Buying Australian made, grown or owned

[Fifth]

There have been a few threads lately about the future of Australian manufacturing and agriculture. Most of these threads have focused on the broader economic and political ramifications rather than the personal consumer aspect.

Forgetting pragmatism, on a purely personal and apolitical level do you prefer to buy products made, grown or owned by Australians?

I'm not out to argue economics and answers needn't be logical, well-thought out arguments. There is no ethically correct or incorrect answer. It's all about personal choice.

For me, lately I've been finding myself increasingly dissatisfied with cheap goods from Asia and I'm making some small attempt to wean myself off a bit. This is for two main reasons -

1. I'm sick of the cheap, disposable approach to production and I miss craftsmanship (this can apply to Australian or other Western made products to be fair). I'm prepared to pay significantly more for quality. I also like the history of products and am more likely to buy products from older companies who still take pride in their approach to production and don't offshore. For this reason, I'm more inclined to buy something made in the US or Europe over something made in Asia.

2. As illogical as it may be, I have genuine love for this country and feel a certain joy in buying quality products which were made here. I'd go so far as to say I feel just a little proud of this country when I buy a well-made product which was created by Australian hands. I've even let the made in Australia sticker persuade me to buy a product I was otherwise unsure of.

I'm also trying to buy more products from actual stores as opposed to the Internet. This is because I kind of miss old fashioned shopping and I'm also disheartened to see the local shopping strip looking like a ghost town. I'm also trying to wean myself off chains and franchises and support smaller independent stores more, especially if I like the people running the store. I want to start practising customer loyalty.

So far as fresh produce goes, I definitely prefer products grown and produced here but I find it fairly impossible to even know half the time and my knowledge of agricultural production is somewhere in the vicinity of zilch .

I'm only making very small inroads so far, but I'm already feeling better about it.

I'm probably just getting conservative and backwater with age. Next I'll be writing indignant letters to the editor on my 1950s typewriter, but if it makes me happy then what's the harm?

So my question is - does it matter to you where products are made, grown or owned and does the country of origin persuade you either way?

 

[Ausprop]

matters to me - I try to buy aussie. in fact just placed an order for $30k of commercial kitchen equipment and was pleased to get it up to about 90% aussie.

soon they will bring laws in to make restaurants disclose origin of fish - that would be a blessing. haven't been able to eat imported fish since hearing of them being caught in sewer ponds or the lakes of africa nibbling on human corpses

 

[chrispy]

It does. I do try and buy locally made when I can.

I am insistent on taking Australian made goods overseas as presents, so I was horrified when I bought tiny UGG boots for two babies in the UK to find hidden inside the boots was "Made In China". I had gone to the UGG Shop at Melbourne Central specifically and paid $100 per pair to ensure I had Australian made.

My two sisters wanted UGG boots when I went over in April, so I hunted around and found them at the Queen Vic Market, they are actually made locally and had Made In Australia on a label on the back of the boot.

In the UK the same boots are being sold for 3 times the price and are made in China.

Chris

 

[nhg]

I try to buy quality where possible. From fishing rods, food produce to cordless drills.

As much as I like to buy Australian made where I can it is usually American, German or Japanese.

Clothes wise usually shop in Aussie brand stores, SABA or MARCS (and Herringbone which is no longer aussie owned).

It peeved me beyond measure when I saw some shirts allegedly designed specifically for the brands at a third of the price in Istanbul with a different label on it.

 

[oracle]

Might be a good idea to change it to a poll to capture statistics.

While I do want to support the local economy but I also believe in capitalism.

Hence, I invest my super money and some of my savings in the sharemarket as a long term investment (not trading in and out) providing capital to Australian businesses to use it to innovate, compete and expand and thereby create true wealth for the country.

But when it comes to buying products I look out for value for money. Therefore, it doesn't necessarily need to be the cheapest on the market imported from overseas.

Cheers,
Oracle.

 

[Fifth]

Might be a good idea to change it to a poll to capture statistics.

Poll added.

 

[lizzie]

I voted yes as I would love to buy exclusively Australian ... however ... just got back from grocery shopping - near $300 for budget meat, veges and fruit, some dairy, some pre-prep like bol sauce and green chilli mix, basics such as home brand pasta, coconut cream, firelighters and tinned tommies, pet food and washing powder (exie being on septic) ... family of 3 and it still cost me near $300.

Granted I did buy 3 packets of Magnums as hubby does like them and they were on sale.

I am sorry ... but ...

 

[John_]

If the quality is good and the price is good i don't care, business is business simple.

 

[luckyone]

I try to buy Australian made. I absolutely refuse to buy fruit/veg/meat/fish from overseas. I'll try to buy clothes and things Australian made, but I'm not quite as strict on that as I am with food.

 

[Mooze]

I'll often try to buy Australian grown/made food, but given current packaging laws this can be very difficult.

With other items I shop for value, but also for service. Unfortunately I seem to be driven more and more to the internet as the service in stores is horrendous. Whilst I'll happily purchase from the local bike shop here as the service is fantastic, I won't purchase many other items locally due to really poor service received in the past.

 

[Rolf Latham]

foodwise I will try for local

US or Euro as an alternative and asia as a distant last

Very hard to not buy some import product -mushrooms are a good example - in Germany I can buy them from say France...........in Aus I have no mainstream choice but to go China

Much local frozen or processed food product is produced locally and processed offshore.


ta

rolf

 

[sanj]

foodwise I will try for local

US or Euro as an alternative and asia as a distant last

Very hard to not buy some import product -mushrooms are a good example - in Germany I can buy them from say France...........in Aus I have no mainstream choice but to go China

Much local frozen or processed food product is produced locally and processed offshore.


ta

rolf

You get quite a lot of mushrooms coming in from Korea and some local growers too.

a crazy example of local product processed offshore are blue swimmer crabs which are sent to thailand from memory, picked, vacc packed and sent back here. dont know if it is still the case but it certainly was a few years ago.

there is also plenty of high quality asian food production, it is wrong to lump them all in the same basket

 

[Terry_w]

Its strange how Asia is lumped together like it is one big country. Also strange how 'Asian' products are considered inferior. I recall many years ago in Japan hearing a woman say, oh made in Australia and being disappointed at the quality.

I buy all my clothes, and anything else I can from Asia. I prefer to shop in Japan for clothing as it is good quality, usually made in China or Korea. The stuff we get in Australia that is made in China is usually just crap, but the Japanese stuff made in China is good stuff, made to standards that the Japanese consumers demand.

Food is different. Food standards can be higher in Japan than Australia, but the poorer countries are a worry. I was in Laos a few days ago, and the local food there terrified me. Now I am in Khon Kaen, Thailand and I am constantly thinking about hygiene, hormones and pesticides etc. There are little standards here and you never know what pollutants/additives/chemicals are in the food. It wouldn't surprise me if they are still using DDT here. I prefer to try to get Australia made food for these reasons.

 

[vaughan]

I'm extremely wary of the "100% Australian Owned" label. And a lot of brands that have "Australian" in the name. The "company" is usually just an import company.

 

[BayView]

So my question is - does it matter to you where products are made, grown or owned and does the country of origin persuade you either way?

I simply go to the shop and buy what I need, when I need it.

We don't shop much, and we are not consumers of doodads, so hardly ever buy anything along those lines.

Our latest purchase was a new lounge suite which we needed, from Plush furniture - on the GE never-never, and I have no idea where the leather came from. I know it was made here, that's all.

I'm time poor, so I can't afford the luxury (or effort) of having to scrutinise the where and how and so on when shopping for food, clothes etc.

My wife goes to the market every second Sat while I look after the kids - I hate markets, but we need to save loads of money, and I want to spend time with my kids, so it works well.

I don't know where the produce at the market comes from, but the stuff we buy from there is way cheaper than the local supermarkets - even Aldi, so that's how it is for us. The hip pocket really matters for us these days, so my guilt level is zero unfortunately..

The rest of our grocery shopping is done at Aldi, and anything else from Ritchies if we are desperate.

Based on this, I'd say we buy bugger-all Aussie anything?

I do go through a prodigious amount of Australian wine though.

When production costs O/S are a fraction of the same process here, and with online buying escalating, it's always gunna be that big business will move offshore, and the small businesses will struggle and /or fold.

 

[Rolf Latham]

there is also plenty of high quality asian food production, it is wrong to lump them all in the same basket

agreed............ I lived in Indonesia for too long.

The discernement betweeng ood and maybe not is somewhat tough though ?


Much NZ caught fish gets sent to China to be processed and then comes back

ta
rolf

 

[Aaron_C]

Food I was try to buy here but there does come a point when you question the value given how expensive things are these days.

 

[Richard Feynman]

BayView, from memory, over 80% of what Aldi carry is Aussie grown/made. I also shop there.

A large portion of what I purchase is Aussie made/grown but I don't go out of my way to ensure this. Why? Two reasons.

1) While supporting Australian business/industry is fantastic, supporting the rest of the world (especially developing countries) is also a good thing – there are billions of people living in poverty, and where a single dollar will go a lot further towards positively impacting lives.

2) I'm living frugally to accelerate my investing so money withheld from local consumption will instead provide housing for locals.

 

[DavidMc]

Without a doubt Australian food where possible.

It can be more expensive than import options, however that's due to stricter regulations. To me it's worth the extra 30c or so to have what I consider a superior, healthier product. Look at all the weird diseases we are getting these days - I'd bet that's from all the weird food we're eating.

Food can be made cheaper overseas using farming practices that are illegal here. Is that what you really want to eat, though?

- Horse meat in Europe
- Human waste as fertilizer in China
- Hazardous pesticides in South America
- Unlabeled GMO in the US

No thanks...!


The second main reason I buy Australian owned and made is the effect the loss of secure, well-paid manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries has on family life for many young Australians:

...among young men 25-39 years old:

- 29 per cent were not in full-time work, living on less than $31,000 per year; and
- another 12 per cent were in full time work and also living on less than $31,000 annual income.

Dr Birrell’s land mark study(1) showed that this amounted to over 800,000 men in their prime income earning and family formation years living on incomes so low that they suffered a dramatic decline in marriage and a big rise in divorce and family breakdown.

The statistics clearly showed that the highest rate of marriage and lowest rate of family breakdown was among the wealthy, while those on low incomes and with no formal qualifications after leaving school suffered much more family breakdown and had significantly fewer marriages. The statistics showed a necessary condition for marriage and a family is a man having a full-time job.

Dr Birrell suggested that Australia’s economic restructuring over the previous two decades had undermined job security in industries like manufacturing, which had traditionally employed men with no post-school qualifications. Their predicament left them without the resources to attract a wife and establish a home and family.

http://www.ausbuy.com.au/articles_s...id]=46&cHash=84eaa00c65ce67b4118a82a1d3eaeda3

Call me extremist however after reading this report I believe there is a relationship between us buying Australian products at the supermarket and the decline in our society, increased homelessness, drug use, family breakdown, suicide, etc.

I'd rather pay the extra 30c at Coles now than continually be asked for $1 on the street.

You can say 'that's capitalism', however I've spend a lot of time living and working in the 'extreme capitalism' countries like the US and HK... that's NOT where we want to be heading.

(Note - look for 'PRODUCT of Australia', rather than just 'Made in Australia').

 

[BayView]

BayView, from memory, over 80% of what Aldi carry is Aussie grown/made. I also shop there.

A large portion of what I purchase is Aussie made/grown but I don't go out of my way to ensure this. Why? Two reasons.

1) While supporting Australian business/industry is fantastic, supporting the rest of the world (especially developing countries) is also a good thing – there are billions of people living in poverty, and where a single dollar will go a lot further towards positively impacting lives.

2) I'm living frugally to accelerate my investing so money withheld from local consumption will instead provide housing for locals.

Beautifully done!

Love that mindset.