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Marilynn Dawson Rants

Shopping to Make a Point! Stand Up for the Oppressed Financially!

I use this blog to talk about saving money, earning money, shopping wisely (at the store and in the wild), etc.  Today I want to talk about using your shopping dollars to send an International message.

I don’t know where the user is from, but with an answer like this when asked where a product is made: “I don’t know and it’s not important. The bags are very good By Hrisi… on July 12, 2021”  Is very troubling.

The helpful answer by another user was: China. It DOES matter where your stuff comes from these days! You don’t send a message to a country’s government by feeding their system!  As the end user/consumer, where you spend your dollars is VERY important right now!  Governments aren’t going to divest even though they call out China’s harsh and genocidal treatment of various ethnicities and religions.  It’s up to us as consumers to send a message that we won’t spend our money where it takes others’ lives and kills their freedoms.

Using a computer and the "netBefore you purchase anything online now, ask where the product you want was made.  On Amazon you get user answers.  On Canadiantire and Homedepot’s website, you might even get the manufacturer’s answer to your question.  If the website you are on doesn’t have a question feature, send the seller an email or fill out their contact form.  BUT however you do it, ASK THE QUESTION:  Where is this made?

One answer I got today on another product was “designed in the US, made in China”.  The manufacturer got it half right.  They just need to get their manufacturing out of China!

It’s amazing how many websites don’t state where something is made or shipped from.  Some say only where it’s shipped from.  As I get further into the POD space, asking companies where their products are sourced from before printing my designs on them is important to me and I made a list of safe and unsafe POD companies to work with.  I found two more the other day and wasn’t happy with either’s response as they dodged the question.  If I don’t want to buy products made in China anymore, I shouldn’t force others to do that either even if my design is printed on it in the US, the UK, Canada, or Thailand.

If enough of us won’t buy products made in China, the sellers of those products will have to source from other countries to maintain business, and this in turn will reduce factory output in China, hurting China in their capitalist endeavours.  I believe capitalism creates healthy competition and offers ladders people can climb to build wealth.  But in China, it doesn’t work that way.  It is used as a heavily-monitored tool to line the government’s pockets.

But enough of us need to care enough to change our shopping habits.  Can I count on you?

Do an Internet search for “not made in China” and you’ll see others are starting to build directories and lists of companies that don’t manufacture in China.  Send the message your government won’t!