A China free Christmas? Really? Give me a break.

On CNN TV this AM (but nothing on their website) I saw a show about going “China-Free for Christmas. The “news” (gag, choke, cough, chortle) had Barbie telling Ken that she’s “contracted lead poisoning” and is rather embarrassed about it. I kid you not—CNN the “world leader” is using talking dolls to push BS politically motivated agendas.Wait, maybe that’s not surprising.Now what CNN and others are NOT saying is that more than 99% of all imports from China to the US are safe—not very exciting news, eh? They also don’t say that the percentage of rejected products FROM the US to China is higher!!! Yup, the US has a worse record than China! Don't hear many Chinese planning a American-Free Chinese New Year.Now I’ve got 5 boys between the ages of 12 and 1 so I’m certainly going shopping this Christmas. But making it China free? Um…not a chance. I know better and I don't have the time to hunt down or the money to spend on US toys/products even if I didn't. These are great excuses, I know, but the real kicker is this: if my kids and I didn't want US products last week/month/Christmas why do we want them now?!But just in case you are well educated (i.e. you don't watch CNN) and missed Ken and Barbie this morning here a few more choice lies promoting the China-Free concept. First a site that’s supposed to help, if you really want to try to go China-free. But, like the CNN crap it’s completely impractical and basically dishonest. (More on this later.) As is this article with no stats about how many people are actually avoiding China vs. just “thinking twice” about it. As with most things, people talk morals and spend money completely differently but this article would lead you to believe that so many people are going China-Free they couldn't even interview one without stepping on the toes of another.Politicians have Christmas too! This claim to be able to stop unsafe products from Clinton denies the fact that the problem is the inability of US companies to do adequate QC on their own products and the federal government has even less control within China. Or this site listing toys from Thailand and Indonesia as an alternative—as if production standards in Thailand (read: outsourced to Cambodia) are so much better! (That was sarcasm; the standards are NOT better.) Or how about this article that says all China made stuff is “cheap plastic crap.” Can you say iPod, Sony, Nike, Nokia, Dell? Yup, all made in China and exported to the US.This blog cries “9 million toys recalled by Mattel,” but all but one type of toy listed was recalled for DESIGN problems, not lead or manufacturing problems. How is that a China issue?! Sound like stupid Americans to me.Now to clear the air, I’ll admit my job is China. I live there, I work there, and I buy stuff and manufacture stuff there. But before you say “see you have a vested interest in making China look good” think about this: the recent product recalls are the best press I could have ever dreamed of for my business! The more recalls there are the more business I get. The safer China is the more business I lose. So financially it would be smart for me to shut up and agree with CNN. But the “news” is so completely stupid that I just can’t.Now, since CNN isn’t putting their crap online, we’ll use US News and World Report's article on the same topic as a substitute. Rick Newman’s suggestions, in USN&WR, for going China-free couldn’t be more stupid if he was trying to do parody. Remember, Rick is trying to sell magazines—his Christmas depends on it--so you know he's got a vested interest in stoking the flames. For example:Rick says: “avoid toys with magnets and small parts.” What does this have to do with China? Don’t the designs for these “small parts” come from US companies with US designers that are also producing “small parts” in the US? Mattel already admitted as much, saying that this was a US problem, not a China problem. Maybe avoiding small parts is safe for unsupervised toddlers but won’t help you go China free.Rick says: “avoid painted toys unless they are made in the US or EU.” This is to keep kids away from lead poisoning, I guess. First, 85% of all US sold toys are made in China so this is going to be hard to do. But what Rick doesn’t tell you is that toys that are made in many countries all over the world can be listed as “made in the US” or “made in UE” if they meet assembly percentages. So, this is just smoke and mirrors. Buy lead covered parts from China, ship to Mexico--no china labels! Further, is the scare lead poisoning or China rising? If you’re really worried about lead (and not just news scares) you’ll have to avoid all the items that contain lead not just the ones that have lead paint from China.Rick Says: “Don’t buy metal Jewelry” because of the possible lead in the materials and the dangerous parts. None? How about safe, US made stuff? So painted things from the US are ok but metal things aren’t? Does metal jewelry break more often than plastic? How is this one of the major fears of toy shoppers? Once again, Rick is either just using China in the headline to sales papers or doesn’t think that you as a parent have enough sense to keep knives and scissors away from 2 year olds.Rick says: “buy brand-name toys” because the big companies have a better chance of finding and fixing mistakes in China than do smaller brands. OK, this is just pure unadulterated ignorance. Rick has obviously never been to China or a factory. Here are a couple pieces of fact from my experience in factories on the ground.1. All manufactures in China outsource to at least some degree. Some outsource the whole item, some just raw materials (like paint).2. None of large toy manufactures or box stores, NO ONE is going all the way up the supply line on each and every piece of each and every $2 Thomas Train and testing it all themselves. NO ONE! Not in China, not in India, not in Mexico. NO ONE. Some of the EU stores have said they want to (tacking carbon foot printing) and it's going to cost MILLIONS of dollars and take years to implement.One of these big companies told me directly, when we were having a product/factory qualified for their production in 2005, "just pick the biggest and cleanest factory and don't list the sub-suppliers." Yea, there's some brand-name safety for you!Another one of the big boys has such a corrupt QC department that QC employees are able to "retire" after only a few years of work. I've been told numbers of how much a factory pays said company's QC to accept product--QC guys are paid thousands of US dollars to approve product every time something ships.Another big company, I've been told, demands payment to approve the shipping of even acceptable product.3. Big companies don’t always have the best processes, just the lowest prices and biggest orders--and those are the keys to business in China. I have seen the reports for materials that are tested for name brand goods but then the actual materials that are put into products with these big companies names on them are completely different. I can promise you that the brand name means much less than you think.Rick says: “test for lead yourself.” Um…don’t I have to buy the toys first to do this?! How is that sticking it to China? Sounds like you’d have me buy product, test it, reject it and then buy it again just with a “made in the USA” sticker on it. So... China gets its money. The toy company gets double. And me, the consumer, is out twice. How about—don’t let your kids eat Thomas the train?! The lead levels in the paint of the rejected Mattel toys was less than what was in the paint in the schools and homes when I was a kid--and, guess what? I'm still alive!Rick says: “check for recalls.” Ok, good idea—but how about, since we want safe goods specifically from China, check and see if the problem is US design or China manufacturing. Buying lead free items from the US that will choke your children is, kind-of a step back, I'm thinking.As American we like cheap stuff. Don't deny it. Look at the personal credit crisis, the mortgage collapse and the success of Wal Mart ("Low Price Leader"). The bottom line is this: until the price of goods from China is as expensive as the same goods manufactured in the US the “China-Free Christmas” will continue to be a TV-news only issue. Don’t believe me? Just look and see how many of your electronics, kitchen and household decoration items, furniture, clothes, shoes, bags and car parts are made in China. Are you willing to forego the lowest prices, sale items and name-brand items that you and your kids want this year just to be politically correct? Unless it’s financially painless, this boycott will be dead before it starts.If you really want to make a difference there are a couple of things you really can do. First, boycott items and stores, not brands and countries. The US companies are the ones with their name on the products. They are the ones testing and doing QC and QA. They are the ones demanding lower and lower prices. They are the ones making the most money (significantly higher % than the Chinese factories). They are also usually the ones with PR departments in the US and (oft corrupt) QC departments in China—convenient.Second, make sure that if you decide not to buy a specific good from China (or any where for any reason) you write to the company and tell them why. If you don't write they won't know.Third, if you are involved in overseas production then you must be responsible for anything and everything that has your name on it!!! You, only you can prevent....(insert product recall reason here).This is a political issue and when there are kids and safety involved you know the media is going to run it into the dirt. Follow the money if you want to know who’s really at fault and where the news is coming from.But hey, all this China-is-evil press is great for my business! 圣诞快乐 (Merry Christmas)!