I've Had It

Barbara Gill

Member
Messages
88
Location
Remlik, Virginia
I had already decided not to eat anything made or packaged in China. The cough syrup, candy, infant formula, and dog food, all deadly. I am sure there have been many more deadly products but that is just recently.

Today we loaded cattle. On the way to market a tire just purchased and only having about 400 miles on it blows on the cattle trailer. Then after another 25 miles the second tire goes same use. Dan left at 11:00am and just got to the market at 4:00pm; it is usually a 2 1/2 hour trip. Both tires had just been bought from the local farm supply. Guess what? they were made in China. That is it; I am not buying anything of any importance that has been made or packaged in China.
 
I had already decided not to eat anything made or packaged in China. The cough syrup, candy, infant formula, and dog food, all deadly. I am sure there have been many more deadly products but that is just recently.

Today we loaded cattle. On the way to market a tire just purchased and only having about 400 miles on it blows on the cattle trailer. Then after another 25 miles the second tire goes same use. Dan left at 11:00am and just got to the market at 4:00pm; it is usually a 2 1/2 hour trip. Both tires had just been bought from the local farm supply. Guess what? they were made in China. That is it; I am not buying anything of any importance that has been made or packaged in China.

Barbara, I feel your frustration, but I must say I don't think its fair to blame one region of the world per se. I blame a modernistic attitude to be honest with you...corporate greed.

I don't think it really matters what country a product derives from, there is this ever increasing process that cheapens the product until its at near failure to reduce the production cost while maximizing profit. Its not just tires and tools, but everything. With China exporting a lot of their products, and being so big as it is, its only natural that they are going to seem like the villain when in fact no country is immune from this corporate epidemic of cheapening products and paying investors top dollar for lousy products.

As consumers we are not any better really. We want cheap, disposable products that do a purpose, then are tossed away and easily replaced. Nothing is serviceable because we won't pay for such a thing. Why fix when we can replace? The corporations are really just giving us what we demand.

In the past 2 months, the world financial debacle may change that, both for corporations and for us. Myself I would love to see us revert to something called true value, where a products life is measure in years instead of money saved at purchase. If the financial markets are at 7 decade lows, then my Grandmother tactics from the 1930's may be what we do in the ensuing years. I watch her wash sandwich baggies and reuse tin foil, save food scraps from my sheep and in short...just plain lets nothing go to waste.

If my own woodworking shop is illustrative its that the tools in my shop average out to a age of 50 years old. They were serviceable and repairable...even the ones built during the civil war (18 inch jointer). I remember one guy in Fine HomeBuilding who said his tactic was to buy a cheap tablesaw at every home he built and just leaving it for the homeowner because it was wiped out after the job. He simply passed the cost onto the homeowner in his build. I'm betting his tactics have changed in today's tight housing market, and if not, he's no longer building houses. That attitude just has to change. Ultimately its us consumers who drive the quality of products we get. Once we stop buying based on price, and buy according to real value, the corporations will likewise build what we are buying.
 
Barbara,

While the situation you described is frustrating, I agree with Travis's comments. All of us should share some of the blame for where product quality has gone today.

Let's not let this thread get political. OK?
:)
 
I agree with both of you. My statements were not at all political in origin. I sure don't want to cause a hooplah. If you feel that the original message should be deleted; I will be happy to.
 
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Myself I would love to see us revert to something called true value, where a products life is measure in years instead of money saved at purchase.

Travis I cannot agree with you more. I have been saying this to my friends for years. This crazy concept that consumption can continue with no end is a joke. The same for businesses that are worth 10x one day and the next because of all the hype etc they are worth 40X.

Sooner rather than later I hope that the citizens of this globe will realize that we have to tackle the issue of sustainability in everything that we do. Consider this point, China and India have seen huge and I mean huge numbers of people leave rural life and end up in the "city". When people do that they now need to be taken care of from a provider point of view. The state (in all its forms) now needs to ensure availability of energy, food, water and housing etc. This all in the name of progress. It is fundamentally not sustainable. Run the printing presses today and lets all print money, how long will it be before we do that again. All we are creating is more debt. Soon the world leader meetings will be sitting down to decide how many zeros each country gets to knock off their debt.

The disposble society has to end IMHO. The way you live in the country Travis sounds about right to me. I bet you dont have to buy eggs I know you produce milk and sure you dont have an energy bill apart probably for the electricity that you need.

There is a woodworker site where a guy has written up his view of why woodworking appears to have such a growing apeal to people. His view was that many of us are past techies that now find ourselves in somewhat administrative roles, that we long for the opportunity to be creative and to build something that will last for generations and that our grandchildren will hopefully appreciate and use someday. If that is the case for many of us, it is a pointer to support the case of doing away with consumtion. Wish I could find the site again.
 
I agree, no politics here, but I think we can skirt that line easily.

My Grandparents lived a true 100% self-sustaining life. Farming potatoes, then chickens as well as raising a big garden, having a side-business as a greenhouse, and of course cutting wood, a few dairy cows, making butter, etc. They truly lived 100% self-sufficient.

Me...I am lazy. Perhaps tied to the land more than some, but still I take the easy way out compared to my Grandparents. My father and Uncle REALLY took the easy way out by not farming at all. I just wanted to set the record straight.

But I have lived the city life so to speak. When I worked for the railroad I had a desk job, with secretary and all that as a safety coordinator and crunched data and tried to figure out how and why accidents were happening and how to prevent them. It was lucrative in Minneapolis, MN but it bugged me that I was not doing something tangible. I miss the railroad life some days, but I do like building stuff, whether at work out of metal, or out of wood at home.

I agree people get into woodworking Rob because there is a great feeling of self-worth and personal value when you look at a plastic banana holder and say "oh I could build something so much better." Yes its only a banana holder, but being able to create...well we need more of that, in our personal lives and as a society.
 
There is a woodworker site where a guy has written up his view of why woodworking appears to have such a growing apeal to people. His view was that many of us are past techies that now find ourselves in somewhat administrative roles, that we long for the opportunity to be creative and to build something that will last for generations and that our grandchildren will hopefully appreciate and use someday. If that is the case for many of us, it is a pointer to support the case of doing away with consumtion. Wish I could find the site again.

Rob,

I've got nothing to say on this subject, I've read too much history to get drawn into all that. But I can say that this site you refer to is still up, and it's by one of our members, Jerry Palmer, who is lost in Austin again:

http://www.sawdustersplace.com/Woodworkonnet/Woodworkonnet.HTM

Can't say I agree with all his conclusions (Jerry and I don't agree on many conclusions! ;) ), but he always makes interesting and thoughtful reading... :thumb:

Thanks,

Bill
 
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I had already decided not to eat anything made or packaged in China. The cough syrup, candy, infant formula, and dog food, all deadly. I am sure there have been many more deadly products but that is just recently.

Today we loaded cattle. On the way to market a tire just purchased and only having about 400 miles on it blows on the cattle trailer. Then after another 25 miles the second tire goes same use. Dan left at 11:00am and just got to the market at 4:00pm; it is usually a 2 1/2 hour trip. Both tires had just been bought from the local farm supply. Guess what? they were made in China. That is it; I am not buying anything of any importance that has been made or packaged in China.

if-n we don`t start producing and consuming our own "stuff", sooner or later we`ll have to pay the piper.......tools are only one item, tires, cloths, cars, etc...etc......
it`s up to us what we spend our money on, who we chose to support by purchasing their goods.....
there are pros-n-cons to a global economy and i for one am to stupid or out of touch to be very concerned about any economy other than the one in which i work...
 
Barbara, thank you for this post. But you've only touched the tip of the iceberg concerning the problems with Chinese imports. If all the things that are now coming out of China were still being produced here at home people would be able to pay their mortgages, buy new cars, build new houses, etc etc etc. The chickens are coming home to roost!
 
Rob hit the nail squarely on the head I think on this issue. I don't think we (as a society) really put a value on demolition and disposal costs. There are starting to be some fees associated with buying certain goods like white goods, tires and appliances, and certain items cost you a fee to dispose of them, but what is actually happening is mid-night runs from people in the cities dumping them on rural land.

At least that is what is happening here. Just yesterday I saw a new bag of trash just off the dirt road where someone had done a mid-night drop off. I did not look inside it, but its more then likely something nasty. Deer entrailings perhaps as its hunting season, or some sort of hazardous material. Ordinary trash is easy to get rid of, but the nasty stuff people have to pay for...yep ends up here.

That shows that fees just aren't going to work. We need to get into a new mind-set. I think if we truly added up the cost of disposal (trash pick up, dump operations, trash transportation, and dump monitoring), it would be a huge figure. Can you imagine how big of a difference it would be if products could just double their life-span? I think in the future...and the way this world economy is going...we just won't be able to afford to live in a throw-away society.
 
Barbara, I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, for many items, we no longer have options of buying only items made, or not made, in certain countries. The last time I bought tractor tires they were made in Czechoslovakia . I protested and asked for American made, the dealer told me there were no longer any American made tractor tires.
Most of us are pragmatic people when it comes to spending money. My loyalty to my pocketbook must, most of the time, come before patriotism. Hence, most of my major tools are made in China. That is life today.
 
Rob hit the nail squarely on the head I think on this issue. I don't think we (as a society) really put a value on demolition and disposal costs. There are starting to be some fees associated with buying certain goods like white goods, tires and appliances, and certain items cost you a fee to dispose of them, but what is actually happening is mid-night runs from people in the cities dumping them on rural land.
.............snipped......... Ordinary trash is easy to get rid of, but the nasty stuff people have to pay for...yep ends up here.


Yup, I agree completely. I would like to see the initial wholesale (or first sale) price of every product include an amount which reflects its cost to carry it from conception to demise (cradle to grave). I would like to see those carrying costs banked (physically separated in trust from general revenues) for the handling of these products as they make their way to their final destination. Would it be expensive?....yes. Would it be worth it?...yes. We should be applying these charges on the front end, then we should be creating resources for the consumer for reusing and recycling, and these resources, having being paid for up front will NOT have to have a fee attached at the time of use, and will give the impression to the average consumer that they are free. Were they free?...no, but the consumer won't care because they'll "look" free at the time of use.

and that's all the $0.02 I'm putting in before I get carried away...:wave:

cheers eh?

John
 
BTW, Barbara, I'm wondering if that tire that blew was designed for trailers. I once had a camper trailer new tire blow in the shop after the jack was let down. Trailers are heavy. When I bought my new (used) camper this year I noticed that the type of tire was ST. I asked the dealer what that meant. He said it was 'special trailer'. He emphasized that one should not use car or light truck tires on a trailer, camper or stock.
Another BTW, the same tires were on my stock trailer for 15 years before I sold it. Dunno what make.
I'm with you on the foodstuffs. Scary the contaminants that are being found. :eek:
 
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