"Made In China"

I usually try to avoid buying stuff that is made overseas. For example, a while back I bought some sandals from a company called Chaco, and one of the big selling points for me was that they were made in colorado. Loved them, great sandas, but due to a problem with heel strap, I exchanged them for a different model of chacos. They are pretty much the same thing except thinner sole and no heel strap (zongs)... So all this time I am wearing them thinking they were made in colorado like the other ones, and one day lo and behold I notice the word "china" inside one of the straps. For some reason these were made in china. I really should have inspected them closer I guess instead of assuming that they were made in colorado like the others, but I feel like I got duped into buying something I wouldn't have bought if I'd known. I can't tell if the quality is any different, I mean they seem different but they ARE a different model so... but they haven't proved to be a problem yet. It's not just that I don't trust the quality of things made in china or other places, but just the whole principle of buying stuff outsourced overseas. Frustrating. I lost some of the respect I had for the Chaco company, but they are still a good company as far as their shoes go. Bummer, man.

 

Thanks Drummin. These have "Made In China" printed on the inside of the straps along with what everything is made of, so I'm pretty sure these were made in China, lol. I was honestly shocked, considering that some of the stuff I read on the web promoted the fact that their products were made in the USA. I've noticed other Chaco fans talk of the bonus that they were made in the USA... so it seems it's something that they tried to make well known, and I know that one of the selling points for others was the made in the usa thing. It's not so much that some of their stuff was made in china, but that ... well I feel "tricked". Let this be a lesson to everyone to INSPECT what they buy even if the company supposedly doesn't outsource the labor.

 

Isn't that just a tad racist? Why are Americans entitled to those jobs more than Chinese?

 

It's not racist. I have nothing against other races whatsoever, but I do have something against:

1. People in the US not having any jobs cuz they are all outsourced for cheap labor
2. The people in the other countries who have taken good jobs from US citizens aren't even getting paid well for it, and most likely have horrible working conditions, many times their health is in danger
3. Because of low pay and bad working conditions, and the "quantity over quality" attitude present in many "sweatshop" type places, no one bothers to make sure the producs are even made well. They just try to fill their quota so they can feed their families a slice of bread every night.

I prefer not to be part of the cause of this stuff happening. If everyone in the US boycotted stuff made in other countries, that would mean no one would buy any of it. If no one bought any of it, companies would be forced to keep the labor here so people would buy it. That means jobs for US citizens. That also means no cheap horrible labor jobs over in China or wherever. Less labor workers.

 

Actually, I believe we are in quite an epidemic at the moment due to our tendancy to save a few dollars buying something from the Chinese.

Maybe it was because of their population that the Chinese had to make such cheap garbage of all kinds of so called needs, so that the masses could easily afford something. Same is true here in America, where our discount Spraw Marts are buying all of this crap for the masses who go there to save money.

Meanwhile, production in China is increasing so much that their consumption of oil has directly affected the gas prices slightly.

Also, at the same time, they are making so much money selling these inexpensive items to millions of people, as their potential customer base is much greater. So they are funnelling in hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars every year, and now it is to the point where the Chinese basically own the United States.

Lest we not forget all of the millions of American jobs that have been lost over the years to this outsourcing.

We all need to try and make a more conscious effort to support ourselves and keep the little money we have in the country. It's bad enough that the banks own everything else, like our ballparks and football fields, our houses, our factories, etc.

 

It also means that there would be more poverty and unemployment in China. Those workers choose to work those "horrible labor jobs" because it is better than the alternatives available to them. To deny them these jobs would leave them with fewer alternatives.

Personally I think outsourcing is great. Americans can afford temporary economic setbacks more than Chinese can.

But that's just me.

 

You can only take care of everyone else for so long though, until the care of your own starts getting deficits.

 

And besides, there are just as many jobless people who need jobs just as bad as they do here in our home country

 

Carrying the label "Made in China" doesn't necessarily mean (or even imply) it was made with prison labor. It means it was made in China.

 

So did the z/2's I bought the first time around. The ones I exchanged those for are the Made-In-China Zong's.. pretty much the same thing but no heel strap.

 

Yeah I agree with you on that part. The sandals are too good to knock the bee's nest I guess, but I was just disappointed and lost respect for the Chaco company is all.

And this:

The thing is Kandahar, 9 times out of 10 you don't really know if the product was made under the conditions I listed or prison labor, or if it was made by some really comfy person in a nice lush manufacturing warehouse who gets paid a ton of money to put shoes together. Because of this uncertainty, it would be irresponsible for anyone that cares at all about these issues to buy anything from overseas and would make their whole cause pointless, unless they were guaranteed that they were made under acceptable conditions. And even then, if this very unlikely scenario was actually found, there's still the matter of taking jobs away from people who live here. There's just not a lot of winning arguments in my personal opinion for buying anything manufactured overseas.

 

outsourcing is what will enable China to stand on its own feet in the global economy...i dont know why people are against this.

 

I completely agree. For people who claim to be against poverty, many people don't seem to realize that the road out of poverty for most third-world workers is for wealthier nations to contribute to their economy.

If you really want to put a stop to sweatshops (which are a necessary step in the economic development of any nation), buy more products from those countries. The faster their economies grow, the sooner the citizens of those countries won't need to work in sweatshops.

 

are you so sure? im not trying to argue, but i believe that instead of closing down the sweatshops, the owners will just pocket the extra profit.

 

The owners won't just "close them down," so to speak. Once a country reaches a certain point of economic development, workers are no longer willing to work under horrible conditions. It happened in the United States and Europe from 1900-1920, it happened in Japan from 1945-1970, and it's happening in China and India today.

You're right that owners will pocket SOME of the extra profit (that's why they operate the business after all). But they'll also reinvest a lot of it into the business, which may mean hiring MORE workers, or increasing pay and improving the working conditions to attract BETTER workers.