It's getting to be that time of year again: the time of year where you suddenly realize that a major gift-giving holiday is approaching and you have NO! IDEA! WHAT! TO BUY! Let alone how in the heck you'll afford it. In response to this feeling, when Shannon found something that was both cheap and looked like it might make a good present, he grabbed it. I won't say what it is, or who it's for, but I do bring it up for a reason:
Shannon bought it online - at woot! no less.
And it was made in Poland.
So, point #1: Shannon needs to know that I'm only buying American again. I know we're separate people and all, but I was kinda hoping we would be doing this together, especially considering as how I spend less than 1% of the money in this house. (Until tomorrow...Then I get to be in charge of grocery shopping again!)
But point #2 is more interesting. After I made the mental note to talk to Shannon about buying domestic, I wondered where on earth he would have found out where this particular product was made. I mean, I found out by looking at the packaging, but he didn't have the packaging right there in front of him when he ordered it. All he had was the website.
A quick look at the website reveals that they don't include information about country of origin on their products. Although I'm looking at a different product because they're not selling what Shannon bought anymore, I should imagine that the information they provide is pretty consistent from product to product. So if the website where I'm buying doesn't tell me where the product is made, where could I find it?
Do you really have to ask?
I asked Google.
And Google didn't know! (How is there something - anything! - that Google doesn't know? Are the Evil Overloads slipping? Maybe I shouldn't have said that...)
Okay, so maybe woot! doesn't list country of origin. But maybe they're weird, right? So I checked Amazon.
Nope.
I wanted to check other places, but I guess I'm either totally out of touch, or just too old for the internet, because I couldn't think of any other popular places to buy stuff online. (*shakes cane* Darn-new-fangled-inter-webs!) I did think of eBay and etsy, but since their products are sold by users who post their own product descriptions, country of origin information would be inconsistent at best.
But it still seems crazy to me that there's no listing like this on internet storefronts. The reason we have country of origin labeling is so that we can make more informed choices as consumers, and although it's all well and good for that information to be provided on the packaging, having it on the packing does absolutely nothing for us if we're buying online. I suppose that I could buy something just to get a look at it and return it if it's foreign; or maybe I could find the same thing in a brick-and-mortar store to check the packaging; or maybe I could research the hell out of it online and maybe Google would eventually be able to show me what I'm looking for. But all of those seem REALLY HARD, and doesn't that negate the entire point of shopping on the internet? You're buying online because it's easier and faster to research, find, and buy products online than it is in stores. But if I can't figure out where my stuff is coming from when it's being ordered online, how is that making my life easier?
Question of the day: what do you think is the best way to handle this situation? Stop buying online? Crazy mad online research? Buy and return? Brick-and-mortar research? Or do you have another idea? Comment, my pretties, comment!
September 30, 2010
September 22, 2010
My White Powder of Choice
Do you remember when we were kids, and we were always asked what our favorite things were? Favorite color (green, by the way), favorite food (maguro-don), favorite animal (Ebola virus; unless you point out that viruses aren't strictly "alive," in which case gut flora; unless you point out that bacteria aren't even in the same taxonomic domain as animals, in which case baby ducks, I guess). But no one ever asked you what your favorite chemical was, did they? Well, in my quest to Be Prepared For Things That Will Never Happen, I've chosen a favorite chemical: sodium bicarbonate. That's right, I <3 BAKING SODA.
Although it's closely followed by salt (I mean, seriously, even disregarding it's flavoring qualities, how can you NOT like salt?!), baking soda takes the cake just because it's so useful that I don't quite know what I'd do without it.
Now, understand, I'm a hippie at heart. I recycle copiously, prefer local organic food, use cloth diapers on my baby, and highly value peace, love, and understanding. Okay, so that doesn't make me sound so much like a hippie as a yuppie, but the hippie cred really shines through when it comes to personal hygiene. Enter baking soda. I wash my hair with baking soda. I use baking soda as deodorant. I brush my teeth with baking soda and salt (see - salt!). And I'm prepping to move to toilet cloth (also know as the "family cloth," which term always makes me puke a little inside), which doesn't so much have to do with baking soda as it does with my hippie cred.
...
Moving along.
Baking soda is incredible. It deodorizes. It cleans. It polishes. It's non-toxic and EDIBLE for God's sake. What more could you want out of any given chemical, let alone those in your house? Besides being part of my current plans, it's also part of a lot of my future plans: homemade laundry soap, homemade dish soap, homemade carpet deodorizer, homemade facial exfoliant...
And it's made in New Jersey. Could this stuff possibly be any better?!
Although it's closely followed by salt (I mean, seriously, even disregarding it's flavoring qualities, how can you NOT like salt?!), baking soda takes the cake just because it's so useful that I don't quite know what I'd do without it.
Now, understand, I'm a hippie at heart. I recycle copiously, prefer local organic food, use cloth diapers on my baby, and highly value peace, love, and understanding. Okay, so that doesn't make me sound so much like a hippie as a yuppie, but the hippie cred really shines through when it comes to personal hygiene. Enter baking soda. I wash my hair with baking soda. I use baking soda as deodorant. I brush my teeth with baking soda and salt (see - salt!). And I'm prepping to move to toilet cloth (also know as the "family cloth," which term always makes me puke a little inside), which doesn't so much have to do with baking soda as it does with my hippie cred.
...
Moving along.
Baking soda is incredible. It deodorizes. It cleans. It polishes. It's non-toxic and EDIBLE for God's sake. What more could you want out of any given chemical, let alone those in your house? Besides being part of my current plans, it's also part of a lot of my future plans: homemade laundry soap, homemade dish soap, homemade carpet deodorizer, homemade facial exfoliant...
And it's made in New Jersey. Could this stuff possibly be any better?!
September 21, 2010
Huge Surprise
As promised, I've begun to buy American again. American! I promise! Of course, I went shopping again today for some groceries and forgot to look at the labels...but looking at them now, everything was made in America. Whew!
I realized my mistake while we were making dinner tonight and rushed around checking at labels, when I suddenly remembered that I'd sent Shannon out to get diapers last night. (Killian actually uses cloth diapers, but we've been running low on the ones that fit him, so we occasionally supplement with disposables when he's been especially prolific.) I was horrified by the thought that he might have bought something made anywhere else, which would mean that I would have broken my promise only two days after making it. So I ran to to diaper box, and here's what I found.
Parent's Choice is the brand he selected (he said it was the cheapest), and it happens to be the Wal-Mart brand. I don't know how many of you were aware, but during at least one part of their history, Wal-Mart sold only American goods - that was the way they chose to do business, and I wish more businesses would think like that. However, Wal-Mart has also promised the lowest prices, and buying American isn't always the cheapest way to go, being as how even the most poorly paid Americans have pretty high wages compared to workers other parts of the world. In the end, it came down to keeping the promise to sell only goods made in America, or keeping the promise to sell goods at the lowest price. Guess which won. So lately it's been easier to find products made in Indonesia than in America.
Anyway, when I saw that they were the Wal-Mart brand, my heart sank. Made in China for sure. Still, I searched the box and I found that the diapers are, in fact, made in the good old USA. I was flabbergasted, and relieved. Noticing an old diaper box - Pamper's Snugglers, as a matter of fact - I decided to search it as well. Surely if a company like Wal-Mart can produce diapers in America, then a diapering giant like Pamper's can.
Nope. Made in Mexico.
I realized my mistake while we were making dinner tonight and rushed around checking at labels, when I suddenly remembered that I'd sent Shannon out to get diapers last night. (Killian actually uses cloth diapers, but we've been running low on the ones that fit him, so we occasionally supplement with disposables when he's been especially prolific.) I was horrified by the thought that he might have bought something made anywhere else, which would mean that I would have broken my promise only two days after making it. So I ran to to diaper box, and here's what I found.
Parent's Choice is the brand he selected (he said it was the cheapest), and it happens to be the Wal-Mart brand. I don't know how many of you were aware, but during at least one part of their history, Wal-Mart sold only American goods - that was the way they chose to do business, and I wish more businesses would think like that. However, Wal-Mart has also promised the lowest prices, and buying American isn't always the cheapest way to go, being as how even the most poorly paid Americans have pretty high wages compared to workers other parts of the world. In the end, it came down to keeping the promise to sell only goods made in America, or keeping the promise to sell goods at the lowest price. Guess which won. So lately it's been easier to find products made in Indonesia than in America.
Anyway, when I saw that they were the Wal-Mart brand, my heart sank. Made in China for sure. Still, I searched the box and I found that the diapers are, in fact, made in the good old USA. I was flabbergasted, and relieved. Noticing an old diaper box - Pamper's Snugglers, as a matter of fact - I decided to search it as well. Surely if a company like Wal-Mart can produce diapers in America, then a diapering giant like Pamper's can.
Nope. Made in Mexico.
September 17, 2010
Back from the Dead
It's been a crazy couple of months.
My last post was in May. Since then we moved, had a baby, had our year anniversary, had my twenty-seventh birthday, started a business... Yikes. I'll admit that (especially after the baby) I fell off the wagon while I was gone. Who knows where the stuff I've been buying comes from? But it's time for that lack of knowledge to come to an end. More specifically, it's time to figure out where it comes from, then start buying only American once again. I've been told that (especially with the baby) it'll be hard, but this is something I'm passionate about! So I'm making my vow once again: for a whole year, I'll only buy products made in America. I'm doing this for the economy; I'm doing it for the environment; I'm doing it for the knowledge that what I'm buying could not have been made in a sweatshop, or with slave labor, or contain substances that are blatantly harmful to human life. (I'm looking at you China, and your pile of lead-painted toys!)
Wish me luck!
My last post was in May. Since then we moved, had a baby, had our year anniversary, had my twenty-seventh birthday, started a business... Yikes. I'll admit that (especially after the baby) I fell off the wagon while I was gone. Who knows where the stuff I've been buying comes from? But it's time for that lack of knowledge to come to an end. More specifically, it's time to figure out where it comes from, then start buying only American once again. I've been told that (especially with the baby) it'll be hard, but this is something I'm passionate about! So I'm making my vow once again: for a whole year, I'll only buy products made in America. I'm doing this for the economy; I'm doing it for the environment; I'm doing it for the knowledge that what I'm buying could not have been made in a sweatshop, or with slave labor, or contain substances that are blatantly harmful to human life. (I'm looking at you China, and your pile of lead-painted toys!)
Wish me luck!
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