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Comment by whackernews | Hacker News Reader

Why are you buying shit from China?

Apparently it's even hard to make molds in the US. China seems to be the top dog in the production chain. From design, to mold, to production, to packaging.

Fstopper has one or two nice videos about it. Can't even buy US made glass bottles that fits his needs in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xewpuM1eJRg

It's very difficult if not impossible to avoid. Just how many hours do you want to spend doing research for _every single_ household item? It'd be genuinely difficult, and even plenty of stuff which claims to be "made in the USA" is actually just assembled here. It's possible to look these things up, but that takes time and it's difficult to get absolute certainty. And not all stuff from China is terrible, either. It's just an opportunity cost which is nearly impossible to avoid given just how common so much of the crap from China is.

A normal person who doesn't want to upend their life might have a few easier baby-steps: buy as little stuff as possible, and buy used whenever possible. The original country doesn't see any real direct benefit when you buy used.

Its very difficult to buy something "made in china" that is actually made there, not just assembled there. Even if you get something like a DJI drone, you can do some quick research and find out the guts (SOC) is from a company in California using IP from Europe/USA (arm).

That's a good point as well: where do you draw the line? If I buy a car, were the screens made in China? Is that a sufficiently small portion of the car to render it acceptable? If so, what about every remaining part in the car?

It just depends how important you think it is to chose who gets your money, where raw materials are coming from and how things are made. I happen to think it’s the most important global issue right now. Come at me.

Why, don't you? How would you have posted this message if you hadn't?

You got me. I buy old second hand phones because the planet is full of mugs.

I've started buying clothes from China. Quality and style is starting to really improve.

Makes you wonder how much we've been ripped off for years.

As a 6'5" male westerner finding the right size is next to impossible.

While you can't go off the standard S M L sizing scale, if you know your measurements you should be able to find something suitable

Ripped off? I think it’s more that you are ripping off people from other countries, whilst undermining your own economy and draining your country of meaningful work. It’s nice to pay your neighbour properly for the work they do. How much clothes are you actually buying and why? The clothing industry is a horrible one, riddled with waste and slavery. You been to the factory where they’re making your clothes have you? Wake up man. This shit matters.

It cuts the middleman, supermarkets and online stores are 90% Chinese dropship these days. Why pay the 50-500% markup?

I have no idea what you’re talking about. What the heck are you people buying?! I mean, after some pots and pans and a couple of t-shirts what else is there?

I'm very frugal but I buy some electronic parts every now and then, last time I bought a titanium hiking pot, $12 instead of like $50 locally, same factory, the only difference is that the brand is not stamped on it

That's partially a euhpemism for imported stuff. But more to your general meaning the point of the article is that there's not a lot of slack. The US is pretty close to fully utilized and there's not a lot of slack to start making stuff here instead.

It's better quality. The people there are skilled and well-educated, and the factories and machinery are modern.

Where are you getting your shit from?

I have a deal with Cologuard.

Down the road where I can.

why not? I like high quality products at reasonable prices

I am delighted to hear from the actual FedEx’s own Chuck Noland! Getting this post to appear on this website using only vellum and iron gall ink is an incredible feat. Could you share some about your process (in many months time obviously)?

See this can be the issue with posting on the internet without directly using Chinese-built electronics: you have to periodically remind your seneschal what your various shorthand terms mean or they will make mistakes like forgetting what “ctrl+D” means and assuming you meant “downvote” and not “bookmark”

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