Buying American (or if you're Australian, then Australia, etc.)
Not sure if this should go here or if it will be moved to the Politics section, though I wanted some people's thoughts on Buying American. I have started to slowly replace my wardrobe with only American made clothes. It's an ongoing process though it's something I'm trying to do in this tough economy and also to stop supporting big brands like Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, etc. (obviously Wal Mart but I still shop there for food sometimes).
This topic is more geared towards Americans as for those not living in America, I believe you should support your own local economy but the same deal applies.
All in all, the main point is that I'm sick of buying goods in China for starters. The second part is, I am striving to buy more goods made in America.
This topic is more geared towards Americans as for those not living in America, I believe you should support your own local economy but the same deal applies.
All in all, the main point is that I'm sick of buying goods in China for starters. The second part is, I am striving to buy more goods made in America.
Comments
100% I am in Australia and love to buy Australian. Particularly here in the state of West Australia. The nearest major city is like thousands of miles away so it's good and prudent to buy local.
I find I can start with food and drink. Organic, West Australian where possible, otherwise Australian.
Other stuff, it's really hard but I know I can do better than feeding the decrepit Chinese empire.
But I tell you Australia has some of the most amazing and beautiful food in the world. From the seafood from the Indian Ocean across to salmon from Tasmania and all the way North to bananas and so on from Queensland.
Also nowadays I eat as little meat as possible.
My favourite meat is a Kangaroo Burger! Yummy.
It might be my only meat I eat nowadays, that's my aim. Roo or nothing. Here's the debate on pro/cons of eating roo:
http://www.awpc.org.au/kangaroos/sustainability.htm
http://green-change.com/2009/04/23/kangaroo-the-sustainable-red-meat/
I don't think Roo is the ultimate solution but for people trying to get "off" meat it's a good pathway.
Also no point being Vegan unless you're hitting 50% of intake that's organic. Organic makes a MASSIVE difference.
Not that I know of, that is a bloody great idea. There's Dick Smith foods... http://www.dicksmithfoods.com.au/
But no dedicated 100% Made In Australia online stores, that I know of... Really good idea. What are the best USA equivalents?
The online shopping scene in Australia has focused on product range and prices. But really a 100% Made in Oz online store aggregating all Aust-made stuff would be great.
www.allamericanclothing.com and www.allusaclothing.com
Awesome. There should be more techpreneurs in Australia doing this kind of stuff rather than trying to be the next Facebook. There's massive talent in Australia and some of them should focus on this kind of stuff. 100% Australian-Owned, Australian-Made stuff.
It goes both ways. You may not like buying Chinese, but Chinese manufacturing opens a lot of doors for small startups. In the past, to produce say, a tech product, you'd need to build an incredibly expensive factory, expensive tools, etc... It would be a multi-million dollar endeavour. Now even small companies can build hardware thanks to Chinese manufacturing. Small companies that couldn't operate 100% in the US. Plus, now that the Chinese economy is picking up, and Chinese can afford more luxury goods, they've actually become a large market for alot of American and European companies, and contribute greatly to the welfare of those companies. For instance, GM gains a very good portion of it's revenue from China, which in turn contributes back to the American economy.
That being said, food and other consumable goods are best sourced locally. And I'd rather support a small, local startup than something bigger (provided the small, local business can produce on quality). Small businesses also contribute much more to the economy than corporations do.
But China does serve a purpose, outsourced manufacturing enables western entrepreneurs to build things they wouldn't otherwise be capable of. For all the ills of the global economy, there are also alot of benefits...
Food definitely. Household stuff as much as possible. Other goods... well, not always possible but I think conscious choices are important, not just rocking up to Target or Kmart and buying as much rubbish cheapo nonsense as possible.
Interestingly Western countries definitely get the first grade stuff from China. Long story, I'll rant about this another time.
It depends on your ideology. I try to avoid buying things from non-democratic countries, and especially middle eastern aristocracies/theocracies. Sometimes it's unavoidable.
I wish US-made products actually said the state they came from. I don't love the whole USA. For example, I'd rather buy a non-union-made Subaru from Arkansas, even though it's a Japanese company, than I would want to buy a union-made Chevy bail-out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splinemodel
It depends on your ideology. I try to avoid buying things from non-democratic countries, and especially middle eastern aristocracies/theocracies. Sometimes it's unavoidable.
I wish US-made products actually said the state they came from. I don't love the whole USA. For example, I'd rather buy a non-union-made Subaru from Arkansas, even though it's a Japanese company, than I would want to buy a union-made Chevy bail-out.
Ideology shouldn't have anything to do with it. Products should be bought based on value - that is, the quality and usefulness for the price. Let the market decide the rest. If one country can produce certain products more efficiently, so be it.
The locality of a product should be a boon for the quality of said product - for instance, local vegetables should always be higher quality than sourced vegetables since the local product can be grown to optimal maturity as it travels less...
If China can produce better products cheaper, they should produce it. But as one economy rises, costs will inevitably go up as workers demand higher wages, currency values inflate, and the efficiency inevitably goes down. As this happens, it will once again be more efficient to produce in the former country.
An interesting note - Lenovo, the second largest PC maker in the world, is building a new factory in the USA. Samsung also recently built a US factory. Hyundai has also recently built factories in North America.
I want to give more of money to small businesses instead of giving it to Target, Wal Mart, etc.
Not everything made in China is cheap crap, I understand that. Though a lot of it is and I am trying to avoid it.
My Mac mini is made there though that's unavoidable, as is my Vizio TV, and my Nintendo Wii (or was before it was stolen). In those cases, I take a "It is what it is." approach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb85
Ideology shouldn't have anything to do with it.
Why not? I am the market. I can choose a product on whatever merits it has, including that it does *not* fund people who don't believe in the concept of free markets.
Quality is important yes. Are there a lot of things made in the Netherlands?
My main thing is jobs. I want the economy in America to thrive and if not enough is made here, it will continue to stall.
It's a question of passion on the ~seller's~ side. The market is there, regardless of whether they have an "ideology" or not.
If the passion is there on the ~seller's~ side (also free market, the most passionate about it will choose to do it, rather than government sponsorship which would be silly), then the free market to ~buy~ the products will work fine.
There's actually a lot of excellent Australian-made products but the startup community, at least in my city, is too busy trying to be the next Facebook than be truly passionate about empowering Australian growers, producers and manufacturers.
The nonsense I'm hearing out of the startup community in Australia and around the world is just... annoying now, and worse than the dot-com boom.
I can't wait for one big online store that is purely Australian-owned, Australian-made and has all the products in Australia. There's some amazing stuff here, not the least of are food and dairy products that you'd really want... Organic food, clothes, etc.
There's a guy in my city as well that has decent manufacturing capability but he doesn't want to make like accessories or something for a global market, he's interested in the "startup" fantasy.
This is what I like to hear. One big online store might not necessarily be the case though but a boom of e-commerce with multiple stores would be great.
I just don't like the fact (and it's not just China) that with so many people out of work, we are allowing third-world countries to make things for us when we can do it ourselves and get things going again. Michael Moore (I know he's a fat tub of lard) was interviewing Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike, who believes Americans just don't want to make shoes for a living. That's a load of garbage.
Also I don't mind things from other countries though I would like to see things made in countries where conditions are decent. Not everything has to be made in America. I do want to buy as much stuff as I can made here in America (as long as it's quality) though I'll take Canada, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway, etc.
I believe in the free market but I also believe in America.
Oh I understand that one would want their home countries' economy to thrive (jobs) but I don't think that could happen if it was 'merely' 'Made In...'
I'd rather have our government entice companies to enjoy a lower rate tax/vat by settling here as opposed to simply have 'any product' be fabricated in my country. Over here in The Netherlands Philips used to thrive, but since the quality of their products became lower compared to new competitors I have zero sour grapes that I don't buy their products anymore. Maybe I'm just not patriotic, or perhaps I like to pick the best there is. I see quality in B&O, Apple, BMW, Volvo, but not in Ikea, Samsung. Those work as well, but not as well.
Not much. Nothing worth mentioning, quality-wise.We do belong to the top 20 biggest economies of the world, our Port of Rotterdam is #5 cargo tonnage and we export quite a lot of agricultural products. But we're a small country, just 1/17th the size of Texas(!)
Bingo. That people are too lazy in ~X~ developed country is a load of nonsense. Sure you can't compete at the bottom end but high-value stuff is always going to draw a global audience, including the third world themselves!
For example, Merino wool made in Australia/New Zealand is absolutely fantastic. There are a lot of cold places in the world, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd world.
The best Dutch export: Trance music. I love "Holland".
Oh I completely understand you on a lot of points. It's not even so much patriotism as well since I don't consider myself so called "patriotic" though more about supporting smaller companies vs. larger ones. Voting with my money.
I absolutely try to buy locally as much as possible. Not because of some kind of xenophobia but because the quality and value is usually much better. You don't have to pay for shipping from half way around the world (and its associated environmental impact) and it's usually not a product made by a large multi-national that prioritises profits above quality. The one exception is Apple which is now unique in consumer electronics for valuing quality (Sony used to back in the day).
I try to avoid Chinese-made anything. It can be very hard but apart from Apple products I can say I haven't bought anything made in China for a long time. It's really quite sad but if you go into any mall or chain clothing shop here in Australia it's almost impossible to find anything that's made here. A friend and I challenged ourselves to find anything made locally in a mall once and we couldn't. It's one of the reasons I avoid malls like the plague and much prefer smaller local shops on the high street. The vast majority of people don't seem to care but if they did and they were as vigilant it could really turn around a country's economy around and provide a huge boost to local manufacturing and clothing industries, not to mention employment.
So in short, it's not that locally made products can't compete on price and quality because they can, it's that they seem to be getting shut out of the opportunity to have their products stocked and showcased in places like malls and that large national and international chains have embraced "Made in China" as ways to enhance their profitability.