I don’t mind the products, and some of the cutest and most innovative things come from Asian countries. My problem is that I get stuck on a brand or company, and in my mind, I just have to shop at store/brand x or y, but not store/brand z!
Also, I have to wonder if people know how many products are made in China, Taiwan, Japan, etc that sell on Amazon. The guitar I just ordered is made in Indonesia. My Starbucks cups come from China. The economy is very global.
Kids in the US have been forced to work. Some states are trying to change minimum age laws for working.
These are current issues in the US too.
Let’s work through this. 1 Chinese yuan currency is equal to 14 cents U.S. currency. When you buy a $20.00 item, they get approx 143 yuan. The average cost of living in China is around $750 a month which is considered affordable by the worlds standards. For instance japans average cost of living a month is about $1000. The reason it is cheap is because you are buying the items directly from the producer instead of third party like Amazon, who raises the price of the item so they themselves profit.
The child labor that happens can be abusive. But let’s be honest, most of the businesses are family owned and operated. They have their children, their cousins, their aunts and uncles working together. Literally everyone. The family run operations is very common in Asian culture. I’m not saying there are no cases of child or slave labor. But I will say, the parents don’t perceive it as child abuse when they have their 10 year old son helping at the cash register or helping roll pencils, etc. they perceive it as everyone in the family working together to make a living. Is that considered child abuse? I would argue not.
I will also add that many teens end up working in factories because they are orphans or have no families. They can be raised in orphanages but they have to leave at the age of 16. This is an issue for the government. They won’t put them in higher learning. It’s expensive caring for them. So the teens end up working at young ages just to survive. It’s very sad. But a problem. That’s why I’m an advocate for answers such as fostering, adopting, sponsoring these young adults so they can have better lives.
That being said, you can decide not to buy Asian products due to the issues with how the governments run things. But you ultimately hurt the family run businesses who are just making a living. The government doesn’t care if they starve and live in a house with no roof. So we should.
People buying of Temu, aliexpress, and wish and then selling on Amazon for a profit. its the same stuff.
I spent £33 on a sentro machine from there… something that sells on Amazon sold by third party at £70
Thank you for your insightful response @anon55031185 . That makes a lot of sense to me
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