# What is cheapest thing to make? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591 "2014-07-08T00:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/1 "2014-07-08T00:28:12Z")
What is the cheapest thing in the world to manufacture, on a cost per unit basis? I say it is a rubber band, my pal says a paper clip, another person says a postage stamp…other choices are straight pin, thumbtack, bb, penny and brass washer…i know a penny costs several cents to make so that can’t be the winner…what is???😕😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/2 "2014-07-08T00:32:24Z")
[Transistors](http://www.singularity.com/charts/page59.html)have got to be in the running. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/3 "2014-07-08T00:37:16Z")
Something like a grain of abrasive, but transistors might beat even that. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/4 "2014-07-08T00:38:17Z")
> [@Suicide](#): > > What is the cheapest thing in the world to manufacture, on a cost per unit basis? I say it is a rubber band, my pal says a paper clip, another person says a postage stamp…other choices are straight pin, thumbtack, bb, penny and brass washer…i know a penny costs several cents to make so that can’t be the winner…what is???😕😕😕😕 Staples are smaller and cheapear than paper clips. And you still need them one at a time. Anything smaller you use in bulk, eg sand grains in your brick work mortar… One of the smallest “things” that you might request/use “one” is a jewel bearing, as used in watches. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/5 "2014-07-08T00:41:28Z")
Does that include packaging and shipping, or just manufacture. Matchsticks and toothpicks, for instance, can ship in large-ish cardboard boxes. Straight pins and thumb tacks sell in smaller quantities with more expensive packaging, usually. The packaging on washers sent to a manufacturing plant would be different than washers meant to be sold at hardware stores. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/6 "2014-07-08T00:45:46Z")
I bet the cost of a [candy button](http://www.oldtimecandy.com/candy-buttons.htm)is mostly packaging, shipping, and shelf overhead. Checking the other posts, it’s going to be hard to beat those bulk transistors. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/7 "2014-07-08T02:02:14Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > [Transistors](http://www.singularity.com/charts/page59.html)have got to be in the running. I suspect that is the cost of an individual transistor on a chip that had shitloads of them. For example an Intel i5 quad core with Ivy Bridge microarchitecture has 1.4 billion transistors. > **[List of Intel Core processors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i5_microprocessors)** > > The following is a list of Intel Core processors. This includes Intel's original Core (Solo/Duo) mobile series based on the Enhanced Pentium M microarchitecture, as well as its Core 2- (Solo/Duo/Quad/Extreme), Core i3-, Core i5-, Core i7-, Core i9-, Core M- (m3/m5/m7/m9), Core 3-, Core 5-, and Core 7- Core 9-, branded processors. As such it’s not really an individual unit; if you wanted to buy 100 individual transistors to use in 100 different items I really don’t think you can get the price quoted in the link. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/8 "2014-07-08T02:14:05Z")
I don’t know if transistors count because those insanely cheap transistors are printed deep into integrated circuits by the thousands or millions and look like [this](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MJhykioAWqo/TNjr9yjrJvI/AAAAAAAAAPw/7tRsPGEhRY8/s1600/7404_transistors.jpg). To buy a single “discrete transistor” like [this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Transbauformen.jpg) still cost cents to dollars retail. I can’t find any info on what it costs to manufacture them, but the simplest are still more complex than a staple so I’d imagine they’d cost more. I don’t know if the OP would count them or not. ETA: Ninja’d by several minutes. That’ll teach me to walk the dog in the middle of a post. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/9 "2014-07-08T02:16:52Z")
I suggest those plastic coffee stirrers that look like miniature straws, or small brads (nails). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/10 "2014-07-08T03:42:38Z")
It costs nothing to make love. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/11 "2014-07-08T03:52:53Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > It costs nothing to make love. Oh, ya think? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/12 "2014-07-08T03:53:41Z")
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/13 "2014-07-08T04:11:20Z")
Ice. It grows wild in some places. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/14 "2014-07-08T04:36:02Z")
Almost all of the things mentioned so far are sold in bulk and you’d be hard pressed to go into a store and buy just one of them. The one exception among those things mentioned is a single postage stamp. People do sometimes buy just one of those, and while the price might even be up in the dollar range, the manufacturing cost of a single postage stamp is negligible. That’s only true when they’re **made** in bulk of course, but that restriction is also true for the other things mentioned here. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/15 "2014-07-08T06:54:08Z")
Makin’ whoopee. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/16 "2014-07-08T07:39:12Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Isn’t there a rule against quoting lyrics in their entirety? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/17 "2014-07-08T08:35:13Z")
Mud? Not a lot of market for it, but it’s certainly cheap to manufacturer. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/18 "2014-07-08T08:51:19Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Mud? Not a lot of market for it, but it’s certainly cheap to manufacturer. Depends on the mud - barite powder drilling mud = US $165-328 / Ton (18 Tons Min. Order) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/19 "2014-07-08T08:52:21Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Depends on the mud - barite powder drilling mud = US $165-328 / Ton (18 Tons Min. Order) Add your own water:) [http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/barite-drilling-mud.html](http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/barite-drilling-mud.html) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591/20 "2014-07-08T09:20:07Z")
A sequin. They’re sold in bins in sewing and art supply shops, and I guess you could buy just one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-cheapest-thing-to-make/692591.md?page=2)