays how it was. But I could see some of these events domino effecting into people not liking eachother etc. going to pay for something at the store in USA and I have to show canadian ID or soemthing and then some goof starts chirping me is not something I want to experience personally. It is kinda making me not want to go there now

Last night I saw some dumb ass shit people were booing the US National Anthem during the Toronto Raptors game... I dont agree with that cause not everyone in USA wants this to happen its not the average persons fault.

They're booing the country not the players

[Magnolia]

What happened to NAFTA Or whatever it was called? I remember that shit when I was a kid in Canada.

It was replaced by a new free trade agreement in 2020. 25% tariffs will render this moot and fuck the economies of the US, Mexico and Canada, but I think the US would suffer the most in the long run.

Anyway, tariffs on Mexican imports have been suspended for a month and I assume the tariffs on Canadian goods will be too. Donny Deals does it again

[rawbertson.]

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What happened to NAFTA Or whatever it was called? I remember that shit when I was a kid in Canada.

[close]

It was replaced by a new free trade agreement in 2020. 25% tariffs will render this moot and fuck the economies of the US, Mexico and Canada, but I think the US would suffer the most in the long run.

Anyway, tariffs on Mexican imports have been suspended for a month and I assume the tariffs on Canadian goods will be too. Donny Deals does it again

cant stand this kind of thinking that displaces lives of so many people

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I am sad because I really like going to the US and I think a lot of the people are really rad there. I am hoping for the most part everything just stays how it was. But I could see some of these events domino effecting into people not liking eachother etc. going to pay for something at the store in USA and I have to show canadian ID or soemthing and then some goof starts chirping me is not something I want to experience personally. It is kinda making me not want to go there now

Last night I saw some dumb ass shit people were booing the US National Anthem during the Toronto Raptors game... I dont agree with that cause not everyone in USA wants this to happen its not the average persons fault.

[close]

They're booing the country not the players

i know... i just feel like someone could somehow turn that against ME somehow still! i hope not. I could just see someone saying "Canadians were booing the American national anthem!!!!" in a country where burning the flag is against the law. I am a very paranoid and sensitive person. I really want to go back to USA I think it is such an amazing place for so many reasons other than politcally...

[lowline]

as an american, i'm totally fine with canadians booing us right now. we fucking deserve it

[AceBoogie]

Anybody doing anything besides standing up during a national anthem is a fuckin bum.
You have all the time in the world to voice your complaints during the day, but being disrespectful towards the men and women who have fought for your right to go to the game or even boo in the first place is fuckin lame.
You get no points in life for that, and your a coward.

[skateboardnorth]

Anybody doing anything besides standing up during a national anthem is a fuckin bum.
You have all the time in the world to voice your complaints during the day, but being disrespectful towards the men and women who have fought for your right to go to the game or even boo in the first place is fuckin lame.
You get no points in life for that, and your a coward.

Canada is facing a psycho that wants to absorb their country to take their resources, and you can’t understand why they would boo? Booing the anthem isn’t a dig at the soldiers that have sacrificed everything for freedom. It’s showing how displeased they are with Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies.