Terrible buying habits in the USA

[FarmerChick]

just shows that it is one big fat almost impossible situation to change...and it sure isn't going to be changed fast or anytime soon that I can see

but many more Americas are seeing this situation as a real issue now...so maybe eyes opening up is a good thing in the long haul

 

[Wildsky]

How are you supposed to buy something made in the USA if it isn't available? I live in a very rural area and all the mom n' pop stores are all just about shut down. Walmart, Kmart, Sears,....blah, blah, blah,...and everything is made in china. Today I needed a new purse,..I just needed a bag to throw my crap in. Everything I find in the stores are made in china. I know I could buy online and buy American,...but the prices are ridiculous. I even looked at the thrift store,..just used made in china crap. So I bought my bag and yep,..it is made in china. What can you do??? If the product is not readily available and affordable,..what can you do?? Just saying,.....

I don't know what your idea of affordable is but here is a lady that I graduated with Etsy site where she makes and sells handmade purses.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DukDesigns
I am sure she would meet any color request you had.

Those are very nice bags, but my affordable range is way below that. I am talking $10 and under. Yea, my DH says Im tight as bark on a tree. I do almost all my shopping at our local thrift store,...reuse, recycle,..right??

THe problem is that $10 purse probably isn't going to last very long.
I'm not a fancy purse girl - but I paid a pretty penny for my purse, I've had it now for 6 years and it still looks brand spanking new.

 

[ORChick]

"Buy American" - Great battle cry, and a really good idea. But many people can't afford it. And other people maybe could afford it, and don't have the option. How do you Buy American when what you want/need is only available "Made in China"? DH and I really try to buy locally; we have bought appliances at the local shop instead of Sears or Home Depot - I imagine they weren't built in America, but at least some of our money will be staying in the community. But what about when there is no option? I need new slippers; I have a serious problem with poor circulation in my feet, and therefore cold feet in the Winter. But this year I will make do with the old pair - because all the slippers I have looked at are "made in China". I need to really look at the possibilities of making my own. But this isn't just slippers, it is across the board. Yes, we caused the mess by wanting cheaper items, but now we have no choice, more often than not. So, whats the answer? Tell the workers that they should work for less so they can compete with the Chinese? I imagine that that will go over very well

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I don't know what your idea of affordable is but here is a lady that I graduated with Etsy site where she makes and sells handmade purses.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DukDesigns
I am sure she would meet any color request you had.

Those are very nice bags, but my affordable range is way below that. I am talking $10 and under. Yea, my DH says Im tight as bark on a tree. I do almost all my shopping at our local thrift store,...reuse, recycle,..right??

THe problem is that $10 purse probably isn't going to last very long.
I'm not a fancy purse girl - but I paid a pretty penny for my purse, I've had it now for 6 years and it still looks brand spanking new.

I understand you get what you pay for,..but we are talking about a purse. If Im going to spend a pretty penny on something it is going to be on something worth it to me,....like a pair of boots,.....I am a shoe kind of gal,... Of course they aren't easy to find made in the USA either anymore.

 

[Beekissed]

Do you buy US savings bonds? Guess what? A big bunch of the work at The Dept of the Public Debt is outsourced to foreign countries. That's right....your government is also outsourcing their work to other countries.

I don't think consumers who purchase US savings bonds have any idea that they are no longer buying a purely American product.

And....how is this the consumer's fault?

 

[patandchickens]

I think in large part that train has long since left the station. I don't think you can call it back, either.

Frankly, a lot of the buying-stuff-made-overseas would disappear if people would just buy less stuff overall -- not every faddy thing that goes through, not what's in style this season, not oh it's cheap and isn't it so cute and clever, not hey this might be vaguely fun to have sometime for some purpose -- and buy secondhand when possible, instead of sending vast quantities of perfectly good stuff to landfills.

(And also, yes, buy from people/businesses you *know*, in your area, when and if possible)

Basically it is just astounding to me how much STUFF our culture feels compelled to buy and then of course discard. Of *course* people couldn't afford it all -- or even a large fraction of it -- if it were manufactured domestically (which would in many cases not be anything like "a few pennies more", think several TIMES as much, sometimes even more). So I think it is real unlikely for the trade deficit situation to change as long as the gotta-have-all-the-good-stuff mentality prevails.


Pat

 

[2dream]

Pat, you are "SO RIGHT ON" with your post. And being a guilty participate myself on some levels, these exact thoughts have been running through my head a lot lately. I don't buy "faddy things" but I do buy stuff I don't need. I don't use "Techy Stuff" (well, is a computer "Techy")? But I do over purchase things. Example: I wanted to try the chicken/pet waterer that clips onto a 2 litre bottle. I did not just order 1 to try it as was my intention. I ordered 12 because it was cheaper to buy 12 of them (in case they worked and I needed more). Plus the shipping was the same. So now I have 12 things sitting in a box that I don't like how they work.

About once a year I do a clean out of stuff I don't use or need. I am totally amazed at myself every year. But, each year I get better and have less to do away with. So I guess there is hope for me.

 

[FarmerChick]

I hear you 2dream

I was the same...but I am much improved

It is hard to cut the cycle cause the gimmicks of 12 is cheaper in the end, and you might love them and why not get that discount....lol...gets us in the end.

Lately you can't make me part with my money and I am so much more concerned with what does come in the house....cause if it goes to the landfill or something at the end of the year....to me it is money I should just have ripped up and thrown in the garbage.

 

[i_am2bz]

It's a double-edged sword - the economy is bad, so many people are out of work, so we buy the cheapest thing we can find (usually meaning made overseas), therefore contributing to the economic problems...to get people working, we'd have to buy American, but no one can afford to (if you can even find anything!)...and the cycle continues...! :/

 

[patandchickens]

the economy is bad, so many people are out of work, so we buy the cheapest thing we can find (usually meaning made overseas)

...rather than just buying LESS.

Which would probably be more helpful (especially in the long term).

In large part, I think that mindless profligate spending has just become such a habit that a lot of people don't even recognize it (I am totally not talking about you, I_am2bz, I just mean a lot of people in general, mostly *not* the type who are on this forum!). I gather that fast-food restaurants have on the whole done pretty well during the current recession-or-whatever-we're-calling-it, and dollar stores too. Look at all the magazines etc touting "be frugal, make <whatever> yourself" but then sending you out to buy all sorts of special-purpose usually-pricey materials to DO the project in question. And have people really been dropping cable or cellphone/blackberry or internet service until-and-unless their mortgage/rent checks are literally about to start bouncing? Not too often, is my impression.

Really I get the impression that in a lot of ways the current economic straits are probably WORSENING many/most peoples' consumer habits. Alas. And then when things get better some day, it will be like the 80s all over again, only ten times worse. "Woo hoo, finally I can afford to buy every darn thing that crosses my field of vision! Let's go!"

I dunno, maybe I'm too pessimistic on this, just calling it like I see it.

Pat