Lee.org

I bought a large backpack the other day to put all my disaster stuff in. It’s really a nice backpack… good zippers, strong material.. and an innovative design; it’s actually 3 bags zipped together… a fanny pack, small backpack and large backpack. So you can unzip parts of it for day trips etc. And all of the straps can be tucked away to turn it into a regular piece of luggage.

But what stuck me is the price. Not the price I paid… which was an astoundingly low $30 at a little shop at 23rd and Mission. The shop very much an independent business, the salesman an eager hispanic man with few English words and the cashier a Chinese man with only a bit more English. I’ve seen vaguely similar bags for $100. And a few years ago, that bag would have cost $180. What got me was the tag I just found attached to the bag. The price tag reads “888.00 Yen”. The Yen trades at 113 to the dollar. That means somewhere in the world, this bag sells for the equivalent of about $8!

Wow.