Consumers are getting less bang for their buck this Independence Day, with the cost of fireworks skyrocketing. Fireworks wholesalers say the cost of shipping containers carrying their goods from China have more than doubled since last year. “Often we are paying more to ship the container than the value of what is inside the container,” said Dan Peart, director of government affairs at Ohio-based Phantom Fireworks. Consumers are paying 20–30 percent more than last year due to the shipping costs, he said. “We are paying, in some cases, two to three times more,” Peart said. “We’re paying $25,000–$30,000 per container in some instances. It has increased as we’ve gotten closer to the Fourth.” Several other fireworks wholesalers said they were seeing the same thing—shipping container prices from China well over $30,000—but they were skittish about speaking publicly. “We don’t have a good answer for why. We are uncomfortable with it,” …
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