This weekend one of my projects was to finish up replacing receptables and some switches in the house to complete a project I started over a year ago. I was replacing all my electrical outlets with new “square faced” designs and all my switches with the paddle type. It’s amazing how small things like this can really give the whole place a “fresh look”.
Unfortunately, I was one outlet short. Determined to finish the project this weekend I decided to head over to our local Do-It-Best store to pick up one. Unfortunately, the locally owned store was closed – the owners were away at a conference according to the note tacked to the door. This meant I only had one choice left – the place I hate the most – Wal-Mart.
I figured that I would just run in, get the outlet, and get out. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and it’s the place I use for absolute can’t wait until tomorrow emergencies. Home Depot, Lowes and Menards are all a 20 minute drive from where I live in rural Missouri and it wouldn’t be until Monday when I’d be over their way. So I justified my decision to go into Wal-Mart with the notion that it was for one item to finish a project that was long overdue.
I quickly found the electrical aisle and the outlet I needed. It was a GE brand, though about $0.75 higher than what I was used to paying for similar outlet switches at Home Depot. I was just about ready to grab it and get out of that place when I turned the package over and saw those three dreaded words, “MADE IN CHINA”.
I was floored.
Here was a product that cost more than the equivalent American made product (Levtron) from Home Depot and yet it was made in China. I absolutely refused. I have just had about all I am going to take seeing American jobs being shipped overseas. It’s one of the reasons I loathe Wal-Mart so much – they are the biggest drivers of sending manufacturing overseas. I was not about to help them achieve their goal of getting rid of every last job in America.
It’s a slap in the face really – the reason they “outsourced” and “offshored” these jobs was for lower prices. After all, why pay an American worker a living wage when you can get Chinese people to work for $2.00 a day? Yet this Chinese made product cost MORE than the Made in America product. Where was all the savings going? Who was profiting off this? Oh, that’s right – Wal-Mart and the manufacturer, GE.
I walked out of that store in disgust. People around here praise Wal-Mart yet they really have no idea. They are paying more for the products that are of inferior quality and helping ship their own jobs overseas in the process. They are literally shopping themselves out of a job.
As much as I wanted to finish this project this weekend, it can wait. I’ll give Home Depot my business and buy their cheaper, Made in America outlets. Not only will I save money, but I can leave the store with my purchase knowing that I at least did a small bit to help keep American workers working.
Wal-Mart is a scam. Plain and simple. Wake up, folks.