Made in China RANT!

[SiegeTank]

Dunno why I'm posting this other than to vent!

My dryer is temporarily down so believe it or not I went on the Internet to learn how to dry clothes without a dryer! LOL. Then the instructions remind me of the old days when I was a kid when my mother would hang clothes up on a line using clothespins, either in the cellar, or even better, outside in the nice fresh air and sunshine.

In fact, a couple of sites actually recommend doing this NOW instead of using a dryer, if you want your clothes to smell and feel great. I wear a lot of exercise stuff since I work casual and one site strongly recommends outside drying for cotton gear like t-shirts, workout shorts, etc.

What the heck!? But I don't have a line and clothespins. So I go down to the local dollar store, and sure enough, they carry them. For a buck I get a length of what appears to be nylon cord, and a bag with about 24 plastic what appear to be clothespins. Not what I remember from childhood---those were wood and tough as shit. Hell, we'd play with them, make toys out of them and when done throw them back in Mom's laundry bag none the worse for wear...

So OK I put up a couple of toggle screws on the top part of window frames in a back room which has an overhead fan and I can open the windows full blast without driving anyone nuts. (I'm not about yet to try to set up an outside drying line unless I end up committing to this whole hog!)

I unravel the nylon cord and start to string it up when I notice the most evil-smelling odor coming from it... something between petroleum and other nasty chemicals. No way I'm putting my clothes onto this! Fortunately I have a length of good old-fashioning rope in the basement so I cut a hunk off that and run it. Dunno if even the rope was made in America but it seems to be of healthy origin and doesn't smell at all.

Then I start hanging my duds using these plastic laundry pins. They're in 4 different colors. But boy they do look cheap. They're basically two small pieces of plastic with a cheap piece of wire bent and inserted between them to provide the tension. I remember my Mom's laundry pins were wooden and had a strong piece of wire with a loop in the center and you could bend those things forever and they'd last.

Of the 24 pins I bought at least 8 of them broke as I started to hang up laundry. Fortunately, this is a test run and I had enough "survivors" to hang up the wet clothes I did run thru the wash.

What's my gripe? "Made in China" is synonymous with "poorly made" but you can't find "Made in America" anymore. I went to two stores before the dollar store looking for wooden laundry pins and they barely knew what I was talking about.

What a country where we transfer our national treasure to an enemy nation and get badly-made trinkets, toys and junk in return!

 

[Chatwiththisname]

Dunno why I'm posting this other than to vent!

My dryer is temporarily down so believe it or not I went on the Internet to learn how to dry clothes without a dryer! LOL. Then the instructions remind me of the old days when I was a kid when my mother would hang clothes up on a line using clothespins, either in the cellar, or even better, outside in the nice fresh air and sunshine.

In fact, a couple of sites actually recommend doing this NOW instead of using a dryer, if you want your clothes to smell and feel great. I wear a lot of exercise stuff since I work casual and one site strongly recommends outside drying for cotton gear like t-shirts, workout shorts, etc.

What the heck!? But I don't have a line and clothespins. So I go down to the local dollar store, and sure enough, they carry them. For a buck I get a length of what appears to be nylon cord, and a bag with about 24 plastic what appear to be clothespins. Not what I remember from childhood---those were wood and tough as shit. Hell, we'd play with them, make toys out of them and when done throw them back in Mom's laundry bag none the worse for wear...

So OK I put up a couple of toggle screws on the top part of window frames in a back room which has an overhead fan and I can open the windows full blast without driving anyone nuts. (I'm not about yet to try to set up an outside drying line unless I end up committing to this whole hog!)

I unravel the nylon cord and start to string it up when I notice the most evil-smelling odor coming from it... something between petroleum and other nasty chemicals. No way I'm putting my clothes onto this! Fortunately I have a length of good old-fashioning rope in the basement so I cut a hunk off that and run it. Dunno if even the rope was made in America but it seems to be of healthy origin and doesn't smell at all.

Then I start hanging my duds using these plastic laundry pins. They're in 4 different colors. But boy they do look cheap. They're basically two small pieces of plastic with a cheap piece of wire bent and inserted between them to provide the tension. I remember my Mom's laundry pins were wooden and had a strong piece of wire with a loop in the center and you could bend those things forever and they'd last.

Of the 24 pins I bought at least 8 of them broke as I started to hang up laundry. Fortunately, this is a test run and I had enough "survivors" to hang up the wet clothes I did run thru the wash.

What's my gripe? "Made in China" is synonymous with "poorly made" but you can't find "Made in America" anymore. I went to two stores before the dollar store looking for wooden laundry pins and they barely knew what I was talking about.

What a country where we transfer our national treasure to an enemy nation and get badly-made trinkets, toys and junk in return!

While your wet clothes can't appreciate the fair price of these due to time it takes to ship things. It seems like amazon is the place to be both eco and pocket friendly.

Amazon.com: Home-X Wooden Clothespins. Set of 50.: Home & Kitchen

While that isn't the cheapest, it was the first, and when looking closer at the picture the metal spring holding the wooden toggles together certainly appear worthy of an industrial clothes line.

Alternately you can try binder clips. Just because it says office products doesn't mean you are committing a sin by putting it on a clothes line
Amazon.com: STPL Staples Binder Clips, Assorted Sizes, Black, 60-Pack: Office Products

 

[SiegeTank]

Question: Where are they made
Answer: Made in China.

Thanks for the link. While I buy lots from Amazon, like everyone, for some reason I didn't think about buying clothespins from Amazon, figuring surely this is something I can impulsively jump into my car and pick up EVEN FASTER than Amazon shipping.

There's a locally-owned hardware store here which prides itself on having "everything." Going to check that next. If they have quality wooden pins, my next question will be are the American-made?!

BTW, on a separate rant, article in the paper this morning says the U.S. post office effectively subsidizes Amazon for $1.45 for every package delivered for Amazon by mailmen. This is due to the illogical way they allocate the costs of the carrier's wages, gas and wear and tear on the postal truck, etc. Roughly speaking, they estimate the average customer receives 19 letters and 1 package a week so when they calculate costs for heavy users like Amazon they allocate 1/20, or 5% of those costs to the package. The effective subsidy to Amazon is $1.45 per package.

Of course, this post is not really about laundry pins, is it? Between "Made in China" and the predations of Amazon, U.S. local retailers and small business entities are truly doomed.

 

[Chatwiththisname]

Question: Where are they made
Answer: Made in China.

Thanks for the link. While I buy lots from Amazon, like everyone, for some reason I didn't think about buying clothespins from Amazon, figuring surely this is something I can impulsively jump into my car and pick up EVEN FASTER than Amazon shipping.

There's a locally-owned hardware store here which prides itself on having "everything." Going to check that next. If they have quality wooden pins, my next question will be are the American-made?!

BTW, on a separate rant, article in the paper this morning says the U.S. post office effectively subsidizes Amazon for $1.45 for every package delivered for Amazon by mailmen. This is due to the illogical way they allocate the costs of the carrier's wages, gas and wear and tear on the postal truck, etc. Roughly speaking, they estimate the average customer receives 19 letters and 1 package a week so when they calculate costs for heavy users like Amazon they allocate 1/20, or 5% of those costs to the package. The effective subsidy to Amazon is $1.45 per package.

Of course, this post is not really about laundry pins, is it? Between "Made in China" and the predations of Amazon, U.S. local retailers and small business entities are truly doomed.

Soon made in china, only at walmart, bought out by google, and doomed in america will be the only slogans left. Well....and MMOBugs, cheat smarter.

 

[Casca]

They definitely can make quality items in China, just not cheap. I am sure they have their craftsmen, people that know how to do the job right. It's just nobody wants to pay for that when they can get kinda close for much less $$$.

I workout a lot too and sweat like crazy. Read about sun drying for odor and wish I could. Tried using special detergents that cost a lot of $$$, but they don't really make a difference. Eventually every gym shirt I have will have residual odor that activates with a little bit of sweat.

I just buy cheap t-shirts at Walmart. The thin ones for like $10 for 4, some times they have deal of 6 for the same price and I stock up. I catch even a wiff that a shirt is retaining odor and I toss it and open another bag of new t-shirts. This is actually cheaper than buying the special "sports" detergent.

I do rinse my shirts right after the gym and let it completely hang dry in my bathroom before putting it in my laundry bag. Wish I could hang dry outside in the sun light, but we're not allowed to.

 

[zdozbou]

It all comes down to you get what you pay for. You said you purchased this stuff from the dollar store - not much more needs to be said .

 

[SiegeTank]

True dat but I went to the Dollar Store after trying CVS and a hardware store, neither of which had pins.

I did finally find proper wooden pins at Home Depot, very reasonably priced. And, of course, MADE IN CHINA. Actually goes to show Dollar Store isn't such a bargain. 24 crappy plastic pins for $1 while at Home Depot I got 48 very decent wooden pins for $2.79. Had to ask 4 different employees whether they had the item. 3 just pointed vaguely to various aisles where they were NOT. The last employee, an older guy who evidently still cared about customer service, looked it up in his inventory gun and said they had them but the gun didn't show where. So he walked with me to 3 different aisles until he located them.

Made in China isn't the only thing which will waste this country. Also, lack of customer service. But that's a rant for another day.

 

[PeteSampras]

My Chinese slave labor was all made in China. Most of them seem well-made for my uses. I find them to be food motivated and responsive to getting water and food every other day. I used to have to beat them at least once a week but I eventually figured out that I could just use one of them to beat the others and that left me additional free time. But then one day the individual I had been using to beat the other's stated that they wanted to start earning wages. Obviously I am not about to start paying them but my interest was piqued. I played along and asked how much they wanted each week. They told me about tree fiddy would do. Well it was about this time I noticed that this slave laborer was about eight stories tall and was a crustacean from the Paleozoic era! And I said goddamit, Loch Ness monster, get off my lawn.. I ain't givin you no tree fiddy. And then it said, ok well how about two fiddy? And i said.. oh now it's only two fiddy? What is there a sale on Loch Ness munchies or something?

 

[CapriiRecords]

We in America consistently overlook the functional economics of why we don't manufacture things here anymore. We could produce clothes pins, however our economy necessitates a living wage - so those clothespins wouldn't cost $1.00 - they would cost $15.00. Now, we can jump into the arguments for and against minimum wage, and a living wage - but we need to actualize what the United States can provide.

If we manufacture our products here, our products will get exponentially more expensive. Your food, your water, your clothes, your dollar store items, will all increase in cost - to pay for your fellow Americans to manufacture those items. There is a reason that Chinese factories pay their workers 0.15 cents a day, and the workers live in dorms with 10 people per 20 square foot room.

The United States is a consumption economy and a nationalized service economy - we cannot move back to a manufacturing economy. If we were to move back to a manufacturing economy, we would need to see a class and economic divide on the scale China sees. Then, instead of having crappy "Made in China" products, we'd have crappy "Made in America" products - because you can't incentivize slave labor, be it in China or America.

 

[Chatwiththisname]

True dat but I went to the Dollar Store after trying CVS and a hardware store, neither of which had pins.

I did finally find proper wooden pins at Home Depot, very reasonably priced. And, of course, MADE IN CHINA. Actually goes to show Dollar Store isn't such a bargain. 24 crappy plastic pins for $1 while at Home Depot I got 48 very decent wooden pins for $2.79. Had to ask 4 different employees whether they had the item. 3 just pointed vaguely to various aisles where they were NOT. The last employee, an older guy who evidently still cared about customer service, looked it up in his inventory gun and said they had them but the gun didn't show where. So he walked with me to 3 different aisles until he located them.

Made in China isn't the only thing which will waste this country. Also, lack of customer service. But that's a rant for another day.

I will say that though I think the dollar store is poo, the dollar tree on the other hand had some nice albiet extremely heavy glass cups for only $1 each. Due to my wife's drunken nature, the sturdier glasses were better than the bar mugs I paid $40 for at walmart which were all broken within a month. Point in case, if it looks and feels cheap, it probably is poor craftsmanship. If it looks and feels sturdy, it probably is, at least on the outside. Buying from the dollar store is like buying from harbor freight, you get what you pay for. Granted, it is hard to fuck up a clothes pin. It has a pretty specific job to do and wet clothes are no lightweight object to hold in place. So simply be careful what you buy. If american's would stop buying cheap crap all together there would be no profit for the Chinese in making cheap garbage and they would eventually step up the quality (not by much), to make the objects more resilient.

 

[copenhagen2]

At walmart you can buy 50 clothespins for about 5 bucks made in America, wood and everything. Some of them suck because the handle or clip is made out of a knot or bad cross grain.

Works good, cheap, American made.

 

[SiegeTank]

We could produce clothes pins, however our economy necessitates a living wage - so those clothespins wouldn't cost $1.00 - they would cost $15.00.

At walmart you can buy 50 clothespins for about 5 bucks made in America, wood and everything. Some of them suck because the handle or clip is made out of a knot or bad cross grain.

Works good, cheap, American made.

Two contradictory statements which show that this situation is a lot more complicated than maybe it appears at first glance.

I think we should care deeply about at least two things related to this:

1. The Chinese are exploiting people to manufacture these goods so cheaply. I'm no bleeding-heart but it troubles even me that I may be buying Chinese-made goods sold in the USA which were produced by essentially slave labor.

2. We're trading the wealth and assets of our nation to China, essentially an enemy nation, for this junk. We cut off exports of scrap metal to Japan in 1940 for analogous reasons: to deny the benefits of America's treasure to any enemy nation. I'd say China today is a bigger threat to the world by far than Japan was in 1940.

It just ain't all about cheap clothespins!

 

[CapriiRecords]

You can be a nationalist, or a capitalist. The 2017 economy is a global economy, the 1940 economy? Not so much.

 

[SiegeTank]

You can be a nationalist, or a capitalist. The 2017 economy is a global economy, the 1940 economy? Not so much.

Again, gross oversimplification. The 1940 economy wasn't global?! Hell, WW2 started over global economic issues: Germany wanted to expand to acquire raw materials to power-level themselves and Japan, sheesh, they attacked the USA because we cut off their IMPORTS.

Heck, the discovery of the New World was due to a growing global economy, and that goes back a few years before 1940.

This isn't a question of nationalism versus capitalism. It's not as simple as a "black-and-white" difference of opinion. Many gradations here. You can be a capitalist and still value your nation above others and even be ethical. Capitalism can have a patriotic and/or moral scheme. If the U.S. was able to manufacture more goods on its own this would reduce our dependence on buying junk from slave nations like China. WHY our manufacturing has suffered is not just because our standard of living has risen. It's also because "big money" and "big industry" and "big government" and "big politics" benefit from our current trade relationship with China. Like I said it's a LOT more complicated than "nationalism versus capitalism", IMO.

 

[CapriiRecords]

If the U.S. was able to manufacture more goods on its own this would reduce our dependence on buying junk from slave nations like China.

If? I get this is a rant thread, but that is the problem. It isn't an "if". The US cannot manufacture more goods on its own, and still have a functional economy.

"IF" you can tell me what Americans are going to work for $0.15 an hour, without benefits, without guaranteed safe working conditions, without workplace recourse, to produce a high quality television for total overhead of $35 to be sold at $350, while only using earned wages at $0.15 an hour to contribute to the economy as an active consumer - and not be labeled a slave nation, I will gladly contribute significant capital as your first investor.

 

[cadman]

If the U.S. was able to manufacture more goods on its own this would reduce our dependence on buying junk from slave nations like China.

If? I get this is a rant thread, but that is the problem. It isn't an "if". The US cannot manufacture more goods on its own, and still have a functional economy.

"IF" you can tell me what Americans are going to work for $0.15 an hour, without benefits, without guaranteed safe working conditions, without workplace recourse, to produce a high quality television for total overhead of $35 to be sold at $350, while only using earned wages at $0.15 an hour to contribute to the economy as an active consumer - and not be labeled a slave nation, I will gladly contribute significant capital as your first investor.

It's weird, really. Imagine if we all decided to stop buying this cheap chinese shit that is just filling up the dollar store / walmart / bunnings (Aus) / whatever across the world. We'd reduce environmental damage massively for a bit, but then what? Isn't plastic a petroleum byproduct? We all going to stop driving these utterly ridiculous 400hp+ cars that burn fuel like a mofo so we cut back on the amount of oil that needs to be supertanked around the world in ships that burn tons-per-hour of shitty sulphurous bunker oil?

Then the Chinese economy ends, and they stop buying raw materials, and then the countries supplying the raw materials crash, then ...

I dunno, as a layman / worker, I can't see beyond this. You economical minded guys can probably figure out what happens, but a few billion people starving because their countries can't afford the grain to feed them, might be a bit sucky.

Nah. Late stage capitalism at it's finest.

 

[CapriiRecords]

If the U.S. was able to manufacture more goods on its own this would reduce our dependence on buying junk from slave nations like China.

If? I get this is a rant thread, but that is the problem. It isn't an "if". The US cannot manufacture more goods on its own, and still have a functional economy.

"IF" you can tell me what Americans are going to work for $0.15 an hour, without benefits, without guaranteed safe working conditions, without workplace recourse, to produce a high quality television for total overhead of $35 to be sold at $350, while only using earned wages at $0.15 an hour to contribute to the economy as an active consumer - and not be labeled a slave nation, I will gladly contribute significant capital as your first investor.

It's weird, really. Imagine if we all decided to stop buying this cheap chinese shit that is just filling up the dollar store / walmart / bunnings (Aus) / whatever across the world. We'd reduce environmental damage massively for a bit, but then what? Isn't plastic a petroleum byproduct? We all going to stop driving these utterly ridiculous 400hp+ cars that burn fuel like a mofo so we cut back on the amount of oil that needs to be supertanked around the world in ships that burn tons-per-hour of shitty sulphurous bunker oil?

Then the Chinese economy ends, and they stop buying raw materials, and then the countries supplying the raw materials crash, then ...

I dunno, as a layman / worker, I can't see beyond this. You economical minded guys can probably figure out what happens, but a few billion people starving because their countries can't afford the grain to feed them, might be a bit sucky.

Nah. Late stage capitalism at it's finest.

This is pretty much exactly my point of a global economy. The interconnectedness and reliance on trade (in)balance is so intregal to every single developed nation, there cannot be a feasible economic reworking without worldwide collapse.

 

[poly]

You use a dryer even when the weather is fine? Isn't that a colossal waste of electricity?

 

[cadman]

We bought one of those Siemens condenser type dryers cause the wife's vertebrae collapsed in her neck and couldn't hang up clothes anymore. Uses bugger all electricity, and collects the water in a container. Good stuff.

 

[SiegeTank]

You use a dryer even when the weather is fine? Isn't that a colossal waste of electricity?

Hehe, dunno where you're from but in my neighborhood everybody uses dryers year 'round regardless. I'm sure it's a colossal waste of electricity to some extent, just like Internet browsing and MMORPG playing.

That's a whole 'nother rant. I grew up in a home without a dryer or air conditioning and my first 3 cars had no a/c. I don't even know if they had a/c as an option but I'm damn sure I wouldn't have sprung for it if they had.

Try to tell any young person today that they have to live or drive without a/c...