Celebrate an Anniversary with Hartstone Pottery

I have written before on this blog about Hartstone Pottery (Zanesville, OH), and it’s a great comeback story! A pottery closed, then reopened. Workers laid off, then rehired. Working hard to preserve an Ohio tradition of hand-painted pottery. Battling low-cost imported pottery for a place in the American market.

After being closed by its corporate parent, Hartstone Pottery reopened last year thanks to six earnest investors who believed in the product and the workers. A growing number of their wonderful designs are once again available on plates, bowls, mugs, and bakeware. If you haven’t checked out their on-line store, this is a great time to visit.

In honor of their One-Year Anniversary back in business, Hartstone Pottery is offering a 40 Percent Discount on all web orders! (Enter code FRIENDS2006, good until May 11). So, if you need a special gift for a special Mom (HINT, HINT), or just want to refresh your dinner table, take advantage of this discount and show your support for the workers and owners of Hartstone Pottery.

[Disclosure Note: I am not affiliated with Hartstone Pottery.]

Kinder, Gentler Wal-Mart?!

Wal-Mart has announced a new plan for entering the urban market, which has in the past been unreceptive to the retailer. The company plans to build Wal-Mart stores in inner-city areas that historically have been served by smaller “mom and pop” stores with a smaller range of goods. To help cushion the potential impact on existing businesses, Wal-Mart says it will hold workshops with area stores to offer business strategies and with local suppliers to offer advice on doing business with WalMart.

The debate continues on whether the benefits of having a Wal-Mart (e.g., those low, low prices! and service jobs) are offset by the disadvantages (e.g., those low, low wages, anti-union corporate mentality, and Goliath-type competition for smaller businesses).

Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer, with 1.8 million employees and $11.2 billion in profits in 2005. Wal-Mart knows it has a public relations problem, and the new urban strategy seems partly a response to that. The company has become such a lightening rod for criticism, however, that it seems unlikely that any single move will transform its image. Still, maybe this heightened awareness can lead to positive changes?

Your Turn: vote in the blogpoll to the right. What do you think about Wal-Mart's new leaf?

Stephanie, Webmaster
StillMadeinUSA.com

Marketing to Moms

Selling happiness. Marketers never sleep, as evidenced by the mailer today from Safeway. “Joyful people are more compassionate toward others, which in turn makes the world a better place.” Attached to the flier—a packet of Pepcid AC. “ENJOY! Life. Food. Fun. Just One Tablet.” How many tablets for world peace??

Sport Utility Vacuum. Hoover recently started marketing their new high-end vacuum, designed to compete with Dyson. The Hoover SUV will be made in USA, so I took a look. Because of its high price, the marketers decided that “the man of the house” would have to be in on the purchase. The result is a flash ad that makes the SUV sound like a monster truck. My reaction to this is that the “man of the house” may get involved in the purchase, but I bet the “woman of the house” will be the one pushing the thing around!

Mothers’ Revenge. Here’s a marketing idea I am developing for SPAM. For all the cooks who have suffered the pained moans and groans of kids who do NOT like anything with onions, anything with olives, anything with capers, anything with freshly picked rosemary (I’m giving you my secret recipe for Italian Country Chicken…), I have devised the following reality slap.

The Search for E-Quality

No surprise that the Internet is littered with junk sites. The worst are the automatically generated lists of links, based on a few keywords. The resulting pages are usually just an excuse to run Google ad boxes, with no original content or even meaningful groups of links.

As an example, here’s a few of today’s new “sites” linking to StillMadeinUSA.com:

• a site purporting to be about Honda Accord replacement parts—includes a link to my blog post that mentions the terms “thermostat” and “Honda” but is really a discussion of energy saving techniques
  
• a site masquerading as a pottery information site—includes a link to my Kitchen/Dining page—the page is almost totally ads
• or how about a site called Beds Info—Find the best information on beds here—again, the page is almost totally ads

Even worse than these link fields are the sites that “scrape” entire pages from my site and post them, surrounded by Google ads. These make me so mad I’m not going to post the URL.

Why does this bug me? Because I spend a lot of time building content for my website, and in most cases I do NOT use Google ad boxes because the ads served would not be for American-made products. Why in the heck should someone else get financial benefits from my work? Grr… Also, although these junk sites are fairly apparent, they clog up the search engine results so that true sites are harder to find. So, is the Internet democratic or anarchic? (And, is “anarchic” a word?!)

Back on the Job

Cancel the APB, the missing blogger has been found!

I took a sabbatical of sorts, and was hanging around machinists. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland when I googled into the Practical Machinist bulletin board. Lots of talk of tapers, lathes, tig welding, turrets, and tailstock. Although I can argue global warming with the best of them, I confess I had no idea what most of the discussions were about. All was not a loss, however, because I discovered that some machinists like to buy American-made, and some have a sense of humor. To whit, the following example of board banter:

Machinist 1: I was watching James Bond, The Man with the Golden Gun. James visited the shop of Mr. Lazare, who has a custom weapons design shop on the show, and I saw a small lathe in the right hand side of the room. Can anyone identify it?

Machinist 2: Naked women in every scene and the machinists go: "Hey, didja see that scene where they had a palm tree growing up through a 4 jaw chuck? Was it a Cushman about 1933?" No wonder machinists are dying out. They're too dumb to breed.

On the manufacturing front, it looks like Hedstrom Corp. (Ashland, OH), makers of spring horses, teeter-totters, and other fun kids toys, is out of that business. The only remnant of the company I could find is Hedstrom--Ball, Bounce, and Sports Inc., makers of sports balls, and Hedstrom Plastics, specializing in rotational molding for custom applications. I also discovered that Dura-Craft, the Oregon-based maker of wonderful dollhouse kits, has gone out of business after 30 years.

Each company that I take off my site feels like another knick. I know these are businesses that were people’s lives and livelihood. As a consumer, I have lost the opportunity to buy their products. The truly discouraging thing is that I am surrounded by well-off folks who don’t care at all where products are made, or under what conditions.

So, forgive me for losing my sense of purpose. The good news is I’m back on the job and it could have been worse! https://www.berkeleybreathed.com/Images/fav_strip9_full.jpg

Stephanie, Webmaster
StillMadeinUSA.com

USA WORKS Update and Product Reviews

A few months ago, I wrote about the dilemma facing customers and retailers who liked USA WORKS jeans but were concerned that they were being temporarily imported due to a fire at a Sapko sewing plant. Many readers participated in a blog poll on this topic, and a majority of you said you would feel better about continuing to support Sapko if the company would talk about their plans on their website.

Yesterday I noticed that the company has done just that—the Sapko website even has photographs of the burned facility. Since we got what we wanted, I think we should tell them thanks. I like this company and I like their jeans. I’m looking forward to the day when I can once again get USA WORKS with the pocket tag that says “Made by Hard Working Americans for Hard Working Americans.”

Product Reviews
In the interest of product research, I’ve been shopping again. (You wouldn’t expect me to recommend something without trying it out myself, would you?!)

• I’m loving my Truck Jeans because of the stretch denim, though I confess I am having to get used to low-rise jeans. Needed a longer belt, so Natural Reflections to the rescue! Conard made me 2 belts, and a special-order child’s length too. Very nice leather and quick service.
• C&C California: I was very happy with the clingy fit of the extra long sleeved tee, though the sheer tee really needs to be layered, which effectively doubles the price—ouch! The best selling point is the wide range of colors and the very quick shipment. I am layering with A.S.Tees.
• American Apparel: The Classic Girl Sustainable Edition tank is totally soft and made from 100% certified organic cotton. It makes a great layer under tees. Thanks to my niece for that one! (Buy Classic Girl T-Shirts from American Apparel.)
  
• Perfect pj’s: I teamed up Boxercraft tartan flannel lounge pants (available from BuyAmerican.com) with Wickers mid-weight tees to create cozy pj’s that didn’t make me look like my grandmother. I love my Wickers!! They’re almost sinful.

More later on new additions to StillMadeinUSA.com.

Do Buy: Danish Havarti

With all due respect to my friends in the Wisconsin dairy industry, I recommend that all of us go out and buy something Danish in support of the good people of Denmark.

I regret the offense taken by Moslems to cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. I support the right of any people to march in protest and to use the economic power of the boycott. That said, the publication of ANY cartoon is no justification for violent public displays and the torching of embassies.

I am weary of hearing “Death to (fill in the blank)” in the name of religion and/or national pride. We humans share the globe. We hold a variety of religious and life views. Mutual respect and tolerance are needed if we are ever to understand one another. Dividing the world into “us” and “them” in the name of religion, governing philosophy, physical appearance, or whatever is surely taking us down the wrong road.

Farewell to Dan River Mills

Almost unnoticed, the Dan River Inc. textile mill slipped quietly under the waters of the global economy. Dan River was best known for its bed-in-a-bag comforter, bed skirt, and sheet sets. It’s hardly news when a U.S. textile mill ceases production, but this time it feels personal. Virginia-based Dan River filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in 2004, and emerged from bankruptcy a year ago, only to be purchased by an Indian firm this year. The small paragraph in The Washington Post (Metro Section, January 15) read like an obituary: “Plant Closing to Cost 500 Jobs.”

Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, which bought Dan River last month, plans to idle the Virginia mill and move the remainder of production overseas where it is cheaper. Maybe U.S. labor and environmental standards will be applied, but how will we know?

As with Timex, Pfaltzgraff, Levi and others before it, the brand will survive but the American jobs will not. There will still be Dan River comforters and sheets, but they will be made in China, India, and Pakistan. I wonder if consumers will even notice? In March, nearly 500 former Dan River employees will line up at the unemployment office and I will keep reading labels and looking for products still made in USA.

American-Made Blue Jeans

It’s hard to imagine a wardrobe without denim jeans. What started out as hard-working wear for men has evolved into a fashion basic for men, women, and children. The old-style dungaree (from the Hindi “dungri” meaning a coarse cloth) is still around, but increasingly the jeans market is dominated by stretch denim that dresses up or down.

Denim trivia: if you look closely at your jeans, you will see that the denim has a diagonal pattern in the weave. As every school kid knows, weaving takes a filling yarn over-under-over-under the warp yarns (the same technique applies to lattice pie crust!). For denim and other twill fabrics, however, the filling yarns go under and over two or more warp yarns. This creates an offset pattern from one row to the next. The addition of spandex fibers allows the denim to "give."

American jeans used to mean Levi, Wrangler, and Lee, to name a few. Today, Levi jeans are made overseas. Wrangler and Lee brands are owned by VF Corporation, which also owns Chic Jeans, Riders, and Rustler brands. VF Corp. has manufacturing plants located in the United States, as well as other parts of the world. So, while MAY be possible to find a pair of Wrangler or Lee jeans made in USA, it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Likewise, jeans made for LLBean, Landsend, and the GAP are imported.

Luckily, there are a surprising number of American-made jean options available. For a definitive (almost) listing of jeans still made in USA, see Stephanie's Guide to American-Made Jeans. (I tried to include the tables here, but blogger doesn't seem to like them!) I have divided the brands into two categories: traditional “serious” jeans and up-scale luxury jeans. Admittedly, my groupings are somewhat arbitrary, but jeans that cost over $100 a pair (and some up to $200 a pair) cry out for special treatment!

There is a confusing array of these luxury jeans, featuring hand sanding, grinding, and “destroyed effects” (i.e., the price includes having someone wear them out for you!). I did not find much to distinguish among the high-end, couture jeans; all the brands I list appear to be made in USA from imported (primarily stretch) denim. One stand-out is Truck Jeans, a brand of fashion jeans made in USA from imported denim, offering blasted and “destroyed” effects for under $50. The label in my Truck Jeans says “Made with American hands in the USA.” How cool is that?!

Here's an interesting article on the booming luxury jeans market: Explosion of pricey premium-jeans market has created intense competition and, some say, a bloated inventory for retailers. By Jennifer Davies (San Diego Union Tribune, October 5, 2005)

One final note. I did not include USA Works jeans in the table because they are presently being imported. However, Sapko International, which makes USA WORKS, says they are on track to restart USA production (in Wisconsin) and hope to begin shipping domestic USA WORKS by late third or early fourth quarter 2006. I’ll update the table as soon as I get confirmation that American-made USA WORKS jeans are once again available. (I took down the Blog Poll on whether or not we should buy imported USA WORKS to show support for the company. The results were 50% in favor, 42% opposed, and 8% undecided. Since that time, the company has posted a note on their website with their commitment to restart US production as soon as possible--yeah!!)

As always, I welcome comments, additions, and corrections. Let me know what you think of Stephanie's Guide to American-Made Jeans.

Village Traditions: Celebrating Craftsmanship and Natural Materials

Visiting VillageTraditions.com is like taking a leisurely trip through the unspoiled countryside of northern Vermont. The site offers simple, beautiful products made from clay, wood, and leather. Creamy pottery and hand blown glass by Simon Pearce, bowls of cherry and walnut, pieces of Vermont slate, and handspun pewter bowls and vases. The pieces seem carefully selected to please the eye and sooth the spirit, and many are made in Northern New England.

For the Italiano-files among us (just call me la Bella Stephania!), VillageTraditions also offers a sublime selection of handmade Italian pewter cutlery and soft Italian leather goods. The shopping experience is made perfect by the many beautiful photographs of the Shelburne area. Take a trip with your mouse, feel the tranquility, and reconnect with the timeless beauty of goods made by hand from natural materials.

Organize This!

Today I received an email that shouted: “Make Your Home Clutter-Free!” “Tackle Your Toughest Storage Tasks!” “Shop Our Problem Solvers Collection Today!” Now how in the heck did they know? Have they been peeking??

Okay, I admit to having an “organization problem.” Not for lack of purchasing various organizers, however. Just last week (and, no, this was NOT a New Year’s Resolution!) I went off to Staples and bought a lovely storage/filing container (HOMZ, made in USA) and some pocket folders (made in Mexico). The idea was that I would file newspaper clippings, story ideas, USA-made product information, and correspondence and reintroduce myself to my desktop. As evidence that buying organizers can motivate, energize, and organize me, I attach the following Before and After photos. Can you tell the difference?!





[January 21, 2006: UPDATE! I received an email today about an organizational "life-in-a-binder" system called JOYS: Just Organize Your Stuff. The website says "JOYS is committed to providing high quality, fairly priced, made in the USA products." It looks like a very well thought out set of checklists and reminders, packaged in a beautiful binder. Check it out! Maybe there's hope yet . . .]

Music to get you going on Friday after a tough week—and it WAS a tough one. (Though I am thankful not to live in Russia, where temperatures are 20 below, and not to be a coal miner.)

"Everything, everything will be just fine
Everything, everything will be alright"

--from The Middle, by Jimmy Eat World, the “Bleed American” album released July 2001.

New additions to StillMadeinUSA.com this week:

Stephanie's Valentine Gift Picks!

Auburn Leathercrafters (Auburn, NY)

Drew’s Boots (Klamath Falls, OR)

Eldreth Pottery (Lancaster Co., PA)

Hartstone Pottery (Zanesville, OH)

Louisville Stoneware (Louisville, KY)

Our American Heritage (Paoli, PA)

Soft Star Shoes (Corvallis, OR)

Keep those emails coming—it’s great to hear about companies that I can list! Next week: Product Reports and a summary of American-Made Blue Jeans. Have a good weekend!

Hartstone Pottery is Back!

My first virtual catalog, posted for Fall 2004, featured hand-painted pottery by Hartstone Pottery of Zanesville, Ohio. I loved their Pumpkin Patch pottery design for autumn celebrations. I also included their Funny Farm pattern in the StillMadeinUSA.com 2004 Holiday catalog.

Then, in 2005 I was distraught to hear that the pottery was being closed by its parent company, Carlisle Home Products. In past years, Hartstone Pottery had made blueberry pottery for LLBean and hand-painted soup tureens and other pieces for Crate and Barrel. As these larger accounts were lost to cheaper imported pottery, the Pottery struggled to remain profitable. Finally, Carlisle Home Products decided to pull the plug.

The closure of Hartstone Pottery not only meant the loss of jobs in Zanesville, but the potential loss of an artistic heritage in an area with a long history of handmade, hand-painted pottery. I also learned that the closure was impacting local potters who had relied on the Hartstone kilns to have their own pottery fired. I resorted to EBay to buy up a few pieces of Hartstone Funny Farm, while sending offers of free web advertising to Carlisle and Hartstone, and urging support for the company on local web boards. I didn’t have much hope that the company could be saved.

But, finally some good news. An article in the local Zanesville paper reported that a group of investors was working to save the pottery. Today I checked back, and was delighted to see that the Hartstone website is back on line! The Original Hartstone Pottery has reopened and is producing a limited number of their pottery patterns. I am hoping that more will come on-line as they grow the business. If you love hand-painted pottery, here’s your chance to support a wonderful enterprise. Welcome back, Hartstone Pottery!

Why I'm Drinking More Coffee in 2006

For those who felt that I set my sights too low for 2006, here is an important "news story" (Disclaimer: not a true story) by David Deckert. Enjoy!

SEATTLE (PA) -- SEATTLE MAN ARRESTED FOR INDECENT EXPOSURE -- Police in downtown Seattle arrested a man for indecent exposure today. Mr. Michael Feldman of 714 SE James St., was arrested after police determined that he was carrying neither a cellphone nor a latte. He was taken into custody and cited with criminal non-possesion of caffeine and failure to provide an annoying ring melody in a public place. He was later fined and released under his own recognizance.

Police first became suspicious of Mr. Feldman after they observed him briskly crossing a busy street at a crosswalk while failing to stop and hold up traffic. The officers reported that since Mr. Feldman did not seem to be carrying any sort of coffee they stopped him for questioning. A brief search determined that neither was he carrying any sort of communication device.

"He didn't even have a pager," said Officer "Buck" Simmons of the Seattle Police Department. "We figured he must be one of them anarchists, so we gassed him just to be on the safe side."

Mr. Feldman apologized for his actions and said that he hoped that no innocent bystanders had been affected. He explained that the unexpected sunny weather had "put him out of sorts" and that he had neglected to don his cellphone before leaving the house. Mr. Feldman later told reporters, "I guess I was too busy looking at that blue sky." Said Officer "Buck" Simmons, "He just kept looking up. Like at the sky or something. We thought he was a psycho."

A similar incident happened last month when a Mr. Jeffrey DuChamp was arrested and faced the same charges. Those charges were later dropped when it was discovered that Mr. DuChamp was Canadian, and he was summarily deported.

Mapping Visitors to StillMadeinUSA.com

Yesterday I discovered a really COOL little web techy tool that produces a map of the most recent 100 visitors to my website, StillMadeinUSA.com. The service locates IP addresses on top of Google maps to provide a geographic view of the location of visitors to my site. There is no end to the wonderful bits of code that are available for free!

Check it out by clicking on my visitor log. If you’re looking for yourself, be aware that the data only updates every few hours. Isn’t this fun??!!

While on the topic of websites and techy developments, I pass along this prognostication from Scott Adams (quoted from his 1997 book, The Dilbert Future)

“In the not-too-distant future, anybody who doesn’t have their own home page on the World Wide Web will probably qualify for a government subsidy for the home-pageless.”

So, if you are webpage-deprived, make 2006 the year that you get a homepage, get a blog, or at least get a mapped visitor log! Happy New Year (again, still)!

Happy New Year, 2006!

That popping sound was the housing bubble bursting, but I’m not worried because I’m diversified (I own GM stock). All the columnists (the paid variety, that is) are reminding us of Tsunami and hurricane aftermaths, union-busting, outsourcing, wars and death. I choose to leave 2005 summarizing and hand-wringing to them, and focus on 2006.

Back when I worked in cubicle land, I used to post my New Year’s Resolutions outside my work station to forewarn my co-workers. Heading the list every year was “Be nicer.” Number 2 was usually “Keep my workspace clean,” followed by “Exercise more.” My friends know that I never kept any of these resolutions. Now that I am older and wiser, my resolutions are much more practical. So here goes:

2006 Resolutions

• Drink more coffee, and make sure it’s not tested on animals.
• Stop donating money to every cause that knocks on my door. (This per my financial advisor, Bob Tresley.)
• Start as many projects as I want without feeling guilty if I don’t finish all of them.
• Apply my Type-A, detail-oriented, dictatorial skills to helping people who don’t even know they want help.
• Write to politicians.

I have an unshakeable conviction that 2006 will be a great year. People (and I include Republicans here) are basically good, talented, and hard-working. We have a lot of things to work on (raising living and working conditions, educating our kids, decreasing our effects on the environment), but we’re going to get there. I’m confident that I can make a difference, and have fun doing it. So I raise my glass of Sparkling Cider and wish all of you a Happy New Year!

Childhood in a Tin Box

Christmas is a lot about nostalgia and memories. My mom serving my grandmother’s suet pudding with hard sauce. The Christmas stockings that my other grandmother made for us kids. Remembering the year that Santa brought me the small white portable record player, and the stack of Nancy Drew Mysteries (which I sat down and read cover to cover).

This year, Santa brought my son a set of Jacks. They are beautiful gold and silver jacks, with rounded points and a heavy feel. They came in a tin with 2 red rubber balls. My sister and I sat down on the floor to demonstrate how to play. It reminded me of days sitting on the linoleum floor of Mom’s kitchen playing jacks, only ours had sharp ends and we had used a high-bouncing superball.

This time we found that we had lost the knack. Our tosses were wild, we scooted for position on the floor, we strategized over which jacks to pick up, we dropped some, our hands felt stiff. We were playing like middle-aged women. But after a few games, we stopped thinking so much and fell into the rhythm of the game. Our hands remembered what it felt like to be a kid. Toss, swipe, bounce, catch. I always loved the sound of the game. Of course, by this time the kids had wandered off to play their electronic games.

I picture Santa with a special twinkle in his eye as he dropped the jacks into my son’s stocking. Maybe, just maybe, they were really meant for me. Thank you Santa, and thank you Channel Craft.

Buying American for Christmas

Last week, the Commerce Department announced that the U.S. trade deficit reached $68.9 billion. This is such a large number that most of us can’t really comprehend it. A significant part of the trade deficit arises from our nation’s insatiable demand for imported oil. Another component of the trade deficit, however, is consumer purchasing of imported clothing, electronics, and toys.

As we send our consumer dollars overseas, our textile mills fall silent, our furniture makers struggle, and our potteries close. Quintessential American brands--like Levi's, Singer, Lionel, Timex, and Oneida—are no longer made in the USA. What’s more, most consumers don’t seem to know or care where things are made.

StillMadeinUSA.com is my attempt to help consumers find American-made consumer products. I don’t spend a lot of time trying to convince people to buy American, but I try to make it easier to do. I also try to lead by example, so here is an update on my holiday shopping: of the total dollars spent, 84% made in USA, 9% made in Mexico, 7% made in China.

Vendor	Product Origin
BuyAmerican.com	USA
Union Jean Co.	USA
Northeast Knitting Mills	USA
TheUnionShop	USA
Hasbro Games	USA
Cardinal Games	China
JCPenney	USA
CWDKids	USA
ColumbiaKnit	USA
GC game	USA
DS game	Mexico
Skooter	China
FisherPrice	Mexico
Flying Shuttle	USA
Channel Craft	USA
Fisher Space Pens	USA

We can choose to support American companies and American workers.

Putting the "Ho" back in Holiday

Don’t we have real issues to debate, or must we argue about how to greet each other during the holiday season? And yes, the phrase “holiday season” implies (correctly) that there is more than one holiday being celebrated this time of year. I have no problem with people who want to wish non-Christians a Merry Christmas, or gentiles a Happy Hanukkah. It’s the thought behind the greeting that counts. (I’m still feeling teary-eyed over the email I received today that says “Happy Holidays from Pizza Hut!”.)

As we rush around in our busy lives, saying Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year is shorthand for “I hope you are well and happy, and safe within the circle of friends and family.” So let’s stop fighting the Culture Wars, be nice to each other, and get back to shopping!

The Shipping Grinch

Like many of you, I have been doing a lot of holiday shopping on-line, mostly at StillMadeinUSA.com (shameless plug for my site!!). I was keeping an eye out for high shipping costs because of higher gas prices this season. Sometimes I find that sites with lower product prices have higher shipping or vice versa, so it pays to check the final totals before deciding where to buy. (Note that the shopping comparison sites don't take into account shipping costs...)

I did encounter an unexpected glitch associated with the “buy American” sites—total shipping charges were much higher than those charged by major retailers. For example, on an order where my purchases totaled $167, the shipping charge was $31! By way of comparison, typical shipping charges (by LLBean, REI, etc) for this purchase total average closer to $12! The reason for this became apparent when I completed the order and was notified that the products would be shipped from the individual manufacturers. In other words, the shipping savings normally associated with consolidating orders had been lost.

So, why is this happening? The advent of the Internet has meant that “virtual stores” can be set up where orders are shipped directly from manufacturers rather than from a retail middleman. This practice is called “drop shipping.” A benefit of drop shipping is that e-retailers are not required to invest in goods up front, and thereby forgo the risk of getting stuck with merchandise that doesn’t sell. There is also much less capital investment required. The e-retailer, in this scenario, becomes more of a service that coordinates transactions between customers and manufacturers. More of the burden for order fulfillment (tracking and shipping) is shifted to the manufacturer.

The absence of a “brick and mortar” store does have benefits for consumers because these e-stores potentially can offer a wider array of products. For the “buy American” niche, this is particularly helpful since many American-made products are not carried by traditional retailers. (I suspect this is because the profit margin is much lower than for imported products, but that’s another post.) All in all, then, I concluded that the extra charges were worth it because I saved shopping time by having all of the items available in one purchase transaction. However, it still came as a shock at check out. I think these stores need to better prepare customers for the Shipping Grinch.

Elves Organize, Join UAW

North Pole. This week Santa’s Elves voted to organize and form a union, reacting in part to concerns that “The Boss in Red” might decide to outsource toy production. In the words of one elf, “If that happens, the jobs go south!” The small workers researched possible unions to affiliate with, but in the end decided on the UAW. “We make cars and trucks, as well as trains and dolls, so it seemed like a good fit” said an elderly elf. Rumor has it that the other deciding factor was that Ron Gettelfinger is just so darn good looking!

The newly formed UAW Local 90N invited me to become an honorary member and informal spokesperson because of my elfin qualities, extreme interest in toys, and years of experience dealing with bad little boys. I promised to help get the word out about the need to improve working conditions at the Pole. For the most part, Santa is a beneficent taskmaster, but thinning of stratospheric ozone and global warming have the elves worried. “We’re also running short on coal for stockings of bad little girls and boys,” said one elf. “We’re trying to develop a solar-powered substitute, but it just doesn’t have the same impact.”

So, you heard it here first. Collective bargaining at the North Pole. What next—health care for everyone? Support your local elves this holiday. Do your shopping at StillMadeinUSA.com!

No More Parenting Tips--Please!

Every month our elementary school sends home a newsletter that gives updates on all the activities at the school (including a lot of long-term homework projects that I haven’t heard about…) The newsletter usually has a section with useful little tips on how to “Help Children Learn.” The tips always seem to be written by earnest young education professionals who HAVE NO CHILDREN, or at least only have girls.

This week’s tips included a call to “Build your child’s school skills during family meals.” By family meals I assume the author means the placement of food on a centrally located table so that children can come and go and take whatever meets their exacting culinary standards and eat it in front of the TV?

My favorite tip was the one about suggested activities during mealtime, and--as Dave Barry would say--I am not making this up!:

“Place an interesting object in the center of the table to encourage conversation.”

I don’t know about you, but the interesting object in the center of my table is a Lazy Susan, placed there to allow 360-degree access to the ketchup bottle. It does tend to be a conversation starter, though, since the favorite activities involving the Lazy Susan are:

1) Turn it just as a brother is about to grab the ketchup bottle;

2) Spin it so that the handle of the serving spoon in the bowl of peas knocks over a brother’s glass of milk; and

3) Jiggle it so that the petals of the dead rose in the “vase” fall into a brother’s food and/or the pepper mill falls over and rolls off into the mashed potatoes.

Maybe I should start a parenting newsletter of my own.

Woolrich, Inc.---Then and Now

The Woolrich, Inc. website has an inspiring Flash history of the company, from its early days in the 1830’s as a supplier of rugged, warm woolen cloth and clothing to loggers and frontiersmen. Images of steam engines, mountain climbers, and the woolen mill in Woolrich, PA fade out and the image of “Woolrich Today” comes into view. The site proudly notes that the Woolrich Woolen Mill is one of the oldest in the U.S.A. What the history doesn’t say is that the march of progress has included almost total outsourcing of production.

After searching in vain on their website for anything that was made in USA, I resorted to “Live Chat” and here is what I was told:

“For American apparel companies to survive and grow in this past decade and in the future, we have all had to become truly global. Our company has been able to increase American employment in marketing, merchandising, administration, and retail. Although we manufacture many of our garments (or components) overseas, they are designed by us and meet our strict quality standards and specifications. We employ 850 people in the U.S.A, and we strive to keep as much manufacturing here as possible, but companies today have little choice but to compete in a global economy. When consumers choose to purchase Woolrich products, even those products made in foreign countries, they continue to support our 850 American employees.”

The bottom line is that, with the exception of a few huntwear and blanket items, Woolrich (“The Original Outdoor Clothing Company, celebrating our 175^th year”) is now primarily a retail outlet for imported products. Still, I am glad they have managed (so far) to keep the mill going. I notice, for example, that their Civil War reproduction fabrics are still made in the Woolrich, PA mill…

Economists are People Too

For those of you who have noticed my absence from the blogosphere, my excuse is that I have been hip-deep in economics papers. Today I emerge to share a few insights about economists as a group (definitely not referring to any particular economist who happens to be my professor at this time, Dr. Dimitri, and is a wonderful person!).

Economists like to write very long papers, perhaps in the hope that readers will not stick it out through the middle part. The papers begin with broad, visionary statements about how markets function in theory. Then comes a lengthy, dense, mathematical presentation of how this theory would look in mathematical form. Rather than state the obvious in English, there are equations with Greek letters, many tiny subscripts, “dummy” variables, and terms that stand for “everything else that may be important, but which I have no idea about” (called “error” terms).

Then, for readers still standing after the theory section, comes a discussion of why none of the afore-mentioned variables will be used in the actual analysis because such data do not exist. (At this point, one hears screams or cries of anguish.) The conclusions section returns to the visionary statements introduced at the beginning, thus reassuring the reader that the intervening jungle has not lessened the certainty of the economist in the least.

Other observations: In order to be published, all economics papers MUST include the following terms:

• ceteris paribus: this is a problem since I have no idea what ceteris paribus means! (My high school stopped offering Latin the year I arrived.) Based on context, I have decided that it means "assuming away all realistic ideas of how the world works"
  
• endogeneity: something in the “real world” that intrudes on the tidy world of theoretical modelers and causes distress by violating the modeler’s assumptions that it can be specified and held constant
• internalizing the externalities: I translate this to mean “taking account of all of those things which are not being taken into account” (??!)
• marginal social cost: the cost to the rest of us when businesses are forced to “internalize the externalities” rather than take it out of their profits

[Disclaimer: this is just me having fun. If you want the REAL definition of these, and other, economic terms, check out this Glossary of Economic Terms.] The clear implication here is that I need to take more economics classes.

Energy update: Thanks to Bob Tresley, my windows and doors are weather-stripped, MOST windows are actually closed, and my programmable Honeywell thermostat is installed and functioning. I’m enjoying coming down in the morning to find that the room temperature has already risen to a comfortable level. One other electricity saver was installing power strips around the house so that clusters of electronic gizmos (TVs, computers, VCRs, PlayStations) could be turned off over night. However, this latter is not automated and there are serious implementation glitches. (Note to Honeywell: develop programmable husband.)

Halloween 2005

We survived, but we are not the same . . .

Perspectives from Pumpkin Creek Clothing

Outside the small town of Pinehurst, North Carolina, the family-owned Pumpkin Creek Clothing Company manufactures and sells knit clothing. In addition to a "brick and mortar" store, their great products are available on-line at Pumpkin Creek Clothing and Red H'Attitudes. I love their turtlenecks, which come in lots of colors and are totally soft, 100% cotton. The prices are almost unbelievably low because they have cut out the retail middlemen. In addition to great products at great prices, owners Darrell and Susan Marks care about keeping production in the USA. But, some days they wonder. . .

Does Anyone Really Care About the ”Made In The USA” Label?
by Darrell Marks, Pumpkin Creek Clothing Co.

In addition to our two web-sites, where all of the clothing featured is made in our own factory, we sell directly to the public from our 10,000 square foot outlet store. We are visited by hundreds of shoppers each week who come not only for the things which we make, but those selections Susan has gathered from the markets she attends. Although the customers may be too many to count, the number who are concerned about the country of origin of their purchases is not. It is very small, almost non-existent. The majority look at the styling first, the price second, and to their companions for their approval third. Where something is made is no longer a concern to almost anyone.

Is this a good or bad thing?

For someone like myself, who has been in garment maunfacturing since 1969, it is a bad thing. I have seen the once great American manufacturing system succumb to the demand of the Giant Walk-Marts, to whom price is everything. Thousands of good manufacturing plants, and all of their workers, have fallen prey to cheap foreign imports. Those that could not compete have gone the way of the horse drawn carraige, the telegraph, and free TV.

Being a ”the glass is half full” kind of guy though, I see the other side. Garment prices to the public are cheaper now than they were 10 years ago. Sure, people have been forced into jobs which they may have not preferred, but others have been able to afford a better life style because they are spending less on clothing and other commodities.

And we have survived, in an industry that is dying. How have we done it? By working long and hard, by being innovative and creative, and by refocusing our market. We quit making clothing for others to mark up and profit from, choosing to sell directly to the public at factory prices. The price I now receive is the same stores paid me years ago, but the customer pays no mark-up, thus my prices compete quite well with ”cheaper” imports. We both win. And for those of you who still feel ”Made In The USA” is important, the best of both worlds.

News from the Afghani Front

This is an excerpt from a letter written by my friend's son, who is stationed in Afghanistan...

October 25, 2005

So now that the deployment is almost over, I can look back with pride and say we accomplished . . . Um . . . Uh-oh.

This is a strange war we’re fighting here. The stuffed-shirts at the Pentagon go on and on about how the Taliban are on the run and we’re winning the war on terror and bringing democracy to the Afghan people, and then the media jumps in and says no, the Taliban are gaining strength and importing Jihadist techniques and soon they’ll be unstoppable, and for the average soldier on the ground the only possible response to all of it is, “Huh?” Where is all this happening? Probably the only similarity between the typical GI and the typical Afghani is that neither of them knows what the f**k their leaders are talking about.
. . .
This is what most missions are like: a bunch of American soldiers come thundering into a stone-age village dressed like warrior mercenaries from outer space looking for a guy whose name they can’t pronounce because someone’s brother-in-law’s uncle’s cousin fingered him as a Taliban; The soldiers don’t find the guy because he’s moved to Pakistan, but they do find his brother. So they detain him and start asking questions. None of the answers they get make any sense because their interpreter speaks bad Dari and worse English, but it doesn’t really make any difference because the guy’s lying his head off anyway. Taliban? Who? Never heard of them. He’s just looking for the right words that will make the Americans go away. But you know what? When Taliban fighters pass through his village (and they do pass through his village) he tells them exactly what they want to hear, too. Because all the guy wants is to be left alone.

But in the end the soldiers decide to take him in for further questioning. So they load him up in a Humvee and start heading back to base. Maybe as they leave they chuck some soccer balls out the windows for the kids. Everyone in the village gets a big kick out of that, except for the two kids standing in a doorway crying because their dad is being taken away by foreign soldiers. But, oh well. And that’s it. No shots fired and the whole thing takes about three hours.
. . .
All my griping aside, I am actually hopeful for Afghanistan’s future as we prepare to head home. The elections went off without violence, the government seems committed to democracy, the Afghan Army is slowly improving, and most importantly, the people themselves seem sick to death of fighting. I think things will turn out all right here. If I ever run into the mother of one of the soldiers who died on this deployment, that’s probably what I would tell her – things will turn out all right, and somehow, in some way, your son helped to make that happen.

Week’s End

It’s Friday, so I’ll keep my sentences short. American manufacturing is on its own today, cuz what I’m thinking about is:

1. WHAT THE HECK IS APPLE DOING getting rid of the iPod Mini??!! The new iPod Nano is cute and all, but it only comes in black or white. That’s SO yesterday. Bring back the colors! Good thing I got my pink iPod Mini this summer. Here’s a great little video about iPod, made by video artist George Masters, catchy tune by a Welsh band: check it out at http://www.gomotron.com/special/ipod.html
2. More music: I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to the Fall Out Boy song, “I’ve Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea that Says You Should Shut Your Mouth.” In addition to a great title, the song sounds a lot like early Elvis Costello. What a treat. If iTunes is too establishment for you, check out new music at http://www.independentradionetwork.com/artists.php
3. GO SOX!!!! My interest in baseball comes and goes. Sort of an “Easter Catholic” when it comes to sports. But, you bet I’ll be watching Saturday night.
4. Saving Energy: The weather is turning cooler and I am tempted to turn on the heat. But, thanks to some of the email from readers this week (“just a bored housewife” indeed!!), I am feeling pretty warm!

Have a good weekend!

USA WORKS Dilemma

[Read the update on USA WORKS, February 22, 2006]

[Update: December 7, 2005: As of this date, Sapko, makers of USA Works Jeans, has not placed a statement on their website about their intentions to restart jeans production in the USA. In addition, Hanks Clothing, which had been offering customers the option to specify "American-made only" when ordering USA Works Jeans now tells me that they no longer have sufficient stock of American-made USA Works jeans to offer this option. It was great while it lasted, so thanks to Hanks for making the extra effort...and, note that Hanks still has a Made in USA page to help customers find American-made products that they carry.]
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Last year I bought a pair of USA WORKS jeans because I knew they were made in USA. I loved the quality, the colorful red-white-blue patch on the back pocket, and the price (under $20). The colorful pocket card said, “Made by Hard Working Americans for Hard Working Americans.”

My first inkling of trouble was a note on Hanks Clothing.com, where customers were being offered the option of specifying American-made or import versions of USA WORKS. The site mentioned a fire at the jeans factory that had put the company out of commission for the time being.

About a week ago, I received an email from a disappointed consumer who had ordered several pairs of USA WORKS jeans based on information on my site that they were made in USA. When the jeans arrived, the label said “Made in China.”

I did some investigating, and here’s the scoop. The USA WORKS jeans were made in a factory in Tompkinsville, KY by Sapko International Inc. (headquartered in Sturtevant, WI). In February 2005, there was a fire at the plant and it was heavily damaged. Sapko’s head of supply chain management, Chris Baumgarner, tells me that the company intends to rebuild the Tompkinsville plant as soon as they settle things with their insurance companies. However, he estimates that restart of production at the facility might not occur until mid-2007.

In the mean time, the company felt that it needed to continue to produce USA WORKS jeans to meet the needs of its retailers and customers. According to Baumgarner, “The importation of USA WORKS is not our favorite choice, but due to limited USA production it was our only choice.”

Sapko brands also include FiveBrother work shirts, many of which are made in USA, and Williams Bay outdoor clothing, made in Wisconsin.

The temporary importation of USA WORKS jeans poses a dilemma for both retailers and customers. “Buy American” retailers, such as AmericanMadeForYou, have decided not to carry imported USA WORKS jeans although this brand was a substantial part of their offerings. Others, including Hank's Clothing, have continued to offer customers the option of specifying that they will accept only American-made USA WORKS, understanding that their order may not be filled.

Consumers face a similar dilemma. Do we continue to support the company by buying their products, even though imported (at least partially from China), because of their commitment to rebuild their US sewing factory? Or do we switch out allegiance to other jeans manufacturers that are still producing in USA (e.g., Union Jean, PointerBrand)?

I think this is an important discussion to have, and I’m not sure what the answer is. However, I feel that we owe the company some loyalty during a tough time. Think about the issues, then vote in the poll to the right. I also encourage you to post a comment to share your reasoning with others.

Cyber Communities

Lots of sociologists are already studying the formation of “virtual communities” on the world wide web, so I don’t wish to tread on anyone more qualified than I. However, as a novice webmaster I was surprised and tickled to discover that there was a “Brotherhood of Webmasters”—a sort of loose-knit and totally informal, but supportive, online community of webmasters.

When I first launched StillMadeinUSA.com in July 2004, other webmasters wrote out of the blue to offer congratulations, suggestions, and practical advice. One webmaster downsized my graphics and posted them on his site for me to get! Another told me how to use affiliate programs to earn some revenue from visits, another suggested ways to use Google, another offered advice on keywords, another pointed out technical problems with my site.

Understand that these comments were unsolicited and offered out of a sense of comradeship—either because they liked the mission of the site, or because of some sense of brotherhood among webmasters. Now that I have learned a thing or two about running websites, I often return the favor by making suggestions to other webmasters.

In addition to this community of webmasters, there are ringmasters! These are individuals who voluntarily maintain webrings, linked rings of sites that share some common theme. My ringmaster is James Huggins, and he has a great site that explains webrings. There are also folks that maintain sites with free tutorials (I learned how to write my site from Dave Kristula), libraries of JavaScript code, website design tips, and open-source software. There is a lot of give and take, sharing of information and ideas, all of which makes the Internet a fun place to hang out!

I am not a fan of “chat rooms” and I don’t IM, although I see the attraction of the real-time talk. However, there are also online communities like Bebo.com and Hi5.com, where people post information about themselves and link up with friends, and friends of friends. Maybe this reflects my age, but this category of communities doesn’t appeal to me as much. They seem to be vastly popular with the 20-somethings, though. However you cut it, there is a lot of communicating going on!

Here’s a fun trick that a webmaster shared with me: You can talk to your favorite webmaster by typing messages into a Google search box. Allow me to demonstrate: say you wanted to tell Dave Kristula how much you appreciate his free HTML tutorial.

In the Google search box, type “davesite.com Dave you’re the best” then hit enter. Google will pull up the listing for davesite.com, and when you click on it, your search terms (a.k.a. your message to Dave) will show up in his web statistics log. (So let’s all Google a message to Stephanie, webgoddess of StillMadeinUSA.com!)

Financial Check-Up

I recently had a “financial physical” with my financial advisor, Bob Tresley, who is very strict with me regarding my wasteful expenditures. He is relieved to hear that I no longer buy Gevalia coffee, and that I have finally quit my book clubs. He notes that my loyal Ford Taurus (1991 model year) is greatly over-insured, that I need to emphasize retirement savings over college savings, and that I need to stop using “buy American” shopping as therapy!

Natural gas and electricity prices are predicted to skyrocket this winter. Bob suggested a series of energy-saving measures (e.g., water heater blanket, compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout the house, automatic thermostat, and weather stripping for doors and windows). He also hammered home the following commandment of energy savings:

“Apply thee NOT the weather stripping to thy windows WHILST some of them remain stuck open a full inch at the top from the time last summer when the trim on the outside of the house was painted …”

You may not all have access to Bob Tresley, but it’s still a good idea to take stock once in awhile. Are you saving a little (or a lot) each month? Are you paying off your credit cards each month? Are you buying things you don’t really need? Ordering too many pizzas for delivery?

There are lots of free resources on the web that can help you get started; e.g., try BetterBudgeting.com for household budget forms, checklists, and money-saving tips. In addition to taking a close look at spending and saving habits, Bob recommends ordering that free credit report we’re all entitled to (go to AnnualCreditReport.com).

I also want to pass along a great website tutorial on Ten Financial Questions and Answers for Women, courtesy of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. The web seminar runs just over 11 minutes, but I encourage you to listen through to the end even if some of the initial questions don’t seem to apply to you. Issues covered include estate planning, life insurance needs, supporting aging parents and children, and saving and credit strategies.

Here’s wishing you financial AND physical health!