99 pewtercoupe
08-12-2011, 8:03pm
Trinkets not 'Made in Missouri' create a sticky situation
By Steve Giegerich • [email protected] > 314.340.8172 STLtoday.com | Posted: Friday, August 12, 2011 10:15 am | (123) Comments
The shipment arrived at the offices of the state Department of Economic Development within days of the governor launching a "bipartisan Made in Missouri Jobs" initiative.
Inside were 6,000 carabiners — a trinket combining a key chain, flashlight and pen. The agency plans to give the items away at the Missouri State Fair next week in Sedalia.
One side of the carabiner bore the insignia "Jobs.mo.gov."
On the opposite side was a sticker noting the country that produced the gadget: China.
Meetings were called. Department officials conferred.
Finally, an email memo went out inviting "volunteers" to "assist with removing stickers from State Fair promo item."
On the morning of Aug. 1, the senior staff gathered as requested in the conference room of the agency director.
There, over doughnuts, a cadre of state officials proceeded to methodically erase all traces of China from 6,000 carabiners.
Operation label lift occurred as Gov. Jay Nixon has been criss-crossing the state promoting the "Made in Missouri" jobs campaign and the Legislature is preparing for a special session over whether state tax credits should be used to lure a Chinese air freight hub here.
In a statement issued by the agency late Thursday afternoon, the economic development department defended its actions:
"The Division of Workforce Development went through the state procurement process to purchase these items from a Missouri-based business. Clearly, the division's preference would have been for the Missouri-based retailer to have purchased their supplies from a domestic supplier."
Which raises a question: If the agency followed Missouri guidelines, why were state employees asked to hide the origin of the trinkets?
"The division prepared the items for the State Fair, which included removing plastic baggies and any stickers from the items," the agency said.
Reached late Thursday, Nixon spokesman Scott Holste declined to comment.
In its defense, the agency may have had no choice but to procure the inexpensive item from an Asian manufacturing source, according to Mark Morose, a partner in Regal Midwest, a St. Louis-based custom apparel and promotional product business.
"Unfortunately, most items are made overseas now," he said. "Nobody is making (carabiners). There are a lot of American-made wearables like hats, T-shirts and bags. But for the most part, trinkets such as flashlights, carabiners and mugware are all made overseas."
Indeed, the Advertising Speciality Institute — a trade group representing vendors of promotional items — says Asian countries produce 95 percent of the "ad specialty products" distributed by private companies, nonprofits and governmental agencies across the United States.
There's no argument that Asian manufacturers have lower production costs.
Once the items arrive in the United States, however, the warehousing, imprinting of specialized logos, distribution and shipping of the gadgets provides employment for upward of 250,000 Americans.
The industry itself last year pumped $17.4 billion into the U.S. economy.
"There's a lot of jobs in this industry that may not involve the original manufacturing of an item," said Timothy Andrews, president and chief executive of the Advertising Specialty Institute, "But a lot of other things in our industry are job-related."
The Department of Economic Development, by the way, is going ahead with its plan to hand out the carabiners. Dressed in kelly green T-shirts identifying themselves as agency employees, department workers plan to distribute the trinkets from a State Fair booth this Sunday, Veterans Appreciation Day.
The shirts, according to one source who has seen them, were made in Vietnam.
Steve Giegerich covers the manufacturing and employment for the Post-Dispatch. He blogs on STL JobsWatch. Follow him on Twitter @stevegiegerich and the Business section @postdispatchbiz
By Steve Giegerich • [email protected] > 314.340.8172 STLtoday.com | Posted: Friday, August 12, 2011 10:15 am | (123) Comments
The shipment arrived at the offices of the state Department of Economic Development within days of the governor launching a "bipartisan Made in Missouri Jobs" initiative.
Inside were 6,000 carabiners — a trinket combining a key chain, flashlight and pen. The agency plans to give the items away at the Missouri State Fair next week in Sedalia.
One side of the carabiner bore the insignia "Jobs.mo.gov."
On the opposite side was a sticker noting the country that produced the gadget: China.
Meetings were called. Department officials conferred.
Finally, an email memo went out inviting "volunteers" to "assist with removing stickers from State Fair promo item."
On the morning of Aug. 1, the senior staff gathered as requested in the conference room of the agency director.
There, over doughnuts, a cadre of state officials proceeded to methodically erase all traces of China from 6,000 carabiners.
Operation label lift occurred as Gov. Jay Nixon has been criss-crossing the state promoting the "Made in Missouri" jobs campaign and the Legislature is preparing for a special session over whether state tax credits should be used to lure a Chinese air freight hub here.
In a statement issued by the agency late Thursday afternoon, the economic development department defended its actions:
"The Division of Workforce Development went through the state procurement process to purchase these items from a Missouri-based business. Clearly, the division's preference would have been for the Missouri-based retailer to have purchased their supplies from a domestic supplier."
Which raises a question: If the agency followed Missouri guidelines, why were state employees asked to hide the origin of the trinkets?
"The division prepared the items for the State Fair, which included removing plastic baggies and any stickers from the items," the agency said.
Reached late Thursday, Nixon spokesman Scott Holste declined to comment.
In its defense, the agency may have had no choice but to procure the inexpensive item from an Asian manufacturing source, according to Mark Morose, a partner in Regal Midwest, a St. Louis-based custom apparel and promotional product business.
"Unfortunately, most items are made overseas now," he said. "Nobody is making (carabiners). There are a lot of American-made wearables like hats, T-shirts and bags. But for the most part, trinkets such as flashlights, carabiners and mugware are all made overseas."
Indeed, the Advertising Speciality Institute — a trade group representing vendors of promotional items — says Asian countries produce 95 percent of the "ad specialty products" distributed by private companies, nonprofits and governmental agencies across the United States.
There's no argument that Asian manufacturers have lower production costs.
Once the items arrive in the United States, however, the warehousing, imprinting of specialized logos, distribution and shipping of the gadgets provides employment for upward of 250,000 Americans.
The industry itself last year pumped $17.4 billion into the U.S. economy.
"There's a lot of jobs in this industry that may not involve the original manufacturing of an item," said Timothy Andrews, president and chief executive of the Advertising Specialty Institute, "But a lot of other things in our industry are job-related."
The Department of Economic Development, by the way, is going ahead with its plan to hand out the carabiners. Dressed in kelly green T-shirts identifying themselves as agency employees, department workers plan to distribute the trinkets from a State Fair booth this Sunday, Veterans Appreciation Day.
The shirts, according to one source who has seen them, were made in Vietnam.
Steve Giegerich covers the manufacturing and employment for the Post-Dispatch. He blogs on STL JobsWatch. Follow him on Twitter @stevegiegerich and the Business section @postdispatchbiz