Buying British...

[davegw]

...When I go to the supermarket is relatively easy now - especially for fruit and veg

But buying anything else seems to be a minefield. For example, recently I bought a new lathe, from SIP, a company I thought was British, and when I met the rep at show where I bought the tool I was given the opinion that the manufacturing was done locally (I knew that most of it was made in China so I assumed that he meant some post production manufacture)

Haveing just taken a look at the SIP website it doesn't even look like a british company.

In these days of supporting local industry and reducing carbon footprints why can't we bring back the Buy British campaign!

 

[Steve Maskery]

Dave
It's easy to buy British, you just have to spend a lot more money. Wage costs in China and other parts of the world are not just lower than here, they are a LOT lower. Perhaps 1% of the costs here. Those people can live like everyone else they know on "a dollar a day" or similar. If you or I could live like everyone else we know on a dollar a day then the UK would be a competitive manufaturing country. But we can't and we aren't.

It's not just Britain, of course, the same is true of most western countries. Those companies who do keep their production facilites in the motherland, such as Festool in Germany, produce high-quality products, but we all complain about how much they cost.

We can't have it both ways, I wish we could.

S

 

[davegw]

Dave
It's easy to buy British, you just have to spend a lot more money.

S

I disagree Steve, try buying a british family car? I don't mind paying more, and am well aware of the difference in wages, I in fact until 2 months ago managed an IT team in India who were billing us at 25% of employment cost of an equivalent person in the UK, so lord only knows how little they were being paid.

My problem isn't about paying the extra, it's about knowing what you've purchased is British.

If I buy a spud that says it was grown in Lincolnshire I can pretty much guarantee it was grown in Lincolnshire and all of it's parts were too (Skin, Flesh, Mud ) but I don't know that I can say that about anything else, in fact I'm fairly certain I can't

 

[Steve Maskery]

But my argument still stands, Dave. The reason that there are no all-British volume-car manufacturers left in the UK is because of the cost issue, is it not? OK, BL went to the wall largely on quality grounds, but for most it was just a case of bang for the buck, wasn't it?

S

 

[NickWelford]

On the other hand, you can buy a foreign car that is made in Britain......

 

[RogerS]

I'm afraid that when I buy anything now I automatically assume that it's been made in China.

 

[davegw]

I think that all of the reason the British Car industry (rover being the last) went to the wall is (Perceived) Quality, as far as I know the only surviving marques do so because they provide a quality product, those that were just expensive have fallen by the way side.

But I think you're missing my point Steve, yes British goods are more expensive, but even should I want to buy them (and I do), I can't. and when I think I have (even in part) I haven't.

I just want to be able to walk into a shop, see, lets say a TV, a Fridge or a Pillar Drill, and know that it was made (not just stuck together) in Britain.

 

[adzeman]

I worry about our loss of manufacturing or should I say cant get my head around it. When we loose a major industry they replace it with a service industry, there has got to be a ceiling on this.
I am from the North originally when it had Mills and factories thes have all gone. Take Meadowhall This used to be a noisy industrious steel producing area. When it was the steel strike Hattons a private firm stayed open and I remember the strikers from British Steel picketing the works. The Hatton workers shouting at the British Steel guys you are dinosaurs, get real and other comments. After the strike Hattons went to the wall and British Steel are still there all be it under a different name. So where is this in a market economy?

I did economics at school and the question given to us was how many arrow heads is a rabbit worth? The start of a discussion on a villages economy.

There is a butcher a baker and a candlestick maker lets say there are 10 families in the village. The baker therefore makes 10 loaves a day, The taylor makes 12 suits a year and so on. The rabbit hunter shoots 10 rabbits and depending on how good a shot needs 12 arrow heads a day.

Therefore the minimum wage in simple terms is 10 tokens a day until the guy making the arrow heads creates a shortage, holds back. and only releases 5 arrow heads. The cost of rabbits goes up.

We spent a whole term discussing this argument.

 

[lurker]

Even with food you can't be sure!!

I used to live in the far North of Scotland, fish & shellfish were landed at Scrabster & Aberdeen, lorried to south England AND THEN FLOWN TO THAILAND to be processed & packed and THEN brought back to the UK shops and sold as Scottish fish.

This was one of the big names you see in the frozen fish section in the supermarkets. I think thats still the case.

 

[davegw]

Even with food you can't be sure!!

I used to live in the far North of Scotland, fish & shellfish were landed at Scrabster & Aberdeen, lorried to south England AND THEN FLOWN TO THAILAND to be processed & packed and THEN brought back to the UK shops and sold as Scottish fish.

This was one of the big names you see in the frozen fish section in the supermarkets. I think thats still the case.

I saw a report the other day that they had stopped doing it becuase of the transport costs (and not because they'd been caught!)

I also know of a respected supermarket that sends their cattle to scotland for a weeks holiday at the end of it's life so it can be sold as Scottish Beef.

 

[cant-weld-wood]

we have a big problem its called the goverment.
they put fuel up and everything else goes up
all because it is needed to get it to the shops.
and i agree with wot steve says its cheaper to have it made out there
that is the only way some buisness survive today.

 

[davegw]

we have a big problem its called the goverment.
they put fuel up and everything else goes up
all because it is needed to get it to the shops.
and i agree with wot steve says its cheaper to have it made out there
that is the only way some buisness survive today.

Sorry Can't weld, British Industry (and the ability to buy british goods) was f****d long before this government, and probably before the last. the increase in Fuel costs haven't helped for sure but they just cannot be the cause.

Manufacturing in the UK was doomed during the '60's '70's and had the final nails in the coffin during the 80's

 

[mailee]

steve you mentioned cars. Have you seen the the poor quality of the new Mondeo and Focus? I know times are hard all around when I see extremely cheap plastic used and almost everything clipped together! They now rely on more and more electronics to sell them but at the cost of maiking the rest of the vehicle out of sub standard materials. This though doesn't seem to be passed on to the customer either as they still cost in the region of £20,000!! Where are we going? :roll:

 

[woodbloke]

There are still some things that are genuinly 'made in England' but as Steve said, deep pockets required :shock: - Rob

 

[davegw]

There are still some things that are genuinly 'made in England' but as Steve said, deep pockets required :shock: - Rob

And just to prove I'm not afraid to put my money where my mouth is. I am wearing a pair of these right now, which really do follow my plan of buying local.

 

[lurker]

I was just about to ask if they were truely still made in Northants.

I'd bet the leather ain't local though :lol:

 

[davegw]

someone once told me that all shoe leather is from pigs, as it's soft; Given the number of pig farms we have in Northants I doubt it's local, that being said there are lots of pig farms elsewhere?

 

[Grinding One]

someone once told me that all shoe leather is from pigs, as it's soft; Given the number of pig farms we have in Northants I doubt it's local, that being said there are lots of pig farms elsewhere?

I as a youth had a job making shoes in a factorie,I was the cutter(cut the pieces out of the hide)it was in fact all cow hides in most shoes.We had a special place in the companys building for special shoes rattlesnke boots and shark boots ,pig skin,alligator..etc. But what we made the most of was out of cow hides.The cow hide leather can be split 10 times to get different weights in leather for different styles of shoes.

 

[Grinding One]

Dave
It's easy to buy British, you just have to spend a lot more money. Wage costs in China and other parts of the world are not just lower than here, they are a LOT lower. Perhaps 1% of the costs here. Those people can live like everyone else they know on "a dollar a day" or similar. If you or I could live like everyone else we know on a dollar a day then the UK would be a competitive manufaturing country. But we can't and we aren't.

It's not just Britain, of course, the same is true of most western countries. Those companies who do keep their production facilites in the motherland, such as Festool in Germany, produce high-quality products, but we all complain about how much they cost.

We can't have it both ways, I wish we could.

S

Same here the big money guys want to make all they can,problem is that they are polluting these other countrys because they don`t have the restrictions they have here from the industrial wastes.Along with the people not getting three meals a day....

 

[Steve Maskery]

Did anyone see the film - Kinky Boots , I think it was called - about a shoe factory that was going to the wall, but then it found a niche market in fetish boots. Based on a true story and very very funny.

And no, I'm not a transvestite foot-fetishist. Not on a Thursday anyway.

Cheers
Steve