I don’t find much occasion to frequent the suburban shopping carnival that is Costco… seeing that I’m normally a good thousand miles from my address and I’m shopping for one, I both don’t need that 250 ounce jar of peanut butter, I wouldn’t know where to put it.
I know Costco has groceries from my annual duck beach shop-a-thon. (And I have to stop here and give pause for the PMS-addled Costco run of a few years back with Jamie. Almost as people friendly as the Halloween we dressed up like mimes so we wouldn’t have to talk to anybody.) But who knew that Costco had books? Clothing? Furniture? Electronics?! Free samples of food!! I went this weekend with my sister seeking a late Christmas present for a niece, a gallon of milk and an Ipod. Pish posh, I thought. Not in one stop, I was so wrong. There is a whole convenient world of shopping in that concrete warehouse of cheap and various goods. I found myself exclaiming: I love America! No where, in all my travels have I seen something so conveniently miraculous (and thrifty!) as this indoor shopping bizarre.
And then I noticed something. I noticed China. It was freaking everywhere. EVERYTHING WAS MADE IN CHINA. Toys, clothes, furniture and for dang sure the electronics and the plasma tvs. I just wanted to find ONE made in the USA label. I was a searcher – up one aisle, down the other. Past the miles of linens and fields of kitchen appliances, the legions of games and yard ornaments, on to the tubs of jeans and jackets, around the corner to the prairie land of furnishings. I found a few Canada labels and a handful of Made in México’s but not one American flag staking claim of workmanship. I’m no John Bircher but can I get a witness on this? This ain’t good. We want industry and manufacturing jobs with benefits but we don’t want to pay anymore than a buck fifty for a bedroom suite. Costco is the microcosm – or the microCostcoism – of all that is wrong with America and our economy. That’s what I’m going to call it and see if that’s a word we Americans can rally around. End microCostcoism today, I say! Catchy? Anyone? Is this mic on?
And ps – I finally broke free of the gravitational pull that is Yorktown last night. Yes. That’s a two-week (unpaid) Christmas vacation for me. And I’m not saying leaving is a good thing. I hate hate hate to leave my family. I’m so lucky that my family rocks and they also just happen to be my BFFs. I’m feeling the bagpipes tonight. Love you guys.
11 comments:
Amen! I'll support your campaign.
I will never look at Costco in the same light again! I am afraid that we live in a global economy, and it will just continue to become even more that way.
I heard from Lindsay that she got to hang out with you, Christian, and Shauri. I am so jealous. And I am anxious to hear more about your opportunity with National Geographic... you have lived the most eventful life... it is awesome.
P.S. I want to see a pix of your darlingness.
Oh the good old days of intense PMSing with good friends! ;) That was such a funny Costco run (in hindsight) and it only got worst that weekend. I'm glad I shared it with you though. As for the social commentary, I didn't realize all things Costco were made outside the US. I'm going to have to investigate at my Costco. I'll admit, I love Costco and will still be a patron. But my contribution to righting the inequalities in the world is this - I feel like if I buy my gas only from Costco, then somehow I'm sticking it to the big oil man. It's the cheapest around. Maybe in my own little way, I will lower our gas prices once again. :) loved the post!
We did find one thing made in Great Britain. You can't forget them!
Very well written. You are hiding your light under a bushel when you only write once a month.
This blog sounds like it came from a good place which makes me happy - you know what I mean.
Hope you're feeling better all around. xo
What can I say? My people are industrious and thrifty.
I have friends who ask me to join them on Costco runs because, "it's like Farrah's Disneyland."
Is the joy that hard to hide?
(Not to mention their amazing flower selection, which is likely from South America...)
Many believe the following rumor:
C - China
O - Off
S - Shore
T - Trading
CO - Company
Here is a link to the article to dispel the rumor.
At least Costco is better than Sams Club in regards to labor - so between the two, I'll gladly support Costco.
All righty, Wallace, so I gotta ask you: All this talk is nice, sweet and oh-so caring, but what do we do? Solutions, please! Not that I didn't like the rhetoric; you're a helluva writer, my friend, but it's easy to lament the loss of American craftmanship ... and not so easy to come up with a solution that doesn't make things worse.
So, whatcha got?
you sing an inspirational tune, kw. you want action, bsg? i'm rolling my shopping cart on over to ikea.
I have to ask... "Why is it bad that manufacturing jobs are shifting away from the U.S.?" Don't we want to shift our lowest-level jobs to other countries and trade them in for better, higher-skilled jobs that pay better wages and improve the quality of life for our families? If another country is better than we (the US citizens) are at low-cost manufacturing, then why not let them do it? What evidence do you have that it hurts anyone? Unemployment in the US remains steady while manufacturing jobs are going away... doesn't that mean that the same number of people are working, but now they have non-manufacturing jobs? Think about it... do you want a manufacturing job? Really? Mom-n-Pop shops close, certainly, but I don't see Mom or Pop in the street begging. They find other ways to make a living. Isn't this a good thing? When we send these manufactuing jobs overseas, don't we help improve the quality of life for families in places like China, or maybe we don't care about people who live within other borders because hey, it's their fault they were born there, right? Everytime we ship a manufacturing job overseas, we help a poor family there while the US family who depended on that job here, usually upgrades their position or is forced to improve their skills to compete. What is the alternative... force employers to manufacture in the US at prices that make it impossible to sell the goods to anyone? It doesn't make sense. The uncompetitive business then eventually goes under anyway, and EVERYONE loses their jobs. Just let the markets work... and understand that if we want to keep manufacturing jobs in the US, then we need to be the best value in the world at manufacturing. If China is a better value than we are, then we need to face that fact and make some changes in OURSELVES... not create laws, erect fences or boycott stores. Globalization is real. It will not contribute to the dialoge if we bury our heads in the sand and pretend that it is going to go away. We play in a bigger playgroung now, and we need to compete. We must be courageous enough to accept that we need to constantly improve our skills and knowledge, or other more-competitive, more-competent, or yes even more-desperate people will do work that we are not willing to do at the current market price. Wal-Mart haters remind me of the kid at school who used to take his ball and stomp home whenever someone beat him on the court. Let's not pout... let's compete. Who do you think shops at big-box discount stores... rich people? If you take away every Wal-Mart and Costco in the country, you immediately make it more difficult for the middle and low-income families to buy quality goods at low prices; who does that help? You immediately lower the standard of living for millions of Americans, and the lowest-level income families are affected the most. Wal-Mart and CostCo are exceptionally good at creating value for consumers. They make high-quality products available for average consumers. Has Wal-Mart or CostCo or Super Target improved your quality of life this year? Probably. Look around your house. Next time you are in one of these stores, take a look at the customers and ask yourself if shutting down the business would be good for "average Americans". Aren't there millions of Americans who live better, more-comfortable lives today because they upgraded their professional skills in order to compete in the global arena? Aren't those same Americans now living a once-unobtainable quality of life in part because there are people in China willing to produce products at a price the average person can afford and Sam Walton made those products available to everyone through efficient channels? We should thank the good people of China everyday for being great at what they do... manufacturing... then we should get back to work in the US to become better at what we do... training highly skilled and highly educated business owners. Break down the fences, improve your skills and compete folks. The game is on.
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