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The best analogy for one of these things is a shopping cart. This is basically a shopping cart that unfolds into a tent. The cost isn't just in the canvas tent, it's in the convertible cart.
Just by way of example, the smallest folding Magliner hand truck costs $299 in my 2002 Grainger catalog. The cheapest non folding wire mail room cart costs $268 in the same catalog. They go up to $400 when you get them with the good wheels. If you are just buying the individual medium duty swivel locking caster wheels, you'll pay about $20 each. So it's about $80 just for the wheels. Remember that this thing is intended to be pushed all over the city by homeless dudes. It's got to be durable. It's intended to hold lots of empty bottles and cans for scroungers. Not to mention personal belongings. It's got to be durable, otherwise there is no point. A cheap Walmart tent will break its zipper after a season or two of light use. This thing will be used every day for months, at a minimum.
$500 seems like a lot of money, but the Army would design this same tent for $50,000.
Look at that frame.
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