Buying British

[Gazzer]

How many of us put any thought into the things we buy?
Do you buy British at all costs ?
Do you see if the item you are buying has a British equivalent.
Is it purely down to cost ?
How do you feel about supporting British industries?
Where do you stand on this subject and how far would you go to put your money back in British pockets.

 

[DHTiling]

I buy what works for me and do not take into account where it is made.

Price is an issue as well , if you look at most products made in Britain , then the prices can be silly high .

Made in Britain used to mean something but not anymore , take British tiles for instance , some of the worst quality controlled tiles i have ever worked with.

So again to answer , No i do not go out my way to buy British.

 

[Diggy]

The trouble is a lot of stuff is hard to trace , and how do you define British for instance?

In our line of work for example I can't think of a decent tool for tiling that is British off the top of my head.
Food is generally rather more expensive if it is british also.

Having said that I do try sometimes to buy locally , for instance I recently bought a new graphics card from the local pooter shop in town rather over the internet to support local business. It cost me more but sometomes I think it has to be done.
After all , imho , repealing of the Glass/Seagal act , Globalisation , cheap imported Chinese tat , cheap debt and a corrupt political elite has given us the mess we're now in . But thats for another topic :lol:

So in answer to the OP , I take into account ( but don't always apply ) many different metrics such as price , location , origin , production facilities and wether or not it's French :0).

Cheers

Diggy

 

[Andy Allen]

Same as Dave, sadley the days of buying British meant buying quality have long gone..

 

[White Room]

As above, I tend to think of German tools as one of the better buys even though they maybe a bit dearer there built to last.

 

[AliGage]

I do when it comes to food. Local butcher and fruit and veg. If it's supermarket purchases i check the bags and packaging. Living in East Anglia we have the best land for growing pots and the weather to boot. My roasties on Sunday are not starting out in Argentina.

 

[Rookery]

I would prefer to buy British manufactured/produced products and even pay a premium but sadly between them, the politicians, management and trade unions managed to screw up British industry so there is very little left. Its not just us though, I've got some electrical equipment sold & packaged under a highly regarded German brand name and even that is made in China. You just dont know these days. Even the beef we're eating is dodgy.

 

[Jeff the tiler]

Add sustainable and green products to "buying british" and it is all a complete nightmare. for me it's a needs must basis so loyalty to british products is quite low on the agenda which is a shame.

 

[Aston]

why has british standards slowly gone down hill...it has to be a mindset? not everybodies but perhaps a majority.

reason i say that is, japan and germany lose a world war but still maintain very high standards regarding build quality, engineering and technology....

japan have been through a massive recession (still technically in it ie the 90's housing crash) germany have merged east with west and still pushed on, so why has britian gone down hill....i personally reckon its a psychology ..when the tories striped us clean in the early 80's it left us with a better economy but a weaker workforce and the standard of the workforce results in the standard of the products and the standard of the future workers

so, the answer is in the past...do what did and the future will be brighter...invest in the uk, invest in your own ideas, invest or, well we have that answer already don't we. save a penny or invest in the uk.....the only way to get the wheels working is to put oil in the engine, even if it costs more today, it will be more economical in the future..

 

[CJ]

Does Britain actually make stuff.......so many have gone down the pan, or worse, Sold out.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

same as Dave for me.

 

[Spud]

the UK is the 6th largest manufacturer in the world, our defence industry is the second biggest after the US and we have state of the art equipment being produced here ,some might say its a shameful that we are great at producing weapons but all the major formula one teams have stuff manufactured here so at the very high end where quality really counts we are still up there with the best in the world, Rolls royce make the best jet engines in the world , Dyson make the best vacuum cleaners, I could go on and on but would be wasting my time as most folks dont want to believe that this country is great and just want to complain and point out where its going wrong but dont want to do anything about it.

 

[Daveshadowman]

Try to buy British were we can but not always possible

 

[Colour Republic]

Try and avoid British Made products if I can, it's all made by bloody northerners

 

[Rookery]

the UK is the 6th largest manufacturer in the world, our defence industry is the second biggest after the US and we have state of the art equipment being produced here ,some might say its a shameful that we are great at producing weapons but all the major formula one teams have stuff manufactured here so at the very high end where quality really counts we are still up there with the best in the world, Rolls royce make the best jet engines in the world , Dyson make the best vacuum cleaners, I could go on and on but would be wasting my time as most folks dont want to believe that this country is great and just want to complain and point out where its going wrong but dont want to do anything about it.

I believe our country is great. I also believe that we have the best brains and can manufacture the best products. However, I also feel James Dyson is a bit insincere when he goes on about British manufacturing when his vacuum cleaners were assembled from parts made abroad and a year or two ago, he transferred production to Malaysia because assembly costs were cheaper and assembly would be closer to his parts suppliers. I believe this put another 800 British workers on the dole.