Buy American!

As an American, there are plenty of good reasons to purchase products made in the USA, especially when it comes to gifts. Hopefully, the following has never happened to you. As your visit to China winds down, you give your gracious local host a thoughtful gift from home. After it is opened and shown around, you notice a tag on the bottom, small but nonetheless visible, that reads in bold, “Made in China.”

Beyond avoiding this sort of embarrassment, the reasons to purchase locally-made products have to do with our economy, the environment, product quality, convenience, service, and support. Buying American products helps keep US employment up and keeps exports down. Both of these have a positive effect on inflation and our standard of living. As I mentioned in my previous posting, buying locally-made products keeps energy usage down by minimizing energy-consuming transportation. As for quality, there is no question that you’ll find our locally made crafts are the finest quality in the world. And if ever a locally-made product should become damaged, it can be easily and promptly repaired. So how do insure that the products you are considering are made in the USA? Massachusetts Bay Trading Company was founded to promote and sell products made in New England. We work closely with local craftspeople to produce the products for our site. When an item important to us cannot be made in New England, we strive to find a source for it elsewhere in the US. Unfortunately, a limited number of products cannot be sourced from the US – hopefully this is only a temporary condition.

We clearly denote each product that is made in Massachusetts with the “Made in Massachusetts” medallion, shown to the right. Products that are made in another part of the country, such as some of our Red Sox items, are designated as Made in USA in the product description. Keep your eye out for products and stores that display the American Made Alliance logo and you’ll not only get the highest quality products, but you’ll be doing your part

to get our economy back to strength… You’ll also avoid the embarrassment of lugging a made-in-China gift back to its country of origin. And if you haven’t already done so, be sure to read my earlier blog entry to avoid other faux pas and pit falls of international gift giving.

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