This is not anti-Chinese rhetoric, but rather the hard facts on how we, as a nation, keep getting screwed time and again by China, thanks to our own greedy businesses and even ourselves.
Most goods from China are sub-standard, lack quality control and are designed to put money in someone's pocket while delivering a less than efficient, or even safe, product. Let's examine some of the reasons why:
Cheap. Simply stated, Chinese goods are cheap. Cheaply made, cheap instruction manuals that look and read like they were written by kindergartners, poor packaging, and not designed to last.
Unsafe. Chinese products often carry labels like UL and others making them appear as if they were tested by Underwriters Laboratories for safety. In almost every case, they have not and they counterfeit the trademark of UL to increase sales among consumers who think they may be getting safe products. I read almost daily about products that fail, catch fire, melt, and present undue shock hazards and yet, they remain 9n the market. Someone is falling down on the job allowing this junk into the country without examination. Sadly, catastrophic failure of an item makes any legal avenue to claim damages and injury almost impossible.
Unsafe for children. Also unsafe is the materials themselves used in manufacture of Chinese goods. Lead base paint has been found in many children's toys and while some US companies state they go to China to assure they are using the proper materials, spy video has shown the Chinese switching back to unsafe materials as soon as the US based inspector leaves.
Unsafe for anyone. Remember the Chinese drywall debacle? If you don't have a house made with Chinese drywall you are more than lucky, you are blessed. It made many thousands sick when the contaminated and corrosive formula that emanated hydrogen sulfide, a corrosive gas with a rotten egg smell, and ended up in as many as 100,000 homes in the US alone. An estimated 550 million pounds were imported, enough to built at least 60,000 home in their entirety. Think that's an exaggeration? Here's from Wikipedia:
"Chinese drywall" refers to an environmental health issue involving defective drywall manufactured in China, imported to the United States and used in residential construction between 2001 and 2009 — affecting "an estimated 100,000 homes in more than 20 states."[1]
In samples of contaminated drywall, laboratory tests will detect off-gassing of volatile chemicals and sulfurous gases — including carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide, and hydrogen sulfide.
The emissions worsen as temperature and humidity rise, will give off a
sulfuric (rotten egg) odor and will cause copper surfaces to turn black
and powdery, a chemical process indicative of a hydrogen sulfide
reaction and an early indication of contaminated drywall. Copper pipes,
electrical wiring, and air conditioner coils are affected, as well as
silver jewelry.
Homeowners have reported health symptoms including respiratory problems such as asthma attacks, chronic coughing and difficulty breathing, as well as chronic headaches and sinus issues."
Unsafe for pets. Numerous pet food recalls result from the quality of pet food that has been imported from China. Sadly, pets have died or ended up with severe disease that shortens their lives as a result. Pats are not considered people so the liability a company has for killing your beloved pet is almost nil. Check the labels and don't buy any pet, or human food, produced in China.
Failure. The failure rate of offshore products is surely many times greater than US made items. Yes, we sometimes have products made here that fail, but there are resources available to us to contact the manufacturer, or at least the seller, and have the issues rectified. Not so with most offshore products.
Customer service. That phrase falls on deaf ears with so many Chinese products and even their US sellers. Many are not versed in the English language and cannot converse with consumers to a successful resolution of a problem. Sometimes they will answer queries and then go silent, or many times they just don't answer. And then you seem to have little to no recourse.
Warranties. The warranty on so many products made in China are worthless. US companies sell these products and in many cases, their entire product line is made in China. The companies swear they have a no hassle warranty and it really is...for them. They simply quit answering and then you are stuck with a useless product. Here's an example:
Sun Joe Cordless Pressure Washer fails after 4 uses in about 6 months. It seemed to be a great unit and has a two year warranty so the seller is contacted. (They state they are the "factory" but in actuality the factory is in China and they are in New Jersey.) Canned automated response asks for the usual information including model and serial number, name, address, etc. Then the silence begins. No further response from Sun Joe but they seem to still have time to send ads to buy more of their products. Another week and I e-mail them again, then another week and nothing. No matter how often they are contacted it's the same idiotic auto response, or no response at all. Oh yeah, they now blame COVID-19 for their lack of response. And I am not alone in these complaints, many others seem to be having the same lack of help. Another Chinese product that you can't fix and ends up in the junkyard.
Solar lights for the patio fill with water from the rain and fail in just a few months. Seller acknowledges the problem but then drops contact. Again, what a useless Chinese product and the seller can't compose a readable sentence. I kick myself for wasting money and swear no more junk products from China.
So how are we screwing yourselves with Chinese products? We keep buying them and keeping their economy afloat while our American economy falls further behind. No, the consumer is not totally to blame; manufacturers are greedy and move production offshore to make a bigger profit while decimating jobs at home. Corporations are only based on profits and not the consumer. Yes, there are some companies with stellar service, products and warranties, but they are few and far between. It is difficult to find Made in America goods for the most part. We need to demand more made in America goods and be willing to spend more for quality products. This will bolster our employment and economy here and not in sweat shops overseas.
Buy American!
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