Walmart

For the past several years, there has been a growing concern with products made outside of the U.S. and the dangers they may bring, such as paint with lead.  As retail shoppers, we are are sometime left with picking the "less-worse" option for some goods.  And with our family's increased need to tighten our collective belt, we have struggled with finding the best quality for the lowest price.  My attempts to continue being a Target customer over the past several years have lead to frustration as that store seems to have decreased the selection available.  And to shop at Walmart is a daring act of survival just to get in, shop and exit the store with sanity in tact.

Today, lucky for me, my husband did some shopping.  His stops were at Walmart and Sam's.  Since I do a bit of baking and purchase flour and sugar in quantity from Sam's, I use canisters at home for easy access to these ingredients.  About a month or so ago, I dropped by plastic sugar canister and cracked the bottom of it.  Today at Walmart, Joe purchased a similar canister in a set as replacement.  I briefly looked at the minimal label, searching for verification of it's Chinese origins when I found, "Made in U.S.A." 

As I thought about that label, I realized that that label is very rare in our low-cost items.  I don't know if this is a result of some change or just some thing that has outlasted other retail goods, but it almost seems like a beacon of hope.  I'm optimistic that this is of a certain quality level and glad to know that we can be a little more "local" in our retail needs.