Walk into the average store and pick up an item. Check said item to see where it was made and you will invariably see China, Taiwan, and a host of other countries as the source. A sense of national pride may make some consumers look for the American made equivalent, but a comparison of the price between the two items will show that it’s the foreign made piece that is the least expensive. Most of us work on a budget, so we decide to go with the cheaper item, only to find that it needs to be replaced sooner rather than later.
This is not a scenario that is prevalent in one type of store, as it is one that is common all across the country, whether you are looking for clothing, electronics, or anything else that the American consumer holds near and dear. Shelves in every single store in this country are home to cheap goods that are poorly made in some country that many of us are never heard of, yet we all snap up those items as though they are going out of style. Why do these terribly made items continue to land on our doorstep every single day?
The most obvious reason is that the average American consumer continues to fork over cash for items that they know are probably inferior. We live in an instant gratification world these days, and what is more gratifying than getting your hands on an item that you really want, and all at a price that seems too good to believe? The reason the thing you want is so cheap is because it is made in a place where labor laws don’t really exist. That electronic item that you hold so dear may have been pieced together by a group of 12-year old’s who know nothing about how a computer or smartphone works.
While we would all love to have the brand name item that we know is made well and will last a long time, the reality is that few of us will actually pay a little more for them. That doesn’t mean that we can’t try to keep up with the Joneses, though, which is why these poor-quality knock-off items continue to fly off the shelves. They are cheap for stores to buy in bulk, making it easy for sellers to bump up the price and make a killing off a terrible product.
Sure, it may seem as though we are being bilked by these stores, but we have all entered into a silent agreement where we will continue to buy poorly made foreign products for as long as businesses sell them at prices that fit our tight budgets. The labor laws in these overseas countries are not going to change anytime soon, and unless we all wake up and realize the consequences of buying cheap foreign junk, neither are our spending habits. We have become a society content with disposable items that can be easily and cheaply replaced, and until that changes, you can keep expecting to be underwhelmed with the products you purchase.
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