Made in China?

[Bentley Green]

How many of you have bought a small kitchen appliance and found out that the product is made in China?

This also goes for clothing, shoes, air conditioners, major appliances, kitchen gadgets and cookware. Why is that? Cheap labor, or is it that they can get away with hiring children to work in their factories?

I don't have a problem with stuff being made in China or elsewhere, but the thing that I'd like to know is is there anything that's made in the USA any more besides the K' Aid Stand Mixers? They're still made here.

Is it also for the co's to save money by letting other countries make their products? I think it has to be the reason why.:unknw:

[Food Network Fan]

Lodge cast iron is made here.

[Bentley Green]

Forgot about that one. So is the big orange Ventamatic high velocity fan that I bought earlier this summer - back in June.

[PicBuddy]

Originally Posted by Bentley Green

How many of you have bought a small kitchen appliance and found out that the product is made in China?

Just look at the label before you buy it. And just because it's made in China doesn't automatically mean there is something wrong with it. You can also factor in what company has put their brand name on it, and what store you are buying it from.

China makes a broad range of quality products. Problem is, the majority of US companies order the cheapest thing there is, and consumers select the cheapest thing there is.

Ala Walmart. If you will remember, one of the things that made Wal-Mart popular and made people feel good about shopping there was all of the "Made In The USA" products with the US flag on the label. Remember all of that? Try finding one package like that now in any Wal-Mart. Now what you will find is cheap junk from China, because WalMart ordered the cheapest junk there is and their customers buy the cheapest thing there is. Where-as for a little more money you can get a nice quality pan at Bed Bath and Beyond, that is made in China, yet with a lifetime warranty from a trusted brand name. Because they didn't order the cheapest thing in China.

What I think is totally nuts is that pans, shoes, purses, whatever all have the country of origin. Yet something a wee bit more important than some sneakers, food, which we put into our body and ingest, doesn't even have to say where it's from. And the scary thing is, apparently people don't really seem to care.

So forget the 5 second rule. If you don't care where it came from, eating it off the floor shouldn't be much different, right?

[Bentley Green]

Originally Posted by PicBuddy

Just look at the label before you buy it. And just because it's made in China doesn't automatically mean there is something wrong with it. You can also factor in what company has put their brand name on it, and what store you are buying it from.

China makes a broad range of quality products. Problem is, the majority of US companies order the cheapest thing there is, and consumers select the cheapest thing there is.

Ala Walmart. If you will remember, one of the things that made Wal-Mart popular and made people feel good about shopping there was all of the "Made In The USA" products with the US flag on the label. Remember all of that? Try finding one package like that now in any Wal-Mart. Now what you will find is cheap junk from China, because WalMart ordered the cheapest junk there is and their customers buy the cheapest thing there is. Where-as for a little more money you can get a nice quality pan at Bed Bath and Beyond, that is made in China, yet with a lifetime warranty from a trusted brand name. Because they didn't order the cheapest thing in China.

What I think is totally nuts is that pans, shoes, purses, whatever all have the country of origin. Yet something a wee bit more important than some sneakers, food, which we put into our body and ingest, doesn't even have to say where it's from. And the scary thing is, apparently people don't really seem to care.

So forget the 5 second rule. If you don't care where it came from, eating it off the floor shouldn't be much different, right?

i never said that there is anything wrong with it.

Just wondering why it is. All of our jobs are being lost to overseas production. That might explain why.

Most of my appliances are made in China.

[PicBuddy]

1/3 of all humans on Earth are Chinese so they have the largest and most competitive labor force which results in cheap labor. Now you are asking why everything is made in China? Well, technically everything isn't. But I know what you mean, it seems that way. A very very large percentage of what Americans buy is made in China because Americans don't insist on quality as much as some other places. In countries like Japan, Korea, Switzerland, the UK, France and for some reason Brazil, the larger percentage of items are higher quality items such as from their own country (Japan being perhaps the largest example).

Here's an example. You have a store that sells $10 iron skillets made in the USA. A megastore moves in and sells them for $5 and people buy them (not concerned about the fact that the handle falls off the 3rd time you use it). Consumer demand replaces the higher priced items with cheaper yet lower quality items and the demand continues in that direction so quality is always declining. In some countries, consumers refuse to purchase the cheapest things there are, thus driving the cheapest things off the store shelves and causing the quality to constantly increase while prices stay low due to competition.
Works the same way with food quality too...

[PicBuddy]

Here's a good example on PBS. You can watch the videos on there too;

frontline: is wal-mart good for america?: watch the full program online | PBS

"Jobs have moved to China, where cheap labor manufactures what the American consumer desires -- from clothing to electronics -- and can buy at "everyday low prices" at the local Wal-Mart.


FRONTLINE explores the relationship between U.S. job losses and the American consumer's insatiable desire for bargains in "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" Through interviews with retail executives, product manufacturers, economists, and trade experts, correspondent Hedrick Smith examines the growing controversy over the Wal-Mart way of doing business and asks whether a single retail giant has changed the American economy.

[Bentley Green]

Walmart is one of the biggest abusers when it comes to labor practices.

Female employees have filed class-action lawsuits agaianst the store chain for discimination. They were paying men nore money for the same level and amount of work that THEY do.

The Walmart stores themselves arn't close to cites like the other store chains, causing them to be virtually impossible to reach on public transportation. Shame!!

[PicBuddy]

Bentley, You know, I am all with you here. I'd love to debate how Wal-Mart has destroyed Mom and Pop America, by moving into every small town and putting the old businesses out of business, creating a model based on American jobs with everything made in America, and then taking that away while no one was watching or cared...

But I am trying to tread lightly. Something we must realize is that we are on a chat board or BBS run by Susie in West Virginia. Recently she has sorta roped me in about context of conversations, and I think out of respect for her home (which this is her home here on the web), we should take the WalMart stuff elsewhere. Because it doesn't really have much to do with Food Network Fans...

Believe me, I would love to sit here and debate this very issue with you until the sun comes up again, but this is probably about as far as this conversation should extend, with respect to people that just want to read about food network....

Peace.

And if she should say otherwise, we can go to town on this one...

[Bentley Green]

Sorry, but it just makes my blood boil to see how greedy co's like this are allowed to get away with murder and treat their employees like crap!

Well, like other stores, they DO sell food, kitchen appliances and cookware there, as well as dinnerware and kitchen gadgets & utensils. That said, we'll let it rest.