Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just bought some sturdy and well made sandals by Sperry. Finally found an inside label, Made in China. May or may not take them back since they appear to be so well made. But have been on Birkenstock website and will order some of their sandals. Just can't get away from it!
Believe me it will all come back to American manufacturing in the next five years. The factories will reopen and things will once again be made here. People will get sick of buying the crap China spews out.
Here is an example (it just happened yesterday)
I gave my husband a gift certificate for x-mas, for Nordstrom. (He never buys himself anything!)
So, he went there to look for some nice shirts, slacks and dress shoes. (Special celebration coming up )
Well, he spend over 2 1/2 hours there...only to come back with one pair of shoes.
He says the majority of things are so ridiculously overpriced.......and MADE IN CHINA!
He was looking at one shirt in particular, which was priced at about $170, Tommy Bahama......Where was it made?
Yup, you guessed it.....China.
Needless to say....he refused to buy it. (He says the price and quality was so TERRIBLE, he was even able to spot it!)
Here is an example that not everything made in China comes with a cheap price tag.
Just take that, and slap an American Designer name on it, and the combination out of those two will get the price soaring through the roof........LOL.
Unbelievable!
Believe me it will all come back to American manufacturing in the next five years. The factories will reopen and things will once again be made here. People will get sick of buying the crap China spews out.
And especially once the workers there start demanding better wages, health care, etc., causing prices to go up, and the middle class grows, and then the cheap labour that is so 'attractive' will not be so inexpensive. Don't know about 5 years, but hope you are right!
You gotta check everything, even old-time companies based in the U.S. I guess I'm a little behind the times, but I found out that Pfaltzgraff, which touted itself as the oldest pottery in the nation and based in York, Pa., was sold in 2005, the plant was closed, and its dinnerware is now made overseas. From the company's website:
"All of our products are tested by accredited, independent laboratories before they are shipped to the U.S. To further guarantee the safety of our products, we randomly test our merchandise in the U.S.
"Lifetime Brands has been sourcing products in Asia for over 40 years, and we are very careful in selecting the factories in which our products are manufactured. We have over 150 Company employees in Asia, and are able to closely monitor strict compliance with all U.S. standards."
When Harley Davidson buys a good chunk of the parts for their bikes from other countries, including China, you know something went wrong (HD doesn't talk too much about that).
What gets me even more is the companies who have their call reps in India and I can't understand those morons. I like to tell them that I just ate a hamburger when they tick me off.
Believe me it will all come back to American manufacturing in the next five years. The factories will reopen and things will once again be made here. People will get sick of buying the crap China spews out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowCaver
And especially once the workers there start demanding better wages, health care, etc., causing prices to go up, and the middle class grows, and then the cheap labour that is so 'attractive' will not be so inexpensive.
Yes it will happen, but not because Americans are tired of buying Chinese crap, but because the American Working Class will be tired of sleeping at the homeless shelters, standing in soup lines and living in the poverty produced by the Great Depression of 2009 and will be glad to take any job at any wage they are offered.
And International Corporate Capitalism will have triumphed again.
I think about this a lot, as I live in NC, and I know the owners of several textile and furniture companies. Many of the companies have simply shut down, factory equipment sold off at auction . . .
The textile companies that remain, as well as the big manufacturers, have been slowly laying off people over the last 8 or so years. So even the big name companies (Century, Broyhill, for ex) now import most of their furniture from Malaysia, Indonesia and China. But as far as the actual jobs, they are basically gone - except for people who are assembling the imported goods (wh/ are imported here in pieces - and assembled here).
Same for textiles. Packaging may be done here, but often the companies are more or less what I would call "shell companies." The owners are still making money but they are simply contracting w/ foreign manufacturers. So the owners are still making money - but the communities where they are located have suffered, b/c people have lost jobs (sometimes - life long jobs).
So what I am getting at is . . . factories have closed. The equipment is gone. It takes millions of $$ to get a large factory up and running. When the owners are making great money importing goods . . . why would they then go back to a former "community work model" - they don't have to deal w/ employees, OSHA regs, unions, etc. They just design stuff and contract it out!!! If the owners w/ the big bucks have no incentive to have that factory running . . . then how on earth will we get factories up and running here . . . ????
Sorry, I don't see this resurgence in "Made in America" cause the people who have the wealth in this country are sitting back, often making MORE money by contracting the work out . . . they have no reason, motivation or incentive to own and operate factories here.
It makes me sick -cause I have seen it unfold before my eyes. The owners I know have private jets, luxury vehicles and live in $8 M and up homes - and often have two and three homes. One of the textile owners I personally know not only has all the things I have mentioned - but just bought yet another estate in the Caribbean. Yet, in the very town where they live (and it is less than 40,000 population where they actually live) . .. literally several thousand people were laid off b/c the owner decided he could get a better return on his money importing the goods rather than actually making them here in NC.
And that is just ONE story I know about firsthand, so this is not based on rumor or speculation.
I think you get my point - the very wealthy in this country are not interested in whether or not you have a job - and they have discovered people will still buy the imported goods . . . so what reason do they have to do things differently?
This is the only way to change the economic disaster of Americans buying cheap junk, over and over, made by 5 cents per hour slaves in Asia. And you wonder why thousands of people are crying over the loss of work in the US, yet they run over to the Walmart and exacerbate the problem by buying more and more crap from China. I refuse to be in that system.
Yay you! I've gotten to be the same way. Buy American, support fellow Americans AND get products that aren't made of lead or some other poisonous substance. I'm the same way with food, I try to only buy local or United States produce. Too many health problems with Mexican food products (i.e.: lead tainted candies and germ covered vegetables.
It's harder and harder to buy American these days. I never thought about purchasing my clothes from Goodwill etc., possibly because there are so few near me. Good idea, though. (I've started sewing a few of my own clothes, though, when I have time.)
Still, I've only purchased Japanese cars. Though my Honda Civic was one of the first American made ones and it shows...the transmission sucks.
I lament the decline of quality too. I'll start looking in 2nd hand stores, try that out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
