Hey everyone, welcome back to My Weird Prompts. I am Corn, and I am joined as always by my brother.
Herman Poppleberry, reporting for duty. It is a beautiful day here in Jerusalem, though I have been cooped up inside reading logistics reports and supply chain audits all morning.
Well, that is actually perfect timing because our housemate Daniel sent us a prompt that is right up your alley. We have talked before about how AliExpress has basically become the dominant force for online shopping here in Israel. It is often faster and more reliable than even the biggest global players like Amazon when it comes to getting things to our specific corner of the world.
It is true. The efficiency of their supply chain into the Middle East is actually quite staggering from a technical perspective. They have managed to bypass a lot of the traditional bottlenecks that used to make international shipping a nightmare. They have these dedicated cargo flights landing at Ben Gurion almost daily now, often bypassing the slower European hubs.
Right, but Daniel is pushing us to look past the convenience. He wants to talk about the hidden costs. Specifically, the sustainability of shipping millions of individual tiny parcels across the globe and the ethical reality of the labor conditions behind those products. It is that classic dilemma: we live in an incredibly expensive market here in Israel, and these platforms are often the only way to afford certain goods or business supplies. But at what cost to the planet and the people making them?
This is a heavy one, but an important one. We are essentially living in a period where the logistics have outpaced our ethical and environmental frameworks. It is a bit of a Wild West situation, like Daniel mentioned.
So let us start with the environmental side. When I order a three-dollar pack of specialized capacitors for a repair project, and it arrives in a small plastic bubble mailer from halfway across the world, my gut tells me that is not great for the planet. But how bad is it, really, compared to buying it at a local shop?
That is the right question to ask. To understand the sustainability, you have to look at the carbon intensity of the transport method. Most of these individual parcels from AliExpress are shipped via air freight. Now, air freight is roughly fifty times more carbon-intensive than sea freight per ton-mile. To put that in perspective, shipping one kilogram by air emits about five hundred grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, while sea freight is closer to ten to fifteen grams. When you buy something at a local store, that item likely arrived in a massive shipping container on a slow-moving cargo ship. The carbon cost is distributed across thousands of items in that one container.
So the efficiency we see in terms of speed is actually a direct trade-off with carbon emissions.
Precisely. Because AliExpress relies on a just in time model for individual consumers, they cannot wait to fill a whole container for one specific destination. They use these massive consolidation hubs, like the one Cainiao operates in Liege, Belgium, where they bundle thousands of small packages into air cargo planes. It is incredibly efficient for speed, but the carbon footprint of that three-dollar package is vastly higher than if that same item had been part of a bulk shipment to a local wholesaler.
But wait, isn't there a counter-argument about the last mile of delivery? I remember reading that the most polluting part of any supply chain is often the individual person driving their car to a shopping mall and back. If a delivery van is dropping off fifty packages in one neighborhood, isn't that more efficient than fifty people driving to the store?
That is a very common point of discussion in logistics research, and there is some truth to it. The last mile is indeed a huge source of emissions. However, that only offsets the transport cost if the initial long-distance leg was efficient. When you compare a delivery van in Jerusalem to fifty cars, the van wins. But when you add a six-thousand-mile flight from Shenzhen to Tel Aviv for a single item weighing fifty grams, the math falls apart. The air freight emissions completely dwarf any savings you get from the delivery van. We are talking about an order of magnitude difference.
And then there is the packaging. Everything I get from these sites is wrapped in layers of non-recyclable plastic film.
Oh, the packaging waste is a nightmare. Because these items are shipped individually, each one needs its own protective layer, usually polyethylene mailers. In a bulk shipment to a store, you have much less packaging per unit because they are all protected by the larger cardboard crates. We are talking about millions of these plastic bags entering the waste stream every single day. And because they are often contaminated with adhesive labels, they are very difficult to recycle. In Israel, most of that just ends up in a landfill or as microplastics in the Mediterranean.
It feels like we are incentivizing a disposable logistics model. But let us pivot to the labor side of things, because that is perhaps even more troubling. Daniel mentioned inhumane labor conditions. When we see a product that costs a fraction of what it would cost anywhere else, the immediate suspicion is that someone, somewhere, is being exploited. How much do we actually know about the labor behind the AliExpress marketplace?
This is where it gets very murky. We have to distinguish between Alibaba, the parent company, and the individual sellers on AliExpress. AliExpress is a marketplace, much like eBay or the Amazon third-party seller program. Alibaba itself does not own the factories. They provide the platform, the payment gateway, and often the logistics through their subsidiary, Cainiao.
So they can claim they are just the middleman and aren't responsible for how the products are made?
That is exactly their legal and corporate stance. But the reality is that by creating a race to the bottom on price, the platform exerts immense pressure on manufacturers. To compete on a global marketplace where a consumer will choose a product because it is ten cents cheaper, factories have to cut costs somewhere. Usually, that comes out of labor.
We often hear about the nine-nine-six work culture in China. Nine a.m. to nine p.m., six days a week. Is that what we are talking about here?
That is the high-profile version of it, often seen in the tech sector, but in the manufacturing hubs of provinces like Guangdong or Zhejiang, it can be much worse. We are talking about dormitory-style living, minimal safety standards, and wages that barely meet local subsistence levels. And then there is the even darker side of forced labor. There have been numerous reports from international human rights organizations regarding forced labor in certain regions, particularly affecting minority groups. Because the supply chains are so opaque, it is nearly impossible for a consumer in Jerusalem to know if the cotton in their cheap t-shirt or the components in their electronics were produced using forced labor. The United States has the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to try and block these goods, but enforcement on millions of tiny individual parcels is a logistical impossibility.
That is the Wild West aspect Daniel was talking about. On Amazon, there is at least some level of Brand Registry and occasional audits, though those are far from perfect. Does AliExpress have any mechanism for auditing the labor practices of the thousands of sellers on its platform?
They have policies on paper, of course. Their terms of service prohibit illegal labor practices. But the scale makes enforcement almost non-existent. There are hundreds of thousands of small-to-medium enterprises selling on the platform. Many of them are just trading companies that buy from even smaller, unnamed workshops. It is a massive, multi-layered game of telephone. By the time a product reaches your doorstep, the trail of who actually sat at the sewing machine or the assembly line is long gone.
It is a systemic lack of transparency. But here is the thing, Herman, and this is the part of Daniel's prompt that really hits home for us living here. Israel is famously expensive. We have some of the highest costs of living in the developed world. For many people, buying locally isn't just a matter of convenience; it is often a two hundred or three hundred percent markup on the exact same item.
Exactly. And that is the irony. If you go to a local hardware store in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem and buy a power tool or a kitchen gadget, there is a very high probability that it was also made in the same manufacturing hubs in China. The local importer just bought it in bulk, slapped a Hebrew label on it, and is now charging you triple the price to cover their rent, taxes, and profit margin.
So, if I buy it locally, am I actually improving the labor situation? Or am I just paying a local middleman for the same ethical compromise?
In many cases, you are just paying the middleman. The labor conditions at the point of origin remain the same. The only difference is the shipping method, which, as we discussed, is more sustainable in bulk. But from a human rights perspective, unless you are buying from a certified fair-trade brand or a local artisan who sources materials transparently, the ethical high ground of buying locally is often an illusion.
That is a really depressing thought. It feels like a no-win situation. If I need a specific replacement part for my business, and I can't find it locally or it costs a fortune, I turn to AliExpress. I know the shipping is bad for the environment, and I suspect the labor might be exploitative, but I don't see another option. What are the alternatives?
This is the core of the dilemma. For individuals and small businesses in overpriced markets, these platforms have become a survival mechanism. But there are ways to mitigate the impact. One approach is the slow shipping movement. Some platforms are starting to offer incentives for choosing sea freight or consolidated shipping, where your items wait at a hub until they can be shipped in a more efficient bulk load.
Does AliExpress actually offer that?
They have started experimenting with Choice shipping, which uses more centralized logistics. It is still mostly air freight, but the consolidation is better. However, the real change has to come from a shift in how we consume. We have become accustomed to micro-consumption—ordering one tiny thing whenever the whim strikes us. If we were to aggregate our own needs and order once a month in a larger batch, the logistics would be slightly more efficient, though still not perfect.
But that doesn't solve the labor issue. What about the Wild West of labor? Is there any movement toward better oversight?
There is significant pressure building at the governmental level. The European Union has recently implemented the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. This law holds large platforms and importers legally responsible for human rights violations in their supply chains. If a platform wants to operate in those markets, they have to prove they are auditing their suppliers.
But how does that help us here in Israel? We aren't in the European Union.
We benefit from the California effect. When a massive market like the European Union sets a high standard, global players like Alibaba often have to apply those standards across their entire operation because it is too expensive to maintain two different systems. If AliExpress has to clean up its act to keep selling to Germans and French citizens, those improvements in transparency will eventually trickle down to the packages arriving here.
That is a bit of a wait and hope strategy, though. For the person listening right now who wants to be more conscious, what can they actually do?
One practical takeaway is to look for re-use and circular economy options first. Before ordering that plastic gadget from China, check local second-hand marketplaces like Yad-two or local Facebook Buy Nothing groups. In a high-cost market like Israel, the second-hand market is actually very vibrant. Often, the most sustainable and ethical item is the one that has already been manufactured and is already in your city.
I love that. It avoids the long-distance shipping and the new manufacturing entirely. But what about business supplies? If you are a small maker or a technician, you need specific new parts.
For business supplies, the best alternative is often cooperative purchasing. If a group of small business owners in the same field get together and place a bulk order from a more reputable wholesaler, they can often get prices close to AliExpress but with much better shipping efficiency and sometimes even better labor certifications. It takes more work than just clicking buy on an app, but it is a much more responsible way to operate.
That makes sense. It is about moving from individual consumerism back toward a more community-based or professional model of sourcing. But I want to go back to something you said earlier about the last mile. If we are talking about sustainability, isn't the real problem our expectation of free and fast shipping?
Absolutely. Free shipping is a lie. The cost is just hidden. It is paid for by the environment through high-carbon transport and by the workers through suppressed wages. If we, as consumers, were willing to pay the true cost of shipping—including a carbon tax and a living wage for the logistics workers—that three-dollar item would suddenly cost ten dollars. And at ten dollars, we might decide we don't actually need it, or we might find a local alternative.
So the efficiency Daniel mentioned is actually a form of externalization. The companies are externalizing the environmental and social costs so they don't show up on our credit card statement.
That is exactly it. It is a masterpiece of accounting, not just logistics. They have found a way to make the most unsustainable and ethically questionable model look like the most efficient one.
So, let us look at the second-order effects here. If this Wild West continues, what does the world look like in ten years? Do local shops just disappear entirely in places like Israel?
That is a real risk. We are seeing a hollowing out of local retail. When local shops can't compete with the direct-from-factory prices of AliExpress, they close down. This creates a retail desert where you have no choice but to order online. This, in turn, makes the country even more dependent on these long-distance, high-carbon supply chains. It is a feedback loop that decreases our local resilience.
And what about the labor side? Does the pressure from these platforms eventually force all manufacturing into these nine-nine-six models just to survive?
It can. It creates a race to the bottom where even factories that want to treat their workers well are forced to cut corners to stay on the platform's front page. However, there is a counter-trend. We are seeing the rise of ethical consumerism as a major market force. There are now platforms that specifically vet for labor practices and environmental impact. They are more expensive, yes, but they are growing. The question is whether they can grow fast enough to challenge the giants.
It feels like we are at a tipping point. People are starting to realize that the convenience of getting a package in five days from the other side of the world for almost no money is actually a symptom of a broken system.
I think so. And for us here in Jerusalem, it is about finding that balance. We can't ignore the economic reality of our market, but we can be more intentional. We can ask ourselves: Do I need this right now? Can I find it second-hand? Can I wait and combine this with other needs?
And maybe we should be pushing for better local policy too. If the reason we all use AliExpress is because local prices are inflated by monopolies or inefficient local logistics, then the solution isn't just stop shopping on AliExpress. It is fix the local market so that sustainable options are actually affordable.
That is a brilliant point, Corn. We often frame this as a personal moral failing of the consumer, but it is actually a systemic failure of the local market. If the Israeli government wants people to shop more sustainably, they need to address the high costs and barriers that make local goods so expensive. They need to encourage more competition and better bulk logistics so that the local option isn't just a marked-up version of the unethical one.
It is about creating a viable alternative, not just wagging a finger at people who are trying to save money.
Exactly. Until the sustainable choice is also a practical choice, most people will continue to use the path of least resistance.
This has been a really eye-opening discussion, Herman. I think it is easy to get caught up in the magic of modern logistics and forget that there are real people and a real planet at the other end of that order confirmed screen.
It is. And I think Daniel was right to call it a Wild West. We are in that stage of a new technology where the regulations haven't caught up yet. But the history of the Wild West is that eventually, the law arrives. Whether it is through carbon taxes, supply chain transparency laws, or consumer boycotts, the era of consequence-free global shipping is likely coming to an end.
So, for our listeners, what is the one thing they should take away from this?
I would say: treat your online orders with the weight they actually carry. That tiny package has a massive story behind it. If you can, try to bundle your needs. If you are a business owner, look for local cooperatives. And most importantly, let us all start demanding more transparency from these platforms. They are the ones with the power to audit these factories and choose more sustainable shipping methods.
Well said. And hey, if you are listening and you have found a great way to source things sustainably here in Israel or wherever you are, we would love to hear about it. You can get in touch with us through the contact form at my-weird-prompts-dot-com.
Yes, please do. We are always looking for better ways to navigate this.
And before we wrap up, I want to say a huge thank you to Daniel for sending in this prompt. It is something we deal with every day in this house, and it was great to finally dig into the why behind it.
Absolutely. It is a topic that affects all of us, whether we realize it or not.
Also, if you have been enjoying My Weird Prompts, we would really appreciate it if you could leave us a quick review on your podcast app or on Spotify. It genuinely helps other people find the show and keeps us going.
It really does. We love seeing the community grow.
You can find all our past episodes and our RSS feed at my-weird-prompts-dot-com. We are also on Spotify, so make sure to follow us there for new episodes every week.
Thanks for listening, everyone. This has been My Weird Prompts.
Until next time, stay curious and maybe think twice before that next one-click purchase.
Goodbye, everyone!
So, Herman, speaking of packages, did that new heat sink for your server arrive yet?
It did! And I have to admit, seeing it in that little plastic bag after this conversation... it felt a bit different.
Yeah, I bet. I have a few things in my cart right now that I think I am going to delete.
That is the first step. One deleted cart at a time.
Exactly. Alright, let's go see what Daniel is cooking for dinner. I hope it didn't come in a bubble mailer.
I think we are safe there. He went to the market this morning.
Good man. See you guys next week!
Take care!
Seriously though, the amount of plastic we have in that bin in the hallway is getting out of control.
I know, I know. I was actually looking into those specialized plastic recycling startups. Maybe that's a topic for another episode?
Oh, definitely. The myth of plastic recycling. That's a deep one.
Let's do it. But first, dinner.
Deal.
I wonder if we can use those mailers for insulation...
Don't start, Herman. Don't start.
Just a thought!
Goodbye everyone!
Bye!
Hey, wait, before we go, I actually wanted to mention one more thing about the de minimis tax threshold.
Oh, right! The seventy-five-dollar limit here in Israel.
Exactly. That is such a huge driver of this behavior. Because you don't pay Value Added Tax on orders under seventy-five dollars, it actually incentivizes people to break one big order into five small ones. It is a policy that literally forces more individual parcels into the air.
That is a perfect example of a policy having the exact opposite effect of what you would want for sustainability. It literally encourages more individual parcels to avoid the seventeen percent tax.
We should probably write a letter to the Ministry of Finance.
Good luck with that. But you're right, it's a huge part of the problem. It makes the sustainable choice—bulk shipping—the more expensive choice for the average person.
Okay, now we are really going.
For real this time. Bye!
Bye!
But seriously, the insulation thing...
Herman!
Okay, okay! I'm coming!
(Silence)
I just think with the thermal properties of polyethylene...
We are not stuffing the walls with AliExpress bags, Herman!
