Me- “Are you feeling it yet?”
Person on the street- “Feel what?”
Me- “The pinch.”
Person on the street- (staring back at me thinking to themself… should I call for security?
Me- “The pinch. You know. The pinch from all our products being stuck at the port because we have outsourced so much of our manufacturing overseas!”
Person on the street- “Dude, I don’t even know you. But I am so glad you brought up this relevant topic randomly on the street to a complete stranger. The healthy discourse on the public square has definitely disappeared. I feel like you are single handedly brining it back. Now, tell me more about this pinch since I am not in a rush to get to my next thing in this tech-hurried world we live in.”
Me- “Lovely. Grab a coffee and relax. This should only take two minutes… our society is clearly obsessed with buying cheap and buying a lot of it. Because of US worker wages and workers comp and insurance and the need to constantly compete and for a web of other reasons, it’s hard for business owners to make stuff here in the US. So we outsource our manufacturing. We have other countries that don’t pay their people well, who don’t pay insurance and workers comp among other things do the manufacturing for us at way more cheaper cost. So consumers in the US have stuff. But it’s rarely made in the US. It’s all made half way across the world.
Our outsourcing has created a very intricate supply chain network that has always been prone to interruptions. This being the reality, throw into the supply chain mesh a global pandemic, political games, trucker layoffs, a demand to get products next day delivery etc etc and now we have all these products stuck at the port not moving.
Person on the street- “Is this related to why I just paid $75 for a regular cup of coffee?”
Me- “Precisely. Inflation. Higher costs. It’s all connected.”
Person on the street- “What’s the solution?”
Me- “American Made. We need to make more stuff right here in the good Ol’ US of A. We need American manufacturing to make a comeback.”
Person on the street- “You know what, I know if this company that takes old barns that people want to throw away or burn and they repurpose the wood to make cool interior design products. All their manufacturing is done in Lexington, Ky. They employ tons of people, even some people who have a hard time finding work, and they make all sorts of cool reclaimed wood stuff. Is this what your’re talking about?”
Me-
Person on the street- Again thinking to themself… should I call a doctor for this guy?
Me- “Do you have the contact to this company? I absolutely must meet them.”
Person on the street- “ Um, well. I think just Google Old World Timber in Lexington, Ky. You’ll get all the information you need.”
Me- ……..
Person on the street- “Seems like that guy has found his way. Now back to delivering this truckload of American Made repurposed wood as soon as possible so I can get back to Lexington to pick up a new load.”
