Made in America vs. Price

[Sarah&Ryan]

I try to buy as many American made products as I can especially when it comes to food products. I am not sure if its country wide but at least here in Illinois stores have to tell you what country your meat comes from. If it isnt from USA or Canada I wont buy it! Sure I pay more but for to me it's worth it!

 

[NeatStuff]

If its a better product and made in the US then I'll buy it. If its similar quality then I'll still go with the US brand if its within $10-20 of the price(On an inexpensive item) If the foreign item is actually better in terms of quality then yes I will buy the foreign item.

Just today I saw something I really wanted and read the tag. "Made in China" and put it down because of that. I find myself doing that more and more often but its not my main criteria for an item.

The one China product I will not buy are toys. For that I go to a local toy store that only has toys that are made in the USA. I am also very picky with kids shoes and clothing. Myself.....not as much.

 

[NeatStuff]

I try to buy as many American made products as I can especially when it comes to food products. I am not sure if its country wide but at least here in Illinois stores have to tell you what country your meat comes from. If it isnt from USA or Canada I wont buy it! Sure I pay more but for to me it's worth it!

Yup, Same here!

 

[SunnieRN]

If anyone is as old as I am, they will remember this. If not, your parents or grandparents most likely will.

It is an eye opener, of sorts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lg4gGk53iY and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7VUklDlQw

Anyway, I am sure you get the point.

 

[bumbershoot]

But why are labor costs so HIGH in the USA?

Because our cost of living is so high. It's much cheaper to live in other countries, so their wages aren't very high (but what is dirt cheap for us is a nice salary for them).

An example...Amazon uses that to their advantage...they come up with ideas and groups in Seattle, pay Seattle wages for awhile, then ship the team over to North Dakota, where wages are much less! And the teams out there are super-good and really really nice, so it's a win win (except for when the move happens a year before you expected it and your Seattle-based hubby gets laid off all of a sudden!). I myself was cheap labor for amazon.co.uk, learned to answer their emails, because it was cheaper for the global company to pay me during the day than to pay their much higher paid reps in Belfast to work overtime.

So, has anyone been watching this series on abc world news tonight? It's very interesting. One of the interesting points made is that if everyone spent ~7.00 bucks more on American made products we could create some thing like 20,000 jobs.

I don't even know how that would work....

The one China product I will not buy are toys. For that I go to a local toy store that only has toys that are made in the USA. I am also very picky with kids shoes and clothing. Myself.....not as much.

I like European made toys, personally. When DS was bitty we bought from Oompa Toys and got lots of Haba stuff...lovely toys!

 

[MrsPete]

So, has anyone been watching this series on abc world news tonight? It's very interesting. One of the interesting points made is that if everyone spent ~7.00 bucks more on American made products we could create some thing like 20,000 jobs. Increase that to 1% each and the number jumps to 100,000 (I'll link the info at the end).

Of course seven dollars sounds cheap . . . but that's assuming that we can trust the media to be truthful. How often is that actually true?

 

[eliza61]

Of course seven dollars sounds cheap . . . but that's assuming that we can trust the media to be truthful. How often is that actually true?

LOL, very true. It's a pretty interesting series and tonight they had some economist explaining exactly how this generates jobs for me I guess it may be some what of a matter of national pride.

I did write disney a few years ago because I was dismayed that nothing in the American pavillion was actually made in America. I just think if I buy an American flag it should come from America. maybe silly I know,

They do admit that focusing on consumer goods does not tell the entire story, We still make a lot of 'equipment and large items like boats, airplanes and industry equipment. We are the leaders in Pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturing.

 

[Sweety_tweety]

When I was in DW a few years ago, I asked one of the CM in the EPCOT US gift shop if anything in the store was manufactured in the US. The CM's response was an almost inaudible "no". I think she must have been frustrated too. From what I understand each Country prides itself on selling authentic items from their respective Country. What's wrong with this picture?

I want to know when our government is going to eliminate the tax incentives for corporations outsourcing our jobs. I work for a company that outsourced Customer Service to Mexico--less than a year later they brought it back to the US. Unfortunately, the employees with 30+ years experience were laid off. You cannot transfer that knowledge to personnel with no experience.

I started this post a few years ago.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2083914

Let's keep these threads going put Americans back to work!

 

[robinb]

My big question is why in the world didn't Walmart have the Made in the USA hangers in the baby aisle?

I remember a gazillion years ago when Wal*Mart used to brag that they carried items made in America. Now they are one of the primary reasons why so much crap is now being made elsewhere. People want stuff cheap and I applaud anyone who goes out of their way to buy American .

 

[sbaldasare]

Boy Scouts of America had special rank patches last year celebrating 100 Years of Scoutings. 1 patch (Star rank) was made in the USA and all the others, yep, made in China. Guess which one was nicer quality and heavier? The one made in the USA!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I try to buy US made products as much as possible. I also try to shop at stores that treat their employees well.

Yes, not shopping at WalMart (for example) has hurt my budget, no doubt. But, I feel it's the right thing to do. I try to look at the big picture and not just how things affect me, personally, right now.

And, is the cost of living in China that much lower than ours that $14/day is a good income? I find that hard to believe. And if the COL is that low, the products should be DIRT cheap, not just a little less expensive than an American made product, don't you think?

 

[Planogirl]

Some on here have said that we have a much higher standard of living than anywhere else and that it's more expensive to live here too. That's true of SOME countries but not everywhere. Some countries have as high a standard of living as we do and some cost even more than us.

But that aside, I would prefer to buy American or at the very least from Canada, Europe, Australia and a few other places. It's often not easy to find things from these places though.

 

[suzieQ36]

I saw this piece one night last week and I really do want to do my part to increase jobs in the US. Then I started thinking, where can I find American Made products when I need them? Did some research on the web and if you google "American made", there are some websites that have links to US companies who sell American made products. You can even do a "store finder" for your area.

 

[chisnpeke]

Some on here have said that we have a much higher standard of living than anywhere else and that it's more expensive to live here too. That's true of SOME countries but not everywhere. Some countries have as high a standard of living as we do and some cost even more than us.

But that aside, I would prefer to buy American or at the very least from Canada, Europe, Australia and a few other places. It's often not easy to find things from these places though.

I will gladly purchase from Canada, European countries, and Australia as well as American made.

 

[chisnpeke]

I also wanted to say that how many Americans really want to do manufacturing jobs? Many Americans may think that those type of jobs are beneath them since they went to college and have a degree.

 

[Swimalie]

I try to buy American as much as possible - especially with toys for my son. One year we did a "all American made toys" Christmas for him. It was pretty easy with shopping on line. We told my parents and my mother in law and guess who sent him toys made in China? Yup, they went in the consignment sale pile (luckily, he was not old enough to remember).

For groceries, I check the country of origin as well. I would prefer a USA label since, if I can't get to the farmers market, the item will have traveled less.

For those interested, here is an entire store of items Made in the US! http://www.saveourcountryfirst.com/

Oh and yes, I would pay more to buy American!

 

[mafibisha]

I saw this piece one night last week and I really do want to do my part to increase jobs in the US. Then I started thinking, where can I find American Made products when I need them? Did some research on the web and if you google "American made", there are some websites that have links to US companies who sell American made products. You can even do a "store finder" for your area.

This is good to know, thanks!!!

I too try - WANT - to buy American. Especially companies where the *profits* go to America (ie esp car companies)

Because the simple fact is that buying America DOES create jobs and DOES help our economy big time. We're an industrialized nation but it'll be pretty tough to continue our standard of living in America (rich poor and everything inbetween) if that continues to decline....

As an aside, has anyone thought of how many news anchors and movie *stars* are *imported* from other countries? While I love an English accent as much as the next guy, even that talent pool should be American *made*!!

 

[nunzia]

I also wanted to say that how many Americans really want to do manufacturing jobs? Many Americans may think that those type of jobs are beneath them since they went to college and have a degree.

With 9% unemployment I think some people may need to readjust their attitude. A job of any sort is honorable. During a tough time in my life (just entered the single Mom world) I worked at Presto on an assembly line. Sucked, but a job is a job..of course that plant has closed long ago and gone..I bet..to China.

 

[eliza61]

I also wanted to say that how many Americans really want to do manufacturing jobs? Many Americans may think that those type of jobs are beneath them since they went to college and have a degree.

Really? you think this? I went to school at the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh was the capital of the steel industry. Let me tell you those were good paying jobs. Believe me, no one in that area remotely thought it was beneath them. In fact, we laughed that the majority of students at Pitt were not from Pittsburgh because most Pittsburghions went to get jobs at the steel mills. Don't know how true that was but that was definitely our preception.

 

[luvmy3]

This is good to know, thanks!!!

I too try - WANT - to buy American. Especially companies where the *profits* go to America (ie esp car companies)

Because the simple fact is that buying America DOES create jobs and DOES help our economy big time. We're an industrialized nation but it'll be pretty tough to continue our standard of living in America (rich poor and everything inbetween) if that continues to decline....

As an aside, has anyone thought of how many news anchors and movie *stars* are *imported* from other countries? While I love an English accent as much as the next guy, even that talent pool should be American *made*!!

Who cares about the talent pool , how about American made scientists, those are a dying breed.


I admit I don't specifically look for American made products when I shop, if I happen to find something I want and the quality is there then I would buy it, but if it was made in another country, I would still buy it.