Plugable Technologies, a Redmond, WA based company and top global brand for USB products and docking stations, has raised prices to account for the new “List 4a” tariffs that took effect Sept 1, 2019. Over 30 of Plugable’s products saw an increase in tax from zero to 15% for goods imported into the USA from China. These increases weren’t compensated by other factors like exchange rate shifts. These taxes are paid by the company upon import of the goods.
Today, most consumer electronics are manufactured in China. However, all of Plugable’s full-time employees, including designers and support engineers, work in Redmond, WA. Founder and CEO of Plugable Technologies, Bernie Thompson states, “15% to 30% tax shifts are greater than the profit margins for most electronics and effectively determine market winners. Moving factories from country to country is a multi-year process and raises costs and prices. They make compliant companies vulnerable to companies willing to game the system. And when tariffs might rise or disappear on short notice, planning is difficult. Unpredictability of tariff rates impacts smaller businesses disproportionately.”
One Plugable product already made outside of China saw a decrease in price this week. Plugable’s UD-CA1A USB-C Universal Laptop Docking Station has been manufactured in Taiwan for over two years. With increasing volumes, Plugable was able to decrease the street price by $10 to $119. Plugable has been aggressively moving manufacturing out of China in 2018 and 2019, and expects the results of those efforts to show in new products in 2020 and 2021.”
Learn more about tariff effects on US consumer prices. Prices outside of the USA are unaffected.
About Plugable
Plugable Technologies was founded in 2009 and has a line of over 120 USB products, sold globally in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Plugable offers market-leading laptop docking stations for USB-A, USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3 technologies.
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