MY IDEA FOR A REALITY
TELEVISION SHOW
I got a belt for Christmas.
It’s a nice belt. Purchased at
Costco. I needed a belt and it probably
cost something like $14.99 or something.
After I opened the belt I took a close look at it. It’s a “Kirkland Signature” brand made with
Italian Full Grain Leather Upper and Full Grain Leather Lining. It was also made in China. Italian leather sent to China to make a belt
sold in America? Seems like a bit of a long
path to take. But then “Italian Leather”
might be a brand name like “Corinthian Leather” when there is no such place as “Corinth”
that produces leather – but there IS a place called Italy and, I’m sure, there
are some cows there...
Still – this seemed a bit of a stretch. Italian leather sent to China to make belts
shipped to the U.S. to be sold in Costco Stores. For $14.99.
Looks! It's a Costco that is neither in Italy or in China.
A few years ago when we were visiting Milton-Freewater,
Oregon, we took a day trip down to Pendleton, Oregon and visited the Pendleton
factory. I assumed we’d show up and be
shown to a walk-way over many workers huddled at sewing machines making high
quality shirts. Nope. About the only thing the actual Pendleton
factory makes any more are over-priced blankets. It appeared to me as we wandered around the
gift shop/clothing store that everything was made overseas. It also appeared to me that everything was
overpriced. Not really that fascinating
of a factory trip.
Nice blankie! Made in the U.S.? Mmmmmmmmaybe...
In the summer of 2013 there was a verbal out-cry to raise
the minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $15.00.
Most of this out-cry came from the fast food industry. A quick study was made that if McDonalds
doubled the wages for every worker – INCLUDING the CEO, so everyone in the
company...the price of a Big Mac would raise up $.68. That’s it.
When Obamacare was being implemented, the owner of Papa John’s pizza
said he’d have to raise the price of a pizza by $.25 to cover the cost of
providing healthcare to his workers. The
guy owns a mansion with elevators for his cars and it has a moat and a
golf-course...I think he could raise the price by two-bits. Or, you know, make one or two less million
dollars a year and have a very healthy crew making pizza.
Underground garages for my many cars for me? Yes.
Healthcare for you? No.
But that’s the rub.
Or that’s the argument. We can’t
pay people what they’re worth. Or we can’t
make goods in America because the cost would be too prohibitive. That $1.99 Big Mac would become $2.70. That $14.99 belt would suddenly be
$19.99. This blog, though, isn’t about
livable wages and marketing and manufacturing, it’s about the idea that has
been drilled into our collective heads that we CAN’T make things in America and
charge the same amount as we can make things in China.
If I was every President (and I don’t plan to be), I would challenge
the three biggest fast food chains:
McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s to make all their kid toys in
America. Hell, if Jack-in-the-Box
decided to provide “Made in America” toys in their kid meals, and advertised it
as such (and charged .18 more a meal) – you would quickly see their sales
skyrocket – I’ll bet. And you’d quickly
see the big three do the same thing. “Be
American! Buy American!” would be the
motto again and, before you know it, an old factory in Detroit will be
retrofitted to make the latest Disney plastic toy that will get lost in the
seat cushions of the family minivan before it makes it home. But...it would be putting Americans to
work. It would be providing money into
the system. It would be, what’s the
word, uh.....good. Yes, that’s the
word: good.
NOT made in America.
Definitely made in America.
As Americans, though, this is continually drilled into our
head. Trust me...I love to shop at the
Dollar Tree where I know that 98% of it is made in China. But I honestly believe one thing: If corporate greed wasn’t so out-of-control,
companies could make their items here in a America with Union workers and it
wouldn’t cost the American buyer one cent more.
The only reason, THE ONLY REASON, I believe that Costco makes an Italian
Leather China Made belt is that it’s less expensive to make and they make more
profit off of it. And I love Costco and
their structure and their CEO.
Let’s give an example.
$14.99 belt. Manufactured for
$1.00 in China with Italian Leather.
Shipping cost is minimal both to the U.S. and to the stores. But for the sake of argument let’s add
another $1.00 on top of that. $2.00 belt
sold for $15.00. $13.00 profit. Now let’s shift that to America. Manufactured for $3.00 in America with Union
workers and American Leather...shipping and blah blah blah – add another
$2.00. Total cost to manufacture in
America? $5.00. Now Costco has a choice. Raise the price of the belt to $18.00 to continue
their $13.00 profit or keep the price at $14.99 and lower their profit margin
down to $9.99.
Even Furbies are amassing to be made in America.
Every company deserves to make a profit. Even non-profits. But I’m tired of the smoke and mirrors that
companies create so they can make shirts in unsafe factories and then plead
that they only do it for the “good of the consumer.” Sorry, I call BS on that. They do it for THEIR profit margin, not for
the consumer. And if the reality was
clear, even if the price rose, it would probably go up a whole .50 or .68 cents
like a Big Mac.
Where does the reality show come in? Called “Made in America” I would love to see
a large corporation (say Costco) transfer their belt making to an American
company. The show would start out
showing how much it actually costs to make, ship and market their belts and the
price ($2.00) and what their profit margin is ($13.00). Then it would show a company man pricing out
American based belt manufacturers and see if they can meet or beat that
price. I would assume not. But the show would go on to get into the
details as Mr. Costco works with the company and suppliers – all American based
to try and get that margin to the same margin as China. And the people hired to make these belts would
be highly paid, Union labor, not “under the table” eight-year-olds from
Tanzania. It would go into all the
details of taxes, U.S. labor restrictions, code enforcements – all the things
that we in America like to see dealt with – while also seeing if, IF Mr. Costco
can lower the price to the same in China.
If he can’t, he can’t! That’s
fine. But why is it we’re NOT seeing
this? I still think the reality is
clear. If these Italian-China belts can
be made and shipped and it costs $2.
That in America we could do the same thing and they’d be made and
shipped for $5 or maybe $4, or maybe even $2.
That’s my reality show.
“Made in America – The search for the American Worker” and blow the
cover off the continual drum beat of: “We
can’t make it in America – too many restrictions, too much government
influence, too expensive, Unions cost too much, too many taxes, etc.” - If any of that is true, then show it! But I bet we’d all be surprised.
Of course I was actually made in Japan.
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