Category: links_read

“China ships over $100 billion worth of goods to Africa, of which countries like South Africa, Congo, and Zambia account for the biggest portion. In 2022, online retail in South Africa crossed 50 billion rand ($2.6 billion), fueling the popularity of drop-shipping. But there are concerns about Chinese counterfeits — which currently account for up to 10% of the South African economy, according to the Consumer Goods Council — and growing worries over Chinese brands making South Africa their dumping ground”

https://restofworld.org/2024/dropshipping-south-africa/

“It is always stressful because there are endless last-minute, last changes. Like: Did you remember todo that thing I never told you about until just now? Which means shuffling things around to accommodate for changes.

None are impossible, just unexpected, untimely and under-appreciated”

https://optional.is/required/2024/04/05/week-684-686/

In my head, I still hear you. When things go well, you gently mock the swelling of my ego. When things go wrong, I feel how you would have held my hand. I flirt, and hear your comments on my choices. I smile at the joy you’d have taken from a news story, remember how you always had the inside track, imagine what you’d say about some drama among our friends.

I almost grab a newspaper so we can do the crossword. For half a second I wonder what you might need from the shops. On the edge of sleep, the world where you’re still here feels so close I can almost smell your perfume. 

And several times a day, when I know no one will hear, I say your name. I’ve no idea why.

https://jonn.substack.com/p/295-days-gone

“Spiro had initially hoped to monetize the old bikes it collected from riders by retrofitting them with EV technology — but that hasn’t worked out. Around 40% of the bikes Spiro collects are converted to scrap metal and sold for less than $20 per unit, Samain said. Rest of Worldvisited four of the company’s branches in Togo and Benin, and saw hundreds of abandoned bikes waiting to be scrapped.

Any bike owner can go to a Spiro exchange center, request a swap, get their credentials verified, and pick up a new EV within a week. Riders then pay a daily fee of 3,200 CFA francs ($5.32) for up to seven battery swaps, and each additional swap costs 500 CFA francs (83 cents). The daily fee also covers insurance and maintenance, and riders can take the bikes for check-ups anytime for free. After 150,000 kilometers, a rider takes full ownership of the bike and is not required to pay the daily swap fee”

https://restofworld.org/2024/spiro-ebikes-africa/

“It is eminently doable to buy or lease a Xerox or similar machine that prints perfect bound books and use it to do short runs and galley printings. One of these machines could print books for a lot of SPD clients, I expect. I kinda wish I had tried harder to raise the funds for one back then. I even took a meeting with a guy from Xerox! And had some convos with the folks at CMLP! If there is money anywhere in the publishing ecosystem, it might be in printing (or sprayed edges!). And if there is power to be had in publishing—well, the means of production and all that. Fuck superstructure: focus on structure”

https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/p/spd-authors-equity-and-distribution

“In 1978, Congress passed and then-President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Act, which was part of a deregulatory zeal that grabbed national lawmakers in the 70s and 80s, and led to the deregulation of vast swathes of the economy, from trucking to railroads to telecoms to, perhaps most famously, banking and finance.

A provision in that law wiped away the ability of anyone in state government to make rules or do any enforcement “related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.”

https://boondoggle.substack.com/p/how-airlines-fly-away-from-accountability