Xmas without China

CAVSTARR313

Watched a decent documentary last night. The filmmaker found a California family and asked them to get rid of anything in their house that was made in China, and to not buy or use anything made in China for the whole month of December..

http://www.pbs.org/program/xmas-without-china/

This really provoked some thought in me.. Is it even possible to avoid products made in China as a "financially responsible" middle class consumer?

lukin2006

it'd be tough ... so much is made in china now ... people could do themselves a favour and just limit what they buy and think they need especially at Christmas.

Jason P

I don't think we could post messages here if it wasn't for China and their labor force.

Let's face it. China is the most capitalistic nation on earth. And it's easy for them because they have the veil of The Party to hide behind. The US has the veil of the EPA and the clean water act of 1979 to hide behind ... And that veil is thread-bare

It is human nature to seek the easiest access to a resource. Be it water, food, shelter or iPads. :ugeek:

mickeyrat

try it without ANY asian countries made goods or any third world countries for that matter.

brianlux

lukin2006 wrote:

it'd be tough ... so much is made in china now ... people could do themselves a favour and just limit what they buy and think they need especially at Christmas.

"think they need".

That's a very key issue. I often to we here or say myself, "I need one of those". When my one of my nephews was a kid he came up to me and said, "I need a new came for my Nintendo". I tried to explain the difference between "need" and "want". Yet even being highly aware of the difference myself, the other day I said to a hardware store clerk, "I need to get two 4 foot lighting fixtures". They're for a business so maybe "need" is close but still, I reworded my statement and said, "That is, I would like two fixtures." If we change our automatic thinking from "need" to "want" or "would like" perhaps we can change our buying habits and scale them down.

lukin2006

brianlux wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

it'd be tough ... so much is made in china now ... people could do themselves a favour and just limit what they buy and think they need especially at Christmas.

"think they need".

That's a very key issue. I often to we here or say myself, "I need one of those". When my one of my nephews was a kid he came up to me and said, "I need a new came for my Nintendo". I tried to explain the difference between "need" and "want". Yet even being highly aware of the difference myself, the other day I said to a hardware store clerk, "I need to get two 4 foot lighting fixtures". They're for a business so maybe "need" is close but still, I reworded my statement and said, "That is, I would like two fixtures." If we change our automatic thinking from "need" to "want" or "would like" perhaps we can change our buying habits and scale them down.

Totally agree ... Big difference between want and need.

Last-12-Exit

I am unable to find a listing for this show. If anyone knows where/when it can be watched, please post...

SD48277

Caveeze wrote:

Watched a decent documentary last night. The filmmaker found a California family and asked them to get rid of anything in their house that was made in China, and to not buy or use anything made in China for the whole month of December..

http://www.pbs.org/program/xmas-without-china/

This really provoked some thought in me.. Is it even possible to avoid products made in China as a "financially responsible" middle class consumer?

This looks like a great documentary. I can't find it listed with my PBS station. :(

polaris_x

this would be a walk in the park for me ...

backseatLover12

Caveeze wrote:

Watched a decent documentary last night. The filmmaker found a California family and asked them to get rid of anything in their house that was made in China, and to not buy or use anything made in China for the whole month of December..

http://www.pbs.org/program/xmas-without-china/

This really provoked some thought in me.. Is it even possible to avoid products made in China as a "financially responsible" middle class consumer?

Awesome topic, I hope to find this on my local station.

Did anyone boycott Black Friday by Buying Nothing on that day? I do every year.

brianlux

backseatLover12 wrote:

Caveeze wrote:

Watched a decent documentary last night. The filmmaker found a California family and asked them to get rid of anything in their house that was made in China, and to not buy or use anything made in China for the whole month of December..

http://www.pbs.org/program/xmas-without-china/

This really provoked some thought in me.. Is it even possible to avoid products made in China as a "financially responsible" middle class consumer?

Awesome topic, I hope to find this on my local station.

Did anyone boycott Black Friday by Buying Nothing on that day? I do every year.

I didn't boycott Black Friday because we needed a couple of light fixtures. I'm in used book sales so I also participated as a seller. However, we had the lowest Black Friday sales in about five years which did not at all make me unhappy. I prefer seeing our loyal customers throughout the year rather than the hoards who normally descend upon Main Street on Black Friday.

How about Cyber Monday? Is anyone boycotting on-line sales today? So far, I've had had zero on-line sales today- fine by me! (But then I only sell obscure titles on-line that most likely won't move in-store. :oops: )

backseatLover12

brianlux wrote:

backseatLover12 wrote:

Caveeze wrote:

Watched a decent documentary last night. The filmmaker found a California family and asked them to get rid of anything in their house that was made in China, and to not buy or use anything made in China for the whole month of December..

http://www.pbs.org/program/xmas-without-china/

This really provoked some thought in me.. Is it even possible to avoid products made in China as a "financially responsible" middle class consumer?

Awesome topic, I hope to find this on my local station.

Did anyone boycott Black Friday by Buying Nothing on that day? I do every year.

I didn't boycott Black Friday because we needed a couple of light fixtures. I'm in used book sales so I also participated as a seller. However, we had the lowest Black Friday sales in about five years which did not at all make me unhappy. I prefer seeing our loyal customers throughout the year rather than the hoards who normally descend upon Main Street on Black Friday.

How about Cyber Monday? Is anyone boycotting on-line sales today? So far, I've had had zero on-line sales today- fine by me! (But then I only sell obscure titles on-line that most likely won't move in-store. :oops: )

Is there an emoticon for faceplanting one's self? Insert that here.

However, Saturday was Shop Local Saturday. I did that with a local bookstore, told them that I only shop independent book stores and the sales person thanked me.

brianlux

No worries- I didn't even know about Cyber Monday until this afternoon myself.

Thanks for mentioning Shop Local Saturday! (or as the grammar police would say, locally )

redrock

Had a look around the house for 'made in china/ stuff, as an end product or as a component.

I have come to the conclusion that I would not be able to not use anything made in China for a month. Strictly speaking, I could certainly not use some of the end products I have, with an overall 'Made in China' label but a lot of goods which are assembled in the UK, assembled in Germany, etc... still use 'made in China' components.

Not even sure that, in future, I would be able to completely avoid 'made in China' for any new purchases.

But, without getting into ethical working practices, is it all that bad? If 'we' can't compete for various reasons, why not do different? Or have added value that it noticeable to the consumer (ie. should we pay triple the price for something 'Made in USA' - or other western country - do we really have triple the value in quality/manufacture/etc. than the chinese goods?).

We keep on saying that 'made in America' is quality, lasts, etc. 'Made in China is cheap, low quality, will never last. But we are a 'throw away' society. We do not look for goods that will last a 'lifetime' anymore. We like to change often - a new car every three years, a new washing machine that has loads more features, a new PC/laptop/tablet every few years because they are so much better. We don't allow goods to 'die' anymore - we buy new when we fancy something different.

We shouldn't be pointing the finger at China (nor India or other such countries) but rather pointing it at ourselves and our consumerism, our way of life. But that's more difficult.

Leezestarr313

redrock wrote:

We keep on saying that 'made in America' is quality, lasts, etc. 'Made in China is cheap, low quality, will never last. But we are a 'throw away' society. We do not look for goods that will last a 'lifetime' anymore. We like to change often - a new car every three years, a new washing machine that has loads more features, a new PC/laptop/tablet every few years because they are so much better. We don't allow goods to 'die' anymore - we buy new when we fancy something different.

We shouldn't be pointing the finger at China (nor India or other such countries) but rather pointing it at ourselves and our consumerism, our way of life. But that's more difficult.

A lot of products seem to be made in a cheap way to help consumerism. They die prematurely because the producer wants you to get the newer product. Washing machines, phones, anything... have a much shorter "shelf life" nowaydays. At least it seems to me like that. Why do phones miraculously stop working or get erratic when your contract time is up for renewal? Why do washing machines not work for more than 3 or 4 years? Because they want to you buy new stuff. They benefit from you needing new stuff.

I'd rather get myself a older washing machine that is reliable and that I could maybe even fix myself (because it's not just a computer with plastic around) than buying a new machine every second year... In Germany we say "buy cheap, buy twice".
I think it depends on the product too. If I had to buy toys for a baby to chew on or play with, I would probably try to avoid products from China. It seems to me that this is a lot harder in the US than in Germany though...


Also, I agree with what brianlux said about need vs. want. I am thinking about this all the time on this board here...

redrock

You're right Lisa, things are not made to last anymore. Of course, for businesses, they don't want goods to last forever and a day - no advantage to that for them. But both manufacturers and consumers are egging each other on. Are the manufacturers taking advantage of the consumer or is the consumer dictating to the manufacturer (by the fact that they want 'new & better' stuff). A bit of both, I think.

My mother had her washing machine for 35+ years - old GE top loader, bought new. It moved with us everytime we did. She eventually had to get rid of it, not because it died but because it just wouldn't fit in the last apartment we lived in. She gave it to another military american family who had trouble finding a machine big enough for their rather large family! My (German!) washing machine needed major repair after 8 years - and I think I got a pretty damn good run out of it! Repairing was 'not worth it' and we bought new.

Certainly, we need to look at want and need. We want too much.

Leezestarr313

redrock wrote:

You're right Lisa, things are not made to last anymore. Of course, for businesses, they don't want goods to last forever and a day - no advantage to that for them. But both manufacturers and consumers are egging each other on. Are the manufacturers taking advantage of the consumer or is the consumer dictating to the manufacturer (by the fact that they want 'new & better' stuff). A bit of both, I think.

My mother had her washing machine for 35+ years - old GE top loader, bought new. It moved with us everytime we did. She eventually had to get rid of it, not because it died but because it just wouldn't fit in the last apartment we lived in. She gave it to another military american family who had trouble finding a machine big enough for their rather large family! My (German!) washing machine needed major repair after 8 years - and I think I got a pretty damn good run out of it! Repairing was 'not worth it' and we bought new.

Certainly, we need to look at want and need. We want too much.

Agreed.

You gotta love these old work horses of a washing machine! My first one was one like this too...

backseatLover12

redrock wrote:

We shouldn't be pointing the finger at China (nor India or other such countries) but rather pointing it at ourselves and our consumerism, our way of life. But that's more difficult.

redrock wrote:

Certainly, we need to look at want and need. We want too much.

Absolutely!!

Speaking of washer machines, we just repaired ours ourselves, again, for the third time. It's 15 years old, pretty damn old for any appliance nowadays. When we went to the appliance store looking for the part needed, the guy said that the machine we have "...is a good one. Keep it as long as you can, just don't overload it. They don't make them like yours anymore.:

Jason P

backseatLover12 wrote:

redrock wrote:

We shouldn't be pointing the finger at China (nor India or other such countries) but rather pointing it at ourselves and our consumerism, our way of life. But that's more difficult.

Absolutely!!

We can point fingers at both. One Chinese online retailer, Alibaba, did more sales on the Chinese version of black friday (11/11; $5.75B), then every US online retailer combined did on Black Friday ($1.9B).

http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-dwarfs-americas-black-friday-2013-12

Cosmo

It is futile. We need to accept the fact that this is the world we have created for ourselves and the one we currently live in.
...
And if you believe you are buying something 'Made In America'... look into the details. The product may be 'Assembled in The U.S.A.' which allows them to put a 'Made In U.S.A.' sticker on it, but the reality is that the components and/or ingredients are coming in from China (and probably the 'Made In U.S.A.' sticker).
Anything made out of plastic is probably from China. That probably goes for the majority of products that contain steel or aluminum. America is the market place for crap from China. It makes sense to have Americans assemble the crap to be sold at the local Wal-Mart and save on shipping cost and tariffs.

Byrnzie

Anyone seen this documentary?:
Death By China - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIyEohl4_yk