There’s nothing quite like the exhilaration you feel when you add a highly-coveted item to your cart. A feeling sweetened tenfold when the purchase supports local or small businesses. You’re keeping someone’s entrepreneurial dream alive and likely feeding a family. Plus, helping thy neighbor instills a sense of unity, builds stronger communities for all, and fuels the economy. But going a step further (to inspire those warm-fuzzies), what about supporting our national community by shopping for “Made in USA” products?
When you shop Made in USA, you impact a great deal more than you may know and have all the more reason to feel good about your shopping splurges. You are a star player in a larger game who has the ability to transform lives and secure a brighter future for your country and peers. But that’s the beauty of conscious consumerism, isn’t it? Your part, your voice, and your actions matter.
If you’re curious about American-made goods and are considering adding Made in USA products to your shopping list, here are four ways your dollar would make a difference.
1. Made in USA products support local jobs
Every time you add that Made in USA item to your cart, you’re supporting the national economy, but you’re also securing a job for your neighbor. In order for that product to arrive neatly packed (fingers crossed) on your doorstep, it required several essential workers to get there – think creating the product, assembling the product, distributing the product, and delivering the product. All workers involved are given a secure future when their place of business thrives.
2. You ensure safe work environments & fair labor
Enforced by federal and state laws, U.S. employers are held to higher standards when it comes to the safety and wellbeing of their employees. Many of the common foreign countries that supply our goods for cheap don’t guarantee worker’s rights like minimum wage or a safe work environment. Shopping Made in USA products keeps you from contributing to unfair treatment, child labor, human trafficking, slavery, or dangerous international working conditions.
3. You help the nation get out of debt
According to a recent Forbes article, our current national debt is over $28 trillion dollars. With such a large deficit, that means government spending and your tax dollars go towards helping reduce that debt, affecting funding for public services, mortgage rates and the ability to purchase a home, and corporations increasing prices on their goods and services in order to meet the cost of their debt service obligation. When you purchase from Made in USA businesses, you’re feeding your dollar right back into the U.S. economy by supporting jobs and worker taxes.
4. Made in USA goods have higher safety & quality standards
By choosing Made in USA, you’re choosing safer products and quality longevity. Unlike commonly used manufacturing labels, “Made in USA” is a term regulated by the FTC to ensure that any product using this label is manufactured using “all” or “virtually all” U.S.-made parts. U.S. American consumer protection laws and safety standards require goods and parts made in the U.S. to uphold critical quality and safety standards, versus other countries who have much lower expectations.
Shopping Made in USA products truly can give you bang for your buck both through product quality and longevity, but most of all by giving back to your national community.
