Category: “thoughts”

This “thought” is being shared by Dayle and her recent experience on a day out shopping.    ☺

Happy Friday Everyone… :)

I recently found out that my beloved brother lost his job as a screw machine set up operator, a position he has had for the past 30 years. His next birthday in June will see him at 52 years of age.

Ian lost his job not because he works too hard or because he is too conscientious about his work and not because he is and always has been a dedicated hard-working kinda guy. Nope he lost it because we don’t make things in Canada anymore, it’s easier and cheaper to get them from other countries. (and without targeting any, I am sure most of you know which countries).

This as you and I know has been going on for a number of years, buying our goods from overseas… In the beginning it seemed like a good idea, the big companies benefited because it was cheaper for them, (although how they manage to ship all that stuff over here cheaper than we can make it here is beyond me). And the little guy and gal like you and me benefitted also because it was cheaper, and with the cost of living going up and up and up all the time it is logical to be attracted to the cheaper price.  And the people of the countries making the products were afforded a better way of life, or so we believe.

However, if there is one thing I have learnt along my life’s journey is that nothing is for free (or cheap) in the end there is always a cost. The incredible cost of “us” conducting business this way is now becoming quite clear.

The “cheaper” products being sold don’t appear to last very long, they break easier and end up in our garbage landfills, while we go purchase another just like it until that one too brakes in a short period of time. In the past you could rely on certain name brands because they stood behind the product knowing it was made to specific standards.. Not anymore, it’s all made in the same place and therefore seems to been made by the same standards, even though we are “insured” quality control is on the top of the list of these big companies.

Good hard-working people in Canada and the United States are out of work and may not ever get a good job again. Like Ian many of these hard-working folk have been at the same job for a number of years, and now either have to re-train or take a job on a far lower financial scale then they have been used to.  And you try re-training for another job when you are over 50 … it’s very, very hard, the brain just doesn’t learn the way it did.

O.k. so what can we do? is it up to us? do we have a choice? can we make a difference?

Well we can start of by not buying things we don’t need, especially if they are made in a country other than North America. Besides we have too much stuff as it is…do we really need more? Thinking about our purchases in a common sense manner before committing to them can help us to see what we need and what we want.

Hubby and I have been checking the labels of products before purchase for a number of years now, and it’s hard, very hard to find product (even food) that isn’t made elsewhere. But logically if we all begin to stop buying little by little surely we can make ourselves be heard, and then maybe, just maybe the powers that be will begin to make the changes we need.

By constantly purchasing our goods from other countries we leave ourselves vulnerable and open to “attack”. Common sense dictates that we will be safer, happier and economically strong if we are as self-sufficient as we can be. This begins with manufacturing in our own country, we do not need to rely on others, all we need do is work together and understand that the more wages we demand the less likely it will be that the work will be available to us in the future.

In essence purchasing our goods (and so many of them) from other countries is not just an economic issue, it is a huge environmental one as well… Think about it… are the countries who make the goods concerned about the environment? Perhaps not if they make product that ends up in the landfill, and what about all the shipping across the ocean? This must have an impact upon the ocean life, which in turn has an impact on all life.

We welcome your responses and comments to this “thought”. Please submit below. (don’t be shy :))

 I agree with you Greta. One reason that it is cheaper to build overseas is thatshipping of the  the wages are so small and there are no benefits like we have become accustomed to here. I also agree that the goods is affecting our oceans and all the life that they support. Poor quality does make the dumps fill up faster as some people tend to throw stuff out before thinking if any of it could be recycled. I suggest: