So why should buying pots and pans end up in this forum??

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Hilary the Touched
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So why should buying pots and pans end up in this forum??

Post by Hilary the Touched » Fri Sep 17, 2010 5:24 pm

I bought me a set of Revereware (should that be two words?) pots and pans, oh, about 25 years ago. And they've provided good value for money, and still look okay, with the exception of the largest pan (skillet?), which at some point was overheated or heated and then flung into cold water--whichever, it warped, so that the bottom no longer sits flush against the surface of the stove.
For a long time I ignored it, and then I got an internet coupon for a local Williams/Sonoma outlet store, and I thought, damn it, I'm gonna get some new cookware. DH and I toddle off and looked at pots.
We're all hefting 'em and everything, and we kind of like the All-Clad, but they're way heavy and they're expensive and we don't really like the way the handles feel. We keep looking. Aha! A whole set of "Emeril" stuff that has very nice, ergonomic handles, and look! the set (13 pieces, I think, including lids) is really reasonable! Such a deal! Hey, they're made by All-Clad . . . wait, why are they so much cheaper than the other ones?
Ah. Because they're made in China.
When's the last time you were able to buy something that WASN'T?? I was so pissed. We are hemorrhaging jobs and money in this country, the middle class is shrinking at an unprecedented rate, and CEOs are "earning" orders of magnitude of their employee's salaries: they increase stock value by reducing costs by outsourcing jobs.
It's cheap to manufacture in countries where workers have no healthcare or benefits. It's cheap when you don't have to abide by environmental legislation.
Well, great. And five years down the line when the U.S.'s entire tax-base is happily lodged in some snug off-shore account, and the pollution is beginning to nudge our own coasts, then what???

DH and I had a huddle, and decided that only one of our pans was functionally sub-par. We could afford to get one American-made replacement, and we'll do the others in the same way. 'Cause at some point, a person's gotta take a damn stand.

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Marie
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Post by Marie » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:33 pm

Mom got me Reverware for my wedding shower - they lasted a long time and I think I sold them 2 years ago at a yard sale. I'm not much of a cook so I'll admit I didn't think much about where my replacements were made - but you are right Hilary - it is such a shame that a lot of our jobs have gone overseas - just to see those workers exploited and their countries get poluted. I'll have to pay more attention in the future to where my products come from.

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Post by grannybear » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:28 pm

I still have a set of Revere Ware I got for my first apartment in 1959. Still in good shape.

My big gripe is people who complain about taxes (ours in Florida are low) and keep at it until taxes are cut mostly by laying people off.
Then they complain about the rise in unemployment, the libraries being cut, the parks and pool hours being shortened.
Hey people you can't have it both ways.

Now that I've got myself worked up I won't be able to sleep. Oh well, I'll continue reading One Good Turn. That sounds good.

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Post by Helen8 » Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:30 pm

And you'd soon discover that the pots and pans made in China have cadmium and lead and probably uranium in them because they don't give a damn, just so they can claim world trading dominence.

Good job, Hilary!

Buy American-made products, when you can . . . 'cause they're getting harder and harder to find.

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Post by grannybear » Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:23 pm

Remember years ago when Walmart used to advertise that all their goods were made in the USA? Now everything is made in China.

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:06 pm

*I'm reading One Good Turn too, grannybear, and enjoying it very much!*

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