What I have found amazing is how durable things not made in China really are. I bought a whole set of the
Spielstabil beach toys I talked about in other post, and they've already survived multiple trips to the beach and the snow and still look like new. The cheap made-in-China plastic pail that my daughter brought home from school literally shattered like glass the second time we brought it to the beach.
This USED to be the way things were, but we've taught two whole generations of kids that you find the cheapest price you can and if it breaks, you just throw it away and buy a new one. As long as consumers continue this pattern, manufacturers are incentivized to use cheaper and cheaper labor and material, knowing that consumers will just come back.
I've lost count of how many laptops, iPhones, toasters, radios, clocks, and other junk I've ended up just tossing in the trash. We've been brainwashed into thinking that's normal behavior. But no more. Since "waking up" I could not be more pleased with my office chair (made in USA), my toilet (made in Japan), my rice cooker (made in Japan), my car (made in Japan), my beach toys (made in Germany), my sneakers (made in USA), my coffee mug (made in USA), my facemasks (made in USA, Taiwan, and Korea), and my dinnerware (made in Indonesia). It's actually becoming like a fun game of "hide and seek" to find stuff not made in China, and invariably I'm thrilled with the quality of the product.