Should we as Australians be buying more Australian products or at least Australian Companies that are listed on the Australian stock exchange, to support ourselves. Australian super funds are heavily invested in the ASX, therefore instead of buying an item off amazon for 5 dollars cheaper, shouldn't we be buying the product that supports Australian companies and in turn our super ? I don't ever buy from Amazon, as my money isn't going to go into Jeff Bezos pocket !
Buying Australian Products
Comments
I generally don't care either - but sometimes make an effort to buy Australian…
On the other hand, most things that I buy - there are no Australian-made alternatives… so… what do we do about that. We're not known for manufacturing here are we? Thought we were a service economy with resources we do little with and ship overseas - where we buy them back in products at highly inflated prices… Go team Australia! sigh
I think many people have already 'enjoyed' the quality of aussie products and therefore would not tend to seek out higher priced yet indifferent quality products
its a lost cause, companies have decided not to 'invest' in australia so a lot of our basics are imported
and yet there's a good side to this… why make cars, for example when everyone else makes them cheaper better more efficient
why force a local product when the capability is just not there?
a good example is face masks, there was a move to make them locally last year but then what happened?
well apathy and the cheapest bidder happened and all our masks are from china
its a story as long and storied as time itself
I'll happily support an Aussie company whenever but if the quality is better and it's cheaper elsewhere I'll buy from there. I don't care too much about where my money goes to, I don't get caught up in all that.
Amazon isn't providing you free delivery, your neighbour is exploited to provide this "free" service
I'll letter box drop these to my neighbours. Obviously Amazon can offer it but they don't have to take it.
I'd prefer to buy Australian products but it's almost impossible now to buy anything that's not either made overseas or assembled in Australia from imported products.
The manufacturing industry in Australia died years ago with many countries now subsidising their exports to us.
Very true, this has a lot to do with unions ruining businesses and employees livelihoods by wanting short term gains making it near impossible for businesses to compete globally by driving up wages to unsustainable levels.
So these businesses quite rightly go elsewhere and employees are left without work.
I think Australian products are pretty good but Australian companies are often just painful to deal with. So many small business websites need an account, charge heaps for shipping, no free returns or no returns at all, terrible photos of the product, etc. Amazon is just easy to deal with.
David Jones/Myers websites are good examples. Search function is useless. Filtering products is almost impossible. Half the products won't ship/only available in certain stores/won't transfer products between stores, etc. Barely useable unless you already know the exact item you want.
Only if the price and the quality are the same at least !
I generally buy Australian food as it's usually superior but I will buy imported if it's better quality.
And will at least look for Australian Made in other categories, but generally the price:quality ratio just isn't there.Generally we shouldn't need to buy imported food.
Problem seems like all the top quality produce is exported. We get the B grade stuff then because it works out there is a market then they import. Saw Broccolini from Mexico at Aldi, almost picked it up. Obviously for food miles rather than price.
It is like prawns (I don't eat them so no axes to grind there). Like 30% from Australian waters a lot comes from Thailand and Vietnam. You won't notice it at your Chinese or Thai restaurant because it won't be sign posted.
I agree, I particularly focus on the food category to achieve low food miles. Theoretically this should result in improved freshness too.
If the quality justifies the price and the price difference isn't too expensive conpared to the closest equivalence then I'll buy it. 'Made in Australia' shouldn't be a justification to price gouge.
This is often touted as the right thing to do but it's misguided ethics. Buying Australian has its benefits, it could be "keeping money in the country" by making a multi-millionaire richer. But buying foreign could mean a product comes from overseas but is supplied through Australian logistics and employs Australian working class. It's not black and white.
"keeping money in the country" by making a multi-millionaire richer
You mean Gerry Harvey.
Or tradies driving around in flashy imported utes, SUVs and sports cars.
this, gerry doesnt want you buying stuff from overseas but somehow seems fit to fill out his inventory with china products?
"go into Jeff Bezos pocket !"
Pocket, or rocket?
.I prefer Australian - but only if it's of similar or better quality and the price isn't significantly higher.
If I'm paying more for a product that has lower quality then that makes no sense to me at all, and if it's more expensive by say 20% for the same quality then I also think it's not worth it.
and the money that is going into Jeff Bezos pocket is not solely for him. He pays for the number of warehouses all around Australia. He pays huge number of workforce (Sydney head-office, warehouse workers, delivery drivers etc) in Australia. He has a business setup in Australia, and he is here to earn. But in return, he is putting food on the table for many middle class Australians.
Get off your high horse. Amazon has the best customer service. You might be ordering "Australian" item from Amazon from "Australian" business owner, packed by "Aussie" bloke in the warehouse and delivered by "Australian" driver!
yeah i dont care about anyone who works for amazon either in the same way dont care for HN employees or fossil fuel or… the list goes on
i dont care if amazon decides to pull out and makes thousands of people umemployed
you made your bed by joining whatever company employs you
Everyone is out there to make or save a buck. If it's a local, struggling mom-and-pop shop/business, or if the Aussie-made product is a better quality and costs the same or less than an imported one, then definitely. Otherwise, I don't see why I should pay more for a similar product just because it's Australian.
I don't think you understand how Amazon works. There are many third party sellers on Amazon, they may very well be small businesses based in Australia that you're looking to support but by labelling all of Amazon as one foreign seller based in the US is completely misleading and just incorrect.
Please do your research before writing this stuff.
Paying extra for Australian made without a specific reason just makes you poorer and the millionaire richer, life is too short to do this.
But there are some great reasons to buy Australian made, for example food in terms of quality control/safety for example.
By OZ starts at home.
A good one to begin with is clothing. Check how many pieces of clothing are in your house tagged made in china or some other country utilising underpaid workers?
There is plenty of AU made clothing on the market right now but very few people buy them. It's a similar thing with many other products.
Overheads and a small consumer base makes it impossible for Australian manufacturers to compete with imports and shoppers a led by price. Without mining we are doomed.
I don't ever buy from Amazon, as my money isn't going to go into Jeff Bezos pocket !
You have a lot to learn OP !
Quite simply if the cheapest they are more reliable than other competing Oz companies especially on tracking and delivery .
I have no problem being smart buying it from Bezos :)
BTW lets support his next journey a 1 way ticket to Mars .
If anything WAS actually made in Australia i'd probably buy it….
But in if im being honest if there is NO difference in quality i will usually/always go the cheaper option.
If you had a situation with 2 products both the same and one is Aussie made of course ill pick the Aussie product but most of the time the Aussie products you find are super expensive
It depends. I often find that Australian made products are incredibly overpriced, charging far more than they should, even for postage. R.M. Williams are one example, they can only get away with it because we don't have any other locally made boots that offer something similar (dress not work boots). Europeans, and especially Americans, have far more options at the same or higher quality for less money.
Just spent $950 on quality auto parts in Germany. Repco/SCAs are too far from the reality and selling generic $hit for too much. I get my car tyres and batteries from Costco (US based) as local sellers cannot or just don’t want to charge competitive prices. These businesses are doomed like MYR etc who have failed again and again to do a reality check on fair pricing.
I'll admit that I'm probably not a true Ozbargainer and will buy Australian products where it is an option and happy to pay a little more. The exception is if the quality is lower.
I feel it's difficult at times to justify buying Australia made when the price difference can be significant.
As a country with decent working conditions, our industries can be at a disadvantage to producing products as they have to follow our laws while cheaper products overseas can have poorer working conditions which allow them to be much cheaper.
It makes no sense to claim a better life for Australians but be willing to import cheaper products from another country that doesn't value it's working conditions to the same level.
No, if you buy OS items and have them imported, then the "Oz Post" is still supported. Furthermore, the Govt skims off a further 10%, and this goes to your Ozzie companies.
No, if you buy OS items and have them imported, then the "Oz Post" is still supported. Furthermore, the Govt skims off a further 10%, and this goes to your Ozzie companies.
How is Australia Post supported when delivering good purchased from overseas? Am I missing something?
Yes
Couldn't care less. Quality and price are first priorities.
I don't think too many Ozbargainers care too much for this kind of thing? Maybe just me, I don't really care where my things are made, just as long as it's a bargain