Is "American-Made" Worth the Cost?

I received a blog post this morning from one of my favorite stores, Lehman's. Lehman's is many things but mostly a catalogue and online store selling non-electric and traditional household and homestead goods. I can always find butter molds, baking pans, and garden tools in its catalogue pages.

The Lehman's blog post today was different. It spoke about the company's struggle to provide American-made goods while also trying to give customers the best prices. Lehman's has always prided itself on selling mostly domestic products. For their dilemma, they used the example of their oil lamps- they were able to find lamps- poorly-made by their own admission- that they could sell for $2.00 each. These lamps were made in China. The blog post was soliciting opinions on whether we would consider buying these lamps and what we thought about Lehman's issues with finding American-made products. This was my answer:

You speak of these lamps (as an example) of being "very low cost". You're not taking into consideration the cost to the American economy: in jobs, innovation and output. One of the reasons that the economy is in its current condition is because retailers are making decisions just like yours. The reason lamp burners aren't made in the U.S. anymore? Because retailers started buying "cheaper" ones in countries with poor labor laws and human rights abuses. The U.S. is losing its manufacturing skills and talent because everyone wants Wal-Mart prices. We are reaping what we sow in plant shut downs and industry migration off-shore. And then we try to make the unemployment situation easier by buying cheap foreign goods. It's a downward spiral and we're seeing it play out across the country every day.

So, as a retailer, you can do one of two things. You can bemoan the fact that you "have to" buy cheap foreign goods to make your customers happy or you can take a stand for this country and make it clear that you will ONLY buy American-made products. When manufacturers see demand, they will start to supply. This creates jobs, puts more money in customers' pockets, and ultimately, more into yours. It will also net you lots more customers who share those same values.

My answer to your question then is no- I won't buy cheap Chinese oil lamps to save a few bucks. I won't knowingly exploit Chinese workers and contribute to the unemployment of American ones. I won't buy products made in countries with few if any product safety standards. And, ultimately, I won't support a company that believes all of these things are fine. I think you may find that many other customers feel the same way.