My high primal spouse had this profound observation in one of her According To Marge posts, "Shopping for something made in the U.S.A. can be frustrating. About all you can find are paper napkins and crayons". Not so! We recently went shopping for a lamp shade and had a difficult time finding the style and size the high primal required. We finally ended up at a store that specialized in lamp shades. Sure enough we found just the right shade. We didn't find just the right price. Fifty-five dollars plus tax for a shade? As the clerk patiently explained, the shade was hand made right in Cleveland, Ohio. The last I heard Cleveland, Ohio was still in the good old U.S.A., so here was something besides paper napkins and crayons made in America. The clerk perceived that that we were shopping for price rather than a lamp shade and surprisingly recommended a certain big box store where we might find just what we were looking for - a cheap shade which met our needs.
Sure enough we found just what we were looking for at $19.95. Where was it made? Where else but China. We purchased the shade and have been wrestling with our conscience ever since.
Its OK to rant and rave about jobs going offshore, its OK to take American manufacturers to task for dismantling our manufacturing base but is it compatible with choosing Made In China versus Made In The U.S.A. in order to save thirty-five dollars? Only if you succumb to hypocrisy! To resort to cliches, you can't have your cake and eat it too or better still, put your money where your mouth is. As long as price is the determining factor in our purchases we shouldn't be shocked at the difficulty of finding something made here. Before long even our paper napkins and crayons will speak with an accent.
( Yes, the shade looks great!)
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