Proudly Made in the U.S.A.

The other day on target.com, while shopping for a gift for my son's birthday, I decided to take a gander at where the products I was looking at were manufactured.  Much to my chagrin, but not surprise, I found that nearly every product is made somewhere outside of the U.S.A.  After this disappointing shopping experience, I contacted Target.com's website services.  I suggested that they offer an option to sort their search results by country of origin (manufacturer) for their shoppers who find this relevant in their purchasing decisions.

This is the response I received.

We work with suppliers and manufacturers from around the world to create a selection of products as diverse as the guests we serve. This helps us bring you the quality merchandise you want at the low prices you’ve come to expect from your Target^®.

We understand that some guests may not be comfortable purchasing items manufactured in certain countries and we respect these decisions. We’ll make sure to share your comments with our buying team.

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts about Target.com items. Learning what’s important to you helps us make your Target.com experience even better.

We hope you’ll visit Target.com again soon.

Sincerely,

Sandy

Target.com Guest Services

www.target.com 

Needless to say, I am not satisfied with this.  It seemed . . . cheesy and lame.  So I did a little digging and found that others have done pretty thorough research on Target's purchasing.  I borrowed heavily and full credit goes to the poor S.O.B.s who did all the work!  This is my response to Mr. Or Mrs. Target who thought their response was satisfactory.  

Thank you for your response, although it has caused another question to arise.

You stated that you “work with suppliers and manufacturers from around the world to create a selection of products as diverse as the guests we serve.”

Let’s take a look at the country of manufacture for the majority of your products.

Clothing:  

All shoes were made in China, a big display of Croc’s sandals, also all made in China.

Woman’s Handbags priced from $5.00 to $49.99, all made in China Totes Umbrella, made in China. Hanes white socks were made in USA and El Salvador, same package, same price, you really had to look to see where they were made.  Fruit of the Loom socks, white made in Pakistan.

Men’s casual shorts, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Levi’s shorts, made in Egypt.

Levi’s straight leg jeans Made in Lesotho.  Where the heck is Lesotho?  It is actually a small land locked country in South Africa.

Levi’s boot jeans, made in Pakistan.

Wrangler’s boot jeans, made in Nicaragua.

Polo Shirts all made in Vietnam.

Pullover shirts and T-shirts all made in Honduras and Haiti.

All the dress shirts in the store were made in Bangladesh.

Electronics:

I could not find a TV, Clock Radio, or Stereo made in the USA.

Electronic Picture Frames, Sony, H-P, Kodak, all models made in China.

Housewares:

Pots and Pans: all except on was made in China.

Lamps: desk, table and floor models all made in China.

Restyle Bookcase was the only piece of furniture that was made in the USA.

Steam Irons: 7 models all from Sunbeam all made in China.

Ironing Boards: 4 to choose from, one for $13.99 and another for $19.99 both made in the USA, one from China for $37.99 and one from India for $54.99.

Fans: Honeywell had 7 different models, all made in China. Holmes Brand, (A.K.A. Sunbeam) 5 different models all made in China, Hunter, 2 models, both made in China.  Vernado, 1 model, designed, engineered, and assembled in the USA.

Vacuum Cleaners:

Bissell Sweeper: Made in China.

Shark brand: Made in China.

Dirt Devil: Made in China.

Eureka brand: Made in China.

Hoover Wind Tunnel: $299.00 made in Mexico.

Oreck: $299.00 Made in the USA.

Dyson: 3 models $399.00, $499.00 and one for $549.00 all made in Malaysia.

Lawn and Garden:

Wooden Rocking Chairs, made in Vietnam.

Gazebos, all made in China.

All Lawn furniture were either made in China or Indonesia.

Webber Grill, proudly made in the USA.

Char-Broil Grills all made in China, gas and charcoal.

Bicycles:

Huge display of 66 different bikes from 4 manufacturers, Schwinn, Magna, Tony Hawk, and Mongoose, every single one was made in China.

Toys:

Barbie Dolls, an American Icon, or so you would think. 18 different Barbie dolls, 6 made in China, 12 made in Indonesia.

Legos brand blocks, made in Denmark, Hungry, Mexico, and Czech Republic.  Fisher Price Brand blocks, made in China. Special Edition Games, in stylish wooden boxes, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, Life, and Risk, all made in China. Last but not least, a childhood favorite of mine, Lincoln Logs. I think of all the hours I spent building forts and houses, are now made in China.

Now, let’s take a look at the breakdown of your demographics.

Research shows who shops at Target and Wal-Mart

By Lou Hirsh

Who shops at the nation’s most prominent discount stores? Target

shoppers have a median age of 44, and a median household income of

$54,000. Target officials say 80 percent of their customers attended

college and 50 percent are college graduates. More than half are

employed in professional or other managerial positions.

Eighty percent of Target’s customers are female, and 40 percent have

children at home or in a shopping cart with them in the store.

Some of the countries you purchase from and their residents’ median income.

Indonesia - $7,950 (according to your own demographic reports, Indonesians cannot afford to shop at Target)

Malaysia - $15,000 (again, pulling from your demographic reports, average median income of Target shoppers is double this)

China - $14,000 (this is your biggest supplier and their residents do not fit in your target demographic by about $40,000)

Vietnam - $4,800

Honduras - $4,400

Haiti - $1,600

So, ok, let's look at where your stores are located, shall we?  United States and Canada (coming to Puerto Rico in 2013).  ..."as diverse as the guests we serve"??? Your guests are American and Canadian.  

So, are you seriously going to try to convince me that you are trying to promote diversity?  To whomever sent this reply to me, I ask that you sincerely read this email, look at these numbers, and HONESTLY ask yourself if you believe the answer you supplied to me.  Because I do not.