Made in America... What does it mean?

We are buying more and more products from China, Mexico and India these days. The effect is  catastrophic. We are loosing jobs and are sending our hard earned money to foreign countries instead of to fellow Americans. Don't get me wrong, buying foreign goods is not a bad thing in itself. It is only bad when the vast majority of our dollars are leaving this country.

Just the other day, I noticed a "Made in Mexico" label on my Kellogg's cereal box. Can't we even make cereal in the US? The more money we send over seas, the richer they get and the poorer we get. Did you know that over 95% of all copper sinks sold in the USA are made in Mexico, China or India? If the web site does not indicate the sinks are made in the USA, you can safely assume they are imported.

Here is the rub. China, for example, has artificially deflated the value of their money. This situation makes all of their goods very cheap to by. Until our government levels the playing field, our manufacturers will continue to make products in China. That all being said, there is a clear difference in quality between most imports and domestically produced products. Often in China, workers are laid off weekly as work becomes slower. New workers are hired when the workload increases. This constant revolving door policy causes many problems. Often, lesser skilled workers are hired after skilled workers are laid off and have found other work. Consistency is the main problem. I, personally, have seen shipments from China and India that vary so much in quality that it truly makes you wonder...

So what does this mean to us as consumers? Well, we have two choices buy the better product made in the USA or take a chance with an import. When you are pondering this, remember our troops are risking their lives over seas and we reap the rewards (freedom, etc.) with little personal involvement. We can get involved with helping America. Let's say every adult American each simply reallocated 1 dollar per day, spending 1 dollar less on foreign-made goods, 1 dollar more on American-made goods. (That's $30 per month, per person, and it is not an extra $30 per month, but just where you spend it!) After a year, this would add up to $72,000,000,000. What could the real, productive American economy do with an extra $72 billion? How about 1,800,000 new jobs paying $40,000 per year?  Yes, almost 2 million new jobs a year! We do that without a government bail out or another stimulus package or higher taxes.

So, should you purchase a Rachiele sink simply because it is made in the USA? Heck no! You should consider it because it has a greater value to you than the imports. What makes our sink a greater value? Here is a short list.

• - Lifetime warranty verses one year
• - Much higher quality
• - Rear corner drains make more sense
• - Antimicrobial copper -  no import can claim this
• - 14 gauge cold rolled copper, 12 times stronger than most imports
•  - Money back guarantee if you are not thrilled
•  - Factory direct, don't pay dealer profits
•  - Easy care copper sinks, no need to dry after each use as most imports recommend
• - Exclusive Millennia scratch resistant stainless

This is where a Rachiele copper sink is born. Your sink is all American, from the ground up!

Left, you will see the likely birthplace of most imported sinks. This photo is of scrap copper pipe, burnt wire and other scraps of copper. There is a high likelihood that what you see in this photo will be melted down and used without any further purification. I am careful to indicate when I do not have first hand knowledge so in this case I will tell you I have reliable second hand knowledge that this is the case in some areas of Mexico, India and China. Turning scrap copper into 99.9% pure copper is not only expensive, but the methods for testing are very sophisticated. I personally can not imagine these countries going through the process of properly recycling the copper and testing regularly for purity.

Old wiring and plumbing are the most likely candidates for scrap copper use in manufacturing copper sinks abroad. It is only in our recent history in the USA that lead solder was not allowed in connecting copper pipes. I am not sure if it is used in wire solder. I can't imagine this is the case in China, Mexico and India. If it were the case, they would be giving detailed information as well as laboratory results (from independent US labs) indicating so.