Looking for manufacturer/prototype charms

       Kim, wouldn't it be nice if you supported our casting
companies instead of going overseas. 

Well put, Kay. By far, the best pair of boots that I ever owned were
made in my country.

In most of North America, the bean-counters have taken control of
industries which have historically employed tens of millions of
workers, and moved production offshore to improve “bottom line”. The
jewellery industry is a fine example of this phenomenon. Far too
much of what is sold in retail shops for a hefty dollar is produced
overseas, and the North American worker gets cut from the picture.

When you make a purchase, look for the “Made with pride in the
U.S.A” or “Made in Canada” designation. Resist the urge to save a
mediocre percentage by contracting with producers abroad. The job
you save may very well be your own.

David Keeling
www.davidkeelingjewellery.com

In regards to the “made in America” theme- I own a store in a
heavily unionized town in North Central Indiana, where General Motors
and Chrysler overwhelmingly dominate the economy. For years, everyone
preached “Buy American” as they made their 22-60$/hour wage plus
$1,000/month benefit packages. But these very same workers, would
come in and choose a Japanese watch over an American watch nearly
every time. Now, there are no watches made in America, not even
Bulova, Hamilton, or any of the oldtime American brands. They are
nothing more than an office in New York, or LA or… And when I open
these watches up to replace batteries or do other repairs, I see mfg
names like Hattori(Seiko-#2 largest movement maker in the
world-Japanese), Miyota(Citizen- #1 largest-Japanese), or ETA(very
distant #3-Swiss), and I see things like ‘E. Gluck’- owner,
mfg,distributor of most of the old names like Waltham, Elgin, etc…,
and guess where these are made- movements are usually Hattori, or
Miyota, and if not those , then Swiss parts, but assembled in China.
And the sad thing is, most of this info is stamped clearly on the
outside of the packages and the product itself- and the American
unionized worker keeps buying the same old thing, and complaining
all the while about more jobs from his or her plant have been shipped
to Mexico, Korea,France, China,… And to rub salt in the wounds,
when the local electrical workers union members bring their award
watches from the union in for various repairs, distributed and sold
to the IBEW national office by a company called ‘American Time’,
marked in unlegible(without at least 10x magnification) lettering
’Unionmade in America’ at the bottom of the dial. And inside the
caseback is the words ‘Cased in China’, and clearly marked on the
movement, ‘Swiss parts-Assembled in China’. When I attempted to
contact this ‘American Time’ company, posing as a buyer, asking for
watches that were at least 50% American made, I was told to ‘never
contact us again’. When I told this to the local head of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers(IBEW), he said ‘I
have nothing to do with any of that!tThats too bad isn’t it?’ But I
think he was busy and on his way to start a picket line and
demonstration at a local construction site to force the contractor to
use ‘UNION’ labor instead of qualified independents or else the local
union autoworkers will not shop there for at least a couple months-
until the company gets desperate, and marks everything down low
enough to make it worthwhile to compromise their
principles … and then Walmart moves in for the kill! Have a good
day,Ed

   When you make a purchase, look for the "Made with pride in the
U.S.A" or "Made in Canada" designation. Resist the urge to save a
mediocre percentage by contracting with producers abroad. The job
you save may very well be your own. 

David How hypocritical of you to post that on the on-line forum
Orchid that is only made possible by the tireless work Dr Hanuman
Aspler, a man who lives in Bangkok, and is completely published on
Ganoksin.com a Thailand based company.

I�ve never understood the selfish Isolationist who wants to close
our borders and keep our jobs in and let the rest of the world be
dammed! I�ve always felt that the guy in Indonesia, Thailand, or
any other 3rd world country has just as much a right to a job as I
do.

Competition is competition. It does not matter if the competition
is across the street or across the ocean. The only way to keep your
job is to see what you do better than the competition and exploit
that. Over sea competition can beat us on price � SO stop trying to
compete on price or you WILL loose your job.

You say the best pair of boots you ever owned was made in the USA.
What do you think would happen if that company would decide to cut
the quality of the boots it made so that they could compete with
foreign boot manufactures on price? You would buy your next pair of
boots from them expecting the quality you once received from them,
and not receiving it, would stop buying their boots. How foolish of
that boot company. I�m certain you would be more than willing to
pay a few extra dollars to buy quality boots.

They same is true of your customers. Find what sets you apart from
the competition (or better yet, find what your customers like better
about your work) and develop that area of your business, let your
customers know why your product is better and you will be
successful. Quit worrying about were the completion is coming from.
You can just as easily loose your job to competition across the
street as you can to competition across the ocean.

Brad Simon