Stuffington Bear Factory has been making American
toy teddy bears and stuffed animals in
the U.S.A since 1959. Every animal wearing the Stuffington Bear Factory brand
is made in our USA manufacturing facility
in Phoenix, Arizona. We also use American-made materials in the production of
our animals.
It’s a fact we’re proud of because it’s a big deal to our economy
and our country.
What happens when I buy a product made in the U.S.A.?
When you buy products made in the U.S.A., the majority (if not all) of your
dollar goes directly into the American economy. In other words, most of the
wealth you transferred remains in the United States instead of leaving the country.
The more wealth kept inside the United States from consumer spending, the more
people in the United States become employed. This ranges from unskilled labor
all the way through skilled labor and into executive and information workers.
This increases the chance that wealth expended by United States labor stays
in the country. All of this translates into more job opportunities in the United
States. Higher job availability means less social benefits paid out in the form
of unemployment checks and other welfare benefits. Lower social benefit costs
translate into either lower taxation on United States citizens, or more tax
dollars being spent on proactive social benefits like education, etc.
In other words, the dollars you spend strengthen the United States in multiple
ways more than those spent on a product not made in the United States. This
is one of the reasons why American toys produced
by a USA manufacturer have become
dramatically more popular in recent years.
What happens when I buy a product that is NOT made in the U.S.A.?
When you buy something that is not made in the U.S.A., a larger percentage
of the wealth is transferred to another country. It’s difficult to calculate
how much because that is based on the product and from whom it was purchased,
but it is definitely substantially less.
A rough example would be if you bought a foreign-manufactured microwave with
a U.S. brand from a store in the United States. Let's say you paid $89 for it.
The retailer selling it kept probably $27 and paid a distributor $62 for it.
That distributor kept about $6 and paid the U.S.-branded company the remaining
$56 dollars. The U.S. company kept about $41 and paid an overseas manufacturer
$10 to build it and $5 to ship it.
So, from your $89 purchase, about 17% (or, $15) left the United States. Doesn’t
seem like a big deal…
So, why is it such a big deal? Why should it matter to me?
Well, 17% of your purchase leaving the American economy doesn’t sound
like much, however what would happen to your family if your household income
dropped by 17%? In 2006, the median annual household income was $48,201, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. Lets say that is your income each year, paid to you
as $1,853 every two weeks. Now imagine one day your paycheck is $1,538, a whopping
$315 less - every two weeks! How do you cut out $315 of expenses every two weeks?
What gets cut and what stays? What suffers and what gets entirely left behind?
That has significant implications for your financial security and lifestyle.
Are there more concerns than just the economy to consider?
There are definitely more concerns, including our society, environment and
health.
Household income has increased a little bit since the 1960’s, but only
for two reasons – the evolution of a two-earner household and an increase
in the income of college graduates. In 1967, about 17% of households with a
married couple and children had both spouses earning income. That figure rose
to 39% in 1996, almost entirely generated by women entering the workforce. It
was during that same timeframe that the United States gave up a powerful economic
base in manufacturing to foreign producers. From one perspective, what we lost
in our manufacturing base was made up by putting both parents to work instead
of one. That has significant implications for our society.
When you buy things from another country, they have to be shipped to the United
States. As the United States has diminished its manufacturing capacity, the
shipping volume coming out of Asia, South America and Europe has increased many
times over. In fact, ports in Asia and on the West coast of America are strained
to the breaking point trying to keep up with the container traffic. This has
flooded the ocean with many more container vessels that introduce a variety
of problems like noise, emissions and more – problems that are seriously
disrupting oceanic habitats and our air quality. That has significant implications
for our environment and our health.
There’s also been an issue growing with awareness in the American mind
– the safety of foreign-made products. Are products manufactured outside
the United States held to the health standards we have come to expect? If they
are, is the monitoring of those manufacturers as substantial as we have come
to expect? The answer to these questions has often been “no” in recent
years. It’s no surprise that in catching up to our level of consumption,
foreign producers may have had to cut corners. Who is paying the ultimate cost
for shortcuts made outside the watchful eye of American regulators? That has
significant implications for our health.
All these problems aside, there’s an issue of quality. Many products made
in the U.S.A. tend to be higher in quality in terms of workmanship and materials.
This is largely because today’s United States manufacturer is a smaller
business unable to compete with the price of ultra-cheap products from overseas.
So, they invest in higher quality materials and manufacture processes that allow
for a product that is more durable, more reliable and retain it’s quality
for a much longer period of time. With this, they work to compete on the basis
of quality or durability instead of price. The economics of buying cheaper things
more often versus quality things at a lower frequency seems obvious until you
account for the whole picture, like landfills buried in poorly-made products,
additional trips to the store to buy things more often, and the incessant shipping
of low-quality items to keep up with high-frequency consumption. So, quality
clearly impacts everything – from economics to health to the environment.
This does seem like a big deal. What can I do?
When you buy things, spend an extra moment or two locating products that are
made in the U.S.A. There are even Web sites showing which brands and products
are made in the U.S.A. Shop at establishments that stock things from the United
States, tell them you appreciate it and ask for more.
This isn’t about politics or making some trendy statement. This is very
serious business. It’s about making small, simple decisions that translate
into big improvements to our economy, the environment and the future.
You can start now by deciding to make your next American
toy teddy bear or American stuffed animal
be from Stuffington Bear Factory!
