Buy domestic? Sure, but who can afford it?
By Jason Buckland, Sympatico / MSN Finance
It’s tough not to nod and agree when someone urges you to “buy domestic,” especially after the latest round of mass layoffs or factory closures hit the news.
But, outside of the auto industry, I can’t – for the life of me – recall anyone telling me how to actually do this.
I bring this up after reading a fascinating article on ABC News from a segment they did recently on Nightline. In the piece, the reporters outline just how tricky (due to lack of availability) and costly (due to increased manufacturing rates) it is to actually buy domestic.
The story hinges on a self-proposed challenge ABC put on itself: go on three separate shopping excursions and try to check off as many domestically-made products as possible from a list of common items.
First, the reporters tried to buy a full suit of clothing that consisted of as many domestic-made pieces as possible. What they found was a common theme. Everything, and I mean everything, was manufactured abroad, from the jacket (China), pants (China), tie (China), belt (China), to the underwear (Honduras/Mexico), dress shirt (Bangladesh) and suitcase (China.)
The next two trips (to a hardware store and a Sears) proved nearly just as fruitless. Only rare products like a sleeping bag and hammer could be found that had actually been made in North America. Everything else had a tag sporting a country of origin like Indian, Israel and, of course, China.
Now granted, this was an American study, but I can’t see how the same trend doesn’t possibly translate north of the border. Aside from certain cars (whose origins, for the most part, are decidedly un-Canadian), how many popular products can you think of that are actually manufactured here?
Well, I’ll tell you. Not many. According to canadianmade.com, there is a good list of products made in Canada, but how many of them do we actually buy? Of the entire catalogue, there are brand names like Sierra Designs, Roots and Simmons & Sealy mattresses, but not much else of retail substance.
To prove its point, the ABC story tracks down a good ol’ American company, one that sells, models and manufactures tents all right in the heart of the U.S. Only, problem is, by remaining loyal to the “buy domestic” mantra, the tents retail for an insanely inflated price because of sky-high goods and labour costs.
The tent company’s man-in-charge says it can only afford to sell the products locally to keep them at a “reasonable price.”
“Reasonable, in this case, means just short of $500,” the article says. “That’s maybe five times what you’d pay for a similarly-sized tent at Wal-Mart … which is why you can’t buy a (single one of them) at Wal-Mart.”
It’s quite ironic, actually. Cruel, but ironic. In all honesty, most people would tell you they can’t afford to buy domestic, as much as they’d like to. So we end up buying fairly-priced goods made in Godknowswhere because it’s what normal people can budget. And by consequence, with our economy tanking, we end up paying the very workers who have taken our jobs in the first place.
So buy domestic? Sure, we’d love to. Just show us how.
Posted by: Serge M | May 29, 2021 9:09:07 AM
With the rising cost of oil which will most likely reach a cost of $200/barrel within the next few years, I strongly believe that we're going to see a major shift (or reset) in the manufacturing realm of the world. When oil hits $200/barrel, companies will soon realize that shipping items from places like China to North America will be cost prohibitive in many instances. This will in turn cause a major manufacturing shift back to North America where it will make sense to be a local manufacturing powerhouse. The bottom line is that the low-cost Chinese manufacturing trend is not sustainable long-term as long as oil is the world's primary source or energy.
Posted by: Mike | May 29, 2021 9:41:39 AM
You cant always blame labour costs for bad managment! With fully automated production lines it would be easy to blame those dam union guys. Meanwhile down to the nitty gritty. Who was it that made the outsourcing trend possible in the first place. Its a proven fact that with less managment and more worker cooperation things do work to the advantage of everone. If we are going to survive in this environment people must learn to work together ( Team Concept )
Posted by: paul | May 29, 2021 9:59:24 AM
You are whacked if you think 200.00 oil will mean no more goods made in china. Shipping costs are nothing compared to the costsof manufacture in north america. Even with triple the transportation costs a 100.00 tent cannot compete against a 500.00 one . Modern shipping methods are more efficient than we can possibly imagine and will becomeeven more so as fuel costs rise .
Posted by: Rob B | May 29, 2021 10:01:32 AM
I remember reading a story a few months ago about a woman having a real difficult time buying a toaster not made in China, after a few months of looking she found one in Sweden and after having shipped it home, cost her over $300.00US. My wife and I play a game when we go shopping and try to guess where items are made and as this story suggests most items are made in China. Only a very few are manufactured in the USA or Canada and usually come with a hefty price. What is more worrysome is the food that we import from China safe with the recent melamine contaminations over the last few years with dog food, baby formula, chocolate. I was shocked to find a few canned item in our local Walmart and other major grocery chains in our area that come from China like canned mushrooms, canned fruit such as fruit cocktail, peaches and pears in both no-name and brand names. We have a real problem when there is mushroom farms all over the countryside along with some of the best grown fruits grown across Canada and the USA. This past Christmas was the first time we were mandarin orange free!
Posted by: Rick | May 29, 2021 10:07:48 AM
I am in full agrement that to buy domestic can be expensive. I don not fully understand why. For example I have heard, from reliable sources, that a car built in Canada is sold in the United States much cheaper than here in Canada. Why is that? If the car can be sold in the U.S. for a cheaper price whay can it not be sold in Canada for the same price. I have also heard from people in the retail business that the mark-up on clothing is 300% or more. Again, why is that? Could it be that big profits have lead to corporate greed?
Posted by: Rob B | May 29, 2021 10:27:22 AM
I don't think it'll matter if oil goes to $1000.00/barrel, at the end of the day consumers look for the best price and the trend is mostly with products made in China. With very little manufacturing left in North America it will be a real battle to open new plants at home especially with the credit crunch around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs and you can bet they won't care where goods are made.
There will have to be a big movement from everyone in North America to try and by local from food to clothing, baby goods, furniture, automobiles and everything we buy from now on.
But where are we going to get a computer or television or any other electronic device from.....it all comes from China.......it will only get a lot worse than better.
Posted by: Shane | May 29, 2021 10:28:11 AM
I am a Industrial automation (controls) contractor. I belive technology will be the key to lower manufacturing costs. As technology becomes more versatile and reliable it will replace more operators. For an up front cost of $50,000 cad you get a robot that will work 24hr a day all year. You may think thats bad but that robot has to be designed, manufactured, installed, commisioned, programmed, maintained, moved, reinstalled, reprogrammed, etc. all of which requires skilled tradesmen, technicians, and maintenance personnel. These people need to be trained and educated which will require teachers and educational facilites. The robot may replace the operator but it stimulates growth in many other areas.
Posted by: Rob B | May 29, 2021 10:58:15 AM
One would think technology may be a good thing, but sorry is this $50,000 robot made will parts exclusively from Canada.........Robots and Automation and skilled workers can't seem to keep the big three auto manufactures a float....who is to blame? Management, Consumers, Banks, Employees?
Posted by: LR | May 29, 2021 11:17:48 AM
Can anybody say she or he didn't benefit from the low cost of "Made-in-China"? Nobody I guess. Do you know a fact behind "Made-in-China" that most of the products made in China are owned by companies in North America or Europe? These companies pocketed the most profits from the products made in China and Chinese people and government got only a small portion of it. Do you realize “Made-in-China” made your life much easier? Do you feel guilt for paying Chinese people so little while enjoying a higher standard life? You should blame those corporate greed.
Posted by: Shane | May 29, 2021 11:31:32 AM
I should have said that technology wil be one factor in lowering manufacturing costs. I'm not certain where all the parts come from. One of the first things the automakers did was go to the CAW to lower labour costs. The robots and automation the big 3 use is still in its infantcy. I see ground breaking developments every month. As we head into the future new technologies will reduce manufacturing costs.
Posted by: duane | Jun 1, 2021 2:21:24 PM
My wife and I refuse to purchase products made in China. Free trade can only exist..sensible between partners with similiar standards of living, ethics and enviromental concerns.
China has taken what used to be "hard goods" and turned them into cheap consumables that end up in the landfill over a short lifetime. North Americans are allowing this to happen, at the expense of their neighbour's ( and their own jobs).
If you want to save North American manufacturing...support it!
Posted by: GM | Jun 1, 2021 4:00:18 PM
Granted it is tough trying to buy domestic in a global economy, but in the end if we allow all our jobs to go overseas where living standards, safety standards and humanitarian concern is significantly less that we demand at home, we'll all end up on EI and not being able to buy even the imports.
Consider this:
The economic impact on buying a non North American car. All imported plants have everything manufactured off shore and only provide assembly jobs here in Canada. That represents less than 5% of the cost of the product. Obviously importers with no facilities here, that's 100% of th work contracted out.
When you consider there are 7 jobs for every manufacturing job and the economic multiplier factor of the money running through the system is also 7 times, then you can see the harm and significant damage to the economy that is being done by buying imports.
You only have to look at the de-industrialization of England to see our future. That started the same way with Honda bikes. Once all the bike manufactures were gone, the price of the bikes quadrupled. So be warned, this is our destiny here, if we don;t look at things differently.
Personally, I would be ashamed to be driving an imported car right now, but on the bright side, you may have a nice import which was not cheaper, but your paying taxes to support Ontario unemployed workers. So who's saving in the end. Come on Think about it!!!!!
Posted by: canaman | Jun 1, 2021 7:18:43 PM
Lets not forget about the very lax enviromental and saftey standards in some of those countries.We will never be on a level playing field with them because their govt open their arms to manufacturers while ours give them red tape.
and dont forget they dont have to worry about paying teachers and nurses from our taxbase dollars. You can drive whatever you like but dont cry when the chineese start sending teachers and nurses that will work for $10/hour.
Posted by: nibbly | Jun 25, 2021 1:51:12 AM
If you live in china and owen a house your property tax would be around 67 cents every year, compare it canada minimum is 1400 dollars a year, then you have fuel tax, personal tax, income tax, tax on tax, and tax on everything you buy, play, lease eat. and of course 10 dollars an hour won't be enough to survive, you will want to work for a union because their wages is higher, and how do you compete with china when their wage is about 30 cents an hour and no tax. Blame the politicians.