Why does a hard shell plastic case cost less when the unit price is higher?

Answer: Because the comparison stops at the first invoice. Over five years of parts, refills and downtime, a PC shell comes out over 30 yuan cheaper.

Where do the 40 yuan between PC and ABS go?

Answer: Material, drying energy and mould precision: about 15 yuan material, 6 yuan drying, 2 yuan tooling, the rest in scrap rate.

What does a wheel and handle replacement cost?

Answer: 18 yuan for a wheel pair, 45 yuan for a handle assembly, about 35 minutes of fitting, roughly 160 yuan across five years.

Should I order 500 or 1,000 units?

Answer: Follow turnover: above twelve cycles a year take 1,000 for 17% off, slower programmes stay at 500.

Is the sampling fee refundable?

Answer: Half above 500 units, all above 1,000. The 1,200 yuan covers one finished case and a colour plaque.

How much more does a hard shell plastic case cost than a soft bag?

Answer: Unit price runs 25% to 35% higher, while replacements are under half. Above 12 kg and 50 trips, the hard shell is cheaper overall.

Hard Shell Plastic Case: The Five-Year Cost of a Cheaper Shell

Quick answer: A hard shell plastic case is not priced on the purchase order alone. Fold five years of shell replacement, parts and breakage into one unit, and a PC shell costing 40 yuan more than ABS ends up cheaper by over 30 yuan.

Why a Hard Shell Plastic Case Is Priced Over Five Years
Where the 40 Yuan Between PC and ABS Goes
Parts Prices and Breakage Rates
Volume Tiers and Tooling at 500 Units
Four Moves That Cut the Five-Year Bill
FAQ

1. Why a Hard Shell Plastic Case Is Priced Over Five Years

The unit price on a quotation is four tenths of what a hard shell plastic case costs over five years. The rest sits in parts, rework and refills, and none of it shows before you sign the order.

Take a 24 inch unit, twelve trips a year, 12 kg of load. After 60 trips the split reads 42% purchase, 23% parts and labour, 35% refills and downtime.

Shell	Unit price	Life	Replaced	Five-year spend	Breakage
ABS	38 yuan	2.1 years	2	114 yuan	3.5%
PP	61 yuan	3.4 years	1	122 yuan	2.4%
PC	78 yuan	6.0 years	0	78 yuan	1.2%

The last column is the real shell cost: the 78 yuan PC never gets replaced and lands 36 yuan below the 38 yuan ABS.

2. Where the 40 Yuan Between PC and ABS Goes

Raw material is closer than buyers expect: PC at 26 yuan per kilogram, ABS at 15, PP at 14; the gap opens in process.

PC takes 1.8 kg, about 47 yuan of material, but needs four hours of drying at 120 °C, adding 6 yuan of energy. ABS takes 2.1 kg, about 32 yuan, needs no drying and moulds 15 seconds faster. PP takes 2.0 kg but shrinks 1.8% and needs a larger cavity.

Hard shell plastic case: dark grey corner close-up, bumper with radial ribs, one ridged draw latch, part of the handle, fine matte texture

Tooling has its own arithmetic: a PC mould at 18,000 yuan is 6 yuan per case across 3,000 units, the ABS family mould spreads 4 yuan, PP adds 3,000 yuan for shrinkage. Material, energy and tooling produce the quoted figure.

ABS is cheaper because the wall can be thinner. A thin shell survives room temperature, then turns brittle at minus 10 °C on a cold-store dock, which is why its life stops at 2.1 years. Northern projects moving cases from a heated hall to an open platform in winter see cracks within two months.

3. Parts Prices and Breakage Rates

A hard shell plastic case has five replaceable parts; their prices set the repair bill.

Part	Price	Fitting	Replaced	Five-year cost
Wheel pair	18 yuan	10 min	2	36 yuan
Handle assembly	45 yuan	25 min	1	45 yuan
TSA lock	12 yuan	8 min	1	12 yuan
Top handle	9 yuan	6 min	1	9 yuan
Seal	7 yuan per metre	12 min	1	14 yuan

Labour at 60 yuan an hour adds about 68 yuan over five years, lower on a soft bag where wheels bolt on without pulling the lining, but a soft body rarely lasts five years. Downtime is left out most often: for two weeks in repair, the user works a unit short.

At 3.5% an ABS batch of 500 loses 17 cases a year; PC at 1.2% loses 6, an 11-case gap worth 858 yuan.

4. Volume Tiers and Tooling at 500 Units

100 units: price plus 8%
500 units: price minus 12%
1,000 units: price minus 17%
3,000 units and up: negotiated, tooling often waived

Hard shell plastic case: olive long case on a wooden bench, side latch, corner bumper, handle edge, round pressure valve, lamp and cartridges blurred behind

Sampling runs 1,200 yuan per design with one finished case and a colour plaque; half is refunded above 500 units, all above 1,000. Tooling of 18,000 yuan lands at 6 yuan per case across 3,000 units but 36 across 500.

The 500 tier usually wins: 12% off the unit, half the sampling back, tooling at 36 yuan. The 1,000 tier cuts tooling to 18 yuan but doubles carried stock.

5. Four Moves That Cut the Five-Year Bill

Price over five years, and put parts prices into the enquiry
Specify a PC shell, keep wheels and handle replaceable
Order 500 at a time, negotiate sampling and tooling into the unit price
Ask for measured breakage data at both rates, not a verbal promise

The first move saves most. Many projects compare unit prices only, then learn that a small part ships at freight close to its own price.

Conclusion

A hard shell plastic case has to be priced across five years: 78 yuan against 38 yuan is settled at the first replacement. Replacement count, breakage rate and tier price decide the total, not the top line of the quotation. Put all three into the enquiry and the hard shell plastic case will price itself.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.