Stuff made in China

[Tradd]

You will probably have better luck not buying made in China if you buy online. Like for instance I recently got a skillet and a pot .. made in France (well it's literally not made in China). The stores are probably all made in China for the same type of thing.



It might be at this point depending on how the law was written. That type of thing is what is in trade laws (among other things). What people worry about with the TPP (one of the latest trade laws on the way to be passed) is that it will make it impossible to pass any laws that interfere with company profits in any way among other things. And yes it might make even labelling even country of orgin illegal.

I will have to go research that because country of origin labeling is something that customs brokers deal with. CBP has very specific regulations on how country of origin must be shown on products.

[puglogic]

I'm fortunate to have a choice whether to buy Chinese-made or not, assuming there's an alternative at all. For many things, including most electronics and small appliances, it's darned tough to find. I feel lucky if I can find good socks and oranges.

And it has nothing to do with hating the "foreign hordes," thank you. Why would I pay to have an inferior product with (often) nonexistent customer support and terrible documentation shipped thousands of miles to me, belching greenhouse gases all the way? And if I have a choice between employing a neighbor to grow or build the products I consume, and employing someone in virtual slavery halfway around the globe to pave the way for investor dividends and obscene CEO bonuses...why on earth would I choose the latter?

Tradd, I would be interested in what you learn about the TPP.

[SteveinMN]

I mind that the cheap crap is the cheapest crap that is possible. Chinamen could make better quality stuff if we required it of them.

He said that the same model for a lighting fixture, for instance--the beginning of the fixture is made at one Chinese factory. The end of the run will be made at another factory and even though it is the same model--all of the parts are not interchangeable because the standards are crap.

That is one of the things that bothers me most about this whole thing. The Chinese are capable of making some very high-quality goods. All of my recent Apple gear was made in China and I cannot see that it's built any less well than American- and Irish-built Apple products I've owned in the past. There's some truly fine audio gear coming out of China, too. Unfortunately, many companies outsourcing to China do not require (or audit for) a high level of quality, and "overengineering" does not seem to be as high a cultural value in China as it is in, say, Germany. So we pretty much get what we're asking for.

And it bothers me that all this low-cost labor isn't always lowering prices. I just bought a pair of American-made jeans from Round House for the same money I would pay for jeans at Target or Lands' End. Nikes are no cheaper than New Balances for being made in China rather than Massachusetts. So who really is benefiting from the move off-shore?

[CathyA]

I forget where I heard this.........maybe DH heard it on NPR? But they were interviewing the head of a manufacturing plant in China, and he (the Chinese man) could not believe all the crap that the Americans would buy.
So I agree........they are very capable of making good stuff, but they are being told the kind of crap we like (from us), and they're making it.

[Rogar]

I don't have a big problem buying something made overseas, but I really do not like buying things from China mostly for humanitarian reasons, but also because they tend to churn out a lot of low quality junk for cheap. I check a lot of labels, but it's about impossible to get away from. A couple of web sites like REI have filters to select products made in the US.

[CathyA]

I do buy water chestnuts from China (have never seen them grown anywhere else), and recently I bought a Mason Bee House.......made entirely of bamboo....which would make sense coming from China. But so many other things could be "home-grown".
I do have to admit............I prefer China ruining their environment, rather than us.........but its a small world after all.......like the ripple in the pond.

[pinkytoe]

Unfortunately, many companies outsourcing to China do not require (or audit for) a high level of quality

I have noticed a sharp decline in clothing quality since even formerly good brands like Lands End or LL Bean now are made in China. Brands mean nothing anymore. It is endlessly aggravating to never have the same size standards even in the same style. I recently bought a duplicate sweater online because the first fit so well and was of decent quality. The second one had much longer arms and didn't fit the same. Different factory? One thing we rarely talk about too is how many of our resources are now going to China. Do we really think all of this oil and gas we are producing via fracking is staying here in the US?

[jp1]

The problem with country of origin is the fact that things don't just get entirely made in one country and shipped here. Even something as simple as the Planet Money t-shirts. For the men's shirts the cotton was grown in Mississippi, shipped to Indonesia where it was spun into thread, shipped to Bangledesh where the thread was woven into cloth and then sewn into shirts, then shipped back to the US. Something like a car, though, or other complex machine, likely has parts, or even whole systems (transmission, stereo, etc) made in several countries and then finally assembled somewhere. If the transmission was made in Mexico, the engine in Canada and the final car put together in Marysville Ohio is it really an American made Honda?

[Gregg]

Ha. You guys buy the good stuff. I went shopping for some cheap t-shirts to wear around the house and the bottom of the price barrel were either from Bangladesh or Nicaragua. Not a $4.99 Chinese t-shirt in sight!

Less tongue-in-cheek, China has been farming out a lot of the textiles and the really cheap crap for years now. Bangladesh is riding the wave because where China has minimal regulatory enforcement, Bangladesh has none. Remember the stories of factory disasters this past year? Anyway, materials made there (or Malaysia or Indonesia or...) and then shipped to Central America for assembly is a popular route since NFTA doesn't always trace the food chain all the way to the source.

[SteveinMN]

Something like a car, though, or other complex machine, likely has parts, or even whole systems (transmission, stereo, etc) made in several countries and then finally assembled somewhere. If the transmission was made in Mexico, the engine in Canada and the final car put together in Marysville Ohio is it really an American made Honda?

Courtesy of NAFTA, components/systems made in Mexico and Canada are treated differently than systems brought in from Japan, China, Poland, etc. But the measure most likely is "domestic content". So we have the Toyota Camry, which is built in Kentucky and Indiana has 80% domestic content; the Chevy Sonic, ballyhooed as an American-built subcompact (though it was designed in Korea), with 50% domestic content; and the Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup, which has all of 40% domestic content. Which vehicle puts more Americans to work? And given the multinational status of Toyota, GM, and most other car manufacturers, does it matter where the corporate profits go?