We’re all well-aware of the shortages and seemingly endless lead-times that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue to persist among microprocessors and other items. However, when covering this issue’s “Ties that bind” cover story, I kept running into questions about how our supply chains got to be so strung-out and vulnerable.
Naturally, the relentless search for the cheapest possible labor and materials created most of today’s worldwide supply chains. In recent decades, it filled today’s ridiculously overstuffed container ships, so they could deliver my coffee cup, laptop PC, box fan, toothbrush, clothes, shoes and practically every other product we use or consume. I haven’t checked labels lately, but I’m sure everything still comes from China or relatively close by.
It's beyond old news that almost all video recorders were invented and produced in the U.S. However, the inexorable lure of inexpensive, unregulated, non-union labor quickly shifted almost all VCR manufacturing to Japan, Korea and elsewhere decades ago.
Likewise, I believe the largest deposits of rare earth ores are still in North America and Australia. However, we also got tired of doing that job, so China processes most of the rare earths used in everything from smart phones to electric vehicles. Hopefully, someone’s looking at reopening our rare earth mines.
Even China recently got weary of processing our recyclable plastics, so all our waste is once again glutting storage facilities, not being recycled, and threatening to fill landfills.
I’m far from saying I’m immune, of course. I was as grateful as anyone when I found a refracting telescope for $10 at my local drugstore years ago. It amazingly allowed my daughters and I to see Saturn’s rings, and I didn’t ask any deeper questions at the time.
Everyone loves a great deal, but it’s not hard to perceive the thread of inertia and laziness running through the dirty jobs we love to avoid. I also haven’t checked on who’s mowing all the lawns in the U.S., but it’s pretty obvious in my suburban Chicago neighborhood and likely in many others.
No less than the PLC’s late inventor, Dick Morley, once reminded me that, “A professional who mows his own lawn has the most expensive service in town.” It was hard to argue hourly rates of business, engineering or technical personnel compared to minimum-wage lawn guys or day-laborers.
However, I also realized that Morley’s estimate didn’t include several key aspects that can make mowing my law or any do-it-yourself task a better deal. First, I save the pittance it would cost to have someone else do it. Second, I get a free and much-needed aerobic workout that could cost plenty at a health club, as well as postponing the sky-high costs of a cardiac event awhile longer. Third, I build a little character, accrue some humility, and reconfirm the get-up-and-go that I’ll no doubt need to be reminded of soon.
I believe there are many less obvious expenses and advantages that aren’t reflected in superficial price tags for products with longer and riskier supply chains. Cheap labor and materials may be too powerful to ignore in the short-term, until we start to add up the benefits of long-term quality, stability, consistency and not having to wait a couple of years for microprocessors or parts that can delay or kill products, projects and entire companies.
I consider myself a fan of capitalism because I rolled around in the first four $20 bills I ever earned. However, I also learned that money is just a tool and symbol that’s mutually agreed to by the participants in any economy. This is why it’s crucial to look behind prices, and evaluate the true costs of supply-chain infrastructures and other long-term factors. The good news is many positive changes are possible if we reexamine and redirect the dollars we vote with every day.
