Made in China- do we care?

[Trek420]

Never been to Vermont .... yet. In a sea of virtually identical bags at REI Knott found:

http://www.reignvermont.com

She can wax poetic about it better than I can but I just I love it. Susan?

[shootingstar]

Great idea! For each city I've lived in:

Pittsburgh: Heinz Ketchup
New York: Steinway pianos

Ah, my partner's brother was the lead salesperson right at the Steinway factory/head office in NYC. He was a Canadian selling well on behalf for U.S. for about 10 yrs. for Steinway's. He lived in NYC.

It's a great firm with great product worldwide. It still is with Yamaha, Pearl River (not sure I got latter brand name straight), let's there's a German firm in on this too...

And Heinz, I saw just this past summer in Ontario, the satellite processing plant in Dresden area just a few kms. where a close friend lives. Near historic sites of the Underground Railroad where the black slaves got freedom in Canada. Heinz bought out the independent tomato Canadian producer there. But the tomato pickers are migrant workers from the Carribbean. can't get enough local folks to pick. We drove by their housing, saw their loaned bikes leaned against the buildings.

I dunno....about 40 kms. or so from Canada-U.S. border. I need a map again.
If Americans and vice versa, could understand how intertwined U.S.-Canada trade relations are. How interdependent these 2 countries are.

The U.S. financial industry crash sorta proved it...except Canadian banks managed to stay afloat and Canadian banking execs. still get their bonuses without govn't bailout. Just knuckling under same old Can. regulatory control that we are grateful for.

*It never hurts to request and ask other countries at least, to look after the health and safety of their workers and consumers. Expose the culprits, embarrass them abit. Maybe a few might pay attention in future.

[deeaimond]

Great idea! For each city I've lived in:

Pittsburgh: Heinz Ketchup
New York: Steinway pianos
SF/Bay Area: wine, sourdough, and Apple computers
Boston: New Balance shoes
Seattle: Boeing 737s
Edmonton: oil (we're all allowed a guilty pleasure, right?)

are Apple computers still made in the USA? I bought mine recently and (along with several other things I bought) they usually say designed in California made in China. My iMac was shipped in from Shanghai.

Susan had a good point about the quality of some good products made in China. They do have the expertise and are investing in it.

Also Smilingcat made a scary point.

I've also heard about companies who import all their parts and materials and only assemble/ finish in the US so they can label it 'made in the USA'.

[bmccasland]

There's an interesting TV ad running right now...
Small independant barber shop, been there for a long time, then a "big box" shop opens directly across the street from him and offers hair cuts for $6. So he goes to a BigBox office supply store and gets a banner sign that says "we fix $6 hair cuts" and 6 months later the competitor across the street closes.

We're supposed to feel happy because the little guy beat out his BigBox competitor. But no one was supposed to notice that he didn't go to a small business sign store for his banner. No, he bought his banner from a BigBox Office supply chain. I guess the small business sign shop was already put out of business, but the local barber still has a chance?

[OakLeaf]

Okay, this is really drifty - but related, you'll see. After hearing Joel Salatin on the radio and Wendell Berry ♥♥ in person yesterday, my thoughts strayed to the band-aid on my fingertip....

When I developed a wart a year and a half ago, the first thing I tried was the paint-on chemical wart remover that I'd used on my last wart. That turned out to be unwieldy, so I went to the drugstore and bought some chemical-impregnated pads to be taped onto the wart. After a couple of months the wart seemed to fall off... but within a few weeks it was back.

So next, I went to the drugstore and bought one of those home cryosurgery kits. Waited a week, nothing. Treated the wart again, still nothing. Started combining the home cryosurgery with the chemical wart remover (they sell combined kits, but at least I combined the treatments I already had at home rather than buying yet something else). After three or four months, including some intensive treatment of the "roots," the wart seemed to fall off... but again, within a few weeks it was back.

So FINALLY I started doing some reading and learned about apple cider vinegar. Now, so far it's only been one week, so I don't know whether this will be a permanent cure, but it's working better and MUCH faster than any of the chemical company cr*p I paid good money for - and without near the amount of damage to healthy surrounding skin.

The point being, that even someone like me who considers myself educated and informed and careful about what I buy and use - I still fell prey to chemical company marketing, and immediately, unthinkingly, three times, went for the remedies they sold me when I had a little problem, even though I already had a cheaper, safer and more effective solution on my dining room table. And messing around with their products has cost me a year and a half of playing the guitar (not that I'd been playing regularly, but I have been wanting to get back to it).

That's how difficult it is to change patterns of consumer behavior and thought.

[NbyNW]

are Apple computers still made in the USA?

You're right, they're not, I just couldn't resist putting them on my list. We could probably have a whole separate thread as to whether "Designed in the USA" counts or not. I think the Intel chips are made/designed in the USA - anyone know for sure?

There are so many great products designed in the USA that are manufactured all or on part elsewhere. I think the issue then becomes whether it is being done ethically, and in a nation where we do want to support trade. Trade is not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully our trade partners are buying about as much from us as we are from them.

[Trek420]

Bmccasland, That's because small local sign shop doesn't have funds for a TV ad in much the same way as your LBS or even bikes themselves don't have those kind of funds.

NbyNW, which sourdough? This is one I like:
http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace....ad_company.php

[OakLeaf]

What's from my area?

Amish-built furniture and cabinetry;
art glass;
pottery both artistic and utilitarian;
Amish cheeses;
Longaberger baskets;
specialty rolled steel, cast iron boilers,

and plastics and chemicals - which goes to show that "local" doesn't necessarily mean "desirable."

[arielmoon]

Such great points here! I really love the input.

Sadly, it's almost like you have to thoroughly research a company before you buy something! Where items were made, the conditions they were made in, where the money goes afterward...

To make it more challenging, I am vegan and I try not to support companies that do or support animal testing.

[Running Mommy]

Greenfield kickstands- still made in the USA. As are wald baskets I believe.. (may be wrong??, I'm brain fuzzy this am)
We are ALWAYS looking at our shop! That's always our goal.
We carry Krieg bags, and I thought they were made here, but alas they are now made in the Phillipines... sigh...
I think Canari is made in so cal as well now that I think about it. And they are cheaper than Sugoi product..

[NbyNW]

Bmccasland, That's because small local sign shop doesn't have funds for a TV ad in much the same way as your LBS or even bikes themselves don't have those kind of funds.

NbyNW, which sourdough? This is one I like:
http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace....ad_company.php

I was just thinking about the ubiquitous sourdough that you might get in any deli or restaurant . . . not really sure where it all came from!

Acme looks amazing! I seem to recall the ferry building was under renovation when I lived there, and I don't think I ever made it up to the Berkeley location. We usually ended up at Zachary's for pizza when we went up there.

[tulip]

I really like consignment shops. I've gotten some fabulous mid-century modern furniture pieces for my house. The two dressers were made in the USA (stamped on the drawers); one was made here in Virginia. But buying perfectly good things from a consignment shop is a good way to go for alot of things.

Alot of my clothes are from a really wonderful consignment shop. High-end, high-quality, lightly used clothes. No one notices, and I get lots of compliments on my Dolce and Gabana pencil skirt ($20, looks like it had never been worn).

My bikes were made in New Mexico, Oregon, and Taiwan. None are from consignment shops, but all are from either the builder or a local bike shop.

Local things made in my area:
my kitchen cabinets
my concrete countertops
produce from the farmer's market
my homemade bread (the flour is from Virginia, but I have no idea where the yeast comes from)
Fralin Pickups (for guitars)
Some Ikea furniture products (they opened a factory in Danville, Virginia I heard)

Do what you can, don't sweat the rest.

[GLC1968]

I think the Intel chips are made/designed in the USA - anyone know for sure?

Not exclusively. And electronics are a very good example of how global our economy has become.

Take an example from my company - we make some WLAN power amplifiers for Intel that go into their cards that are used in laptops made by other companies. Our tiny little PA's are designed in the US. The wafers that our die are made of are sourced sometimes in the US and sometimes overseas (often european companies). The wafers come here to Oregon where we fabricate those wafers into electronic die. The die then get shipped to other locations (Malaysia, China, Korea, etc) to get bonded and molded into tiny packaged parts (the size of mini chocolate chip). Those packaged parts then get shipped to other locations to be tested and sealed into reels (sometimes those locations are right back in the US). Then the reels get shipped to the companies that make the boards (or mini cards) for Intel - often in places such as Isreal, India or China. Then, from there...they go somewhere else to get assembled into laptops and other such user end goods.

So to say that any electronic device is made in any single country is 100% misleading. Even if you were to build your own electronic device of some sort in your own private ham radio shop in your basement...90% of the parts you'd need would be fabricated at multiple locations around the world.

I work for a manufacturer where we employ thousands of US citizens here in Oregon, in Texas, in Florida, in CA and in Massachusetts...and yet not a single product we make is EVER labeled 'made in the USA'. Think about that for a minute.

Take what you buy and how it is labled with a grain of salt. Be as educated as you can about the choices you make but recognize that we live in a global economy and nothing short of a massive world catastrophy is going to change that anytime soon.

[NbyNW]

Thanks GLC! I had an inkling it was a process involving many entities, but couldn't really speak to it.

[Trek420]

I think Canari is made in so cal as well now that I think about it. And they are cheaper than Sugoi product..

Lots of it right here:
http://www.teamestrogen.com/canari/p...0-b100023.html

Thanks RM

Local things made in my area:
my kitchen cabinets

My cabinets were made by a local company but like many things the wood, fittings, materials could be from all over. But it was part of my decision that they be local. This morning amoung the snippets I caught on NPR news was a sad figure about food pantries in the US, that 1 out of 8 in the US have needed help from a food pantry this year.

I'll always get items from whever I feel is best for a number of reasons; price, quality, aesthetics .... but I try to be a local'varian where I can.