What kind of Texas shower head seller who was discovered over 'Made in the USA' labels: NPR

Ramon van Meer sells shower heads in China and Vietnam.

When President Trump imposed strong tariffs as Asian imports this spring, van Meer decided to find out whether it made sense for his company to move production to the United States.

“I wanted to see how many people would actually pay for the more expensive” more expensive “,” said Van Meer.

So he set up an online experiment. On his website, on which customers can already choose from a variety of surfaces – Chrome, nickel or black – offered two options for their shower heads: the imported shower head for $ 129 and a domestic version that cost around $ 100 more.

How he developed the price

The higher price for the domestic option was based on what it would cost Van Meer to sew a supply chain from scratch – a company to manage the plastic shape, another to carry out the metal coating, and a third to deliver the special filter, the chlorine and heavy metals. Not a single company is doing such a product in the United States today, and if Van Meer wanted to start, he thought that he would have to calculate about 85% more than currently for the imported version.

What he found out of his experiment was able to water Trump's efforts to promote more domestic production, cold water. The results were not even nearby. Of the more than 25,000 people who visited the website during the two -week attempt, around 600 ordered the imported shower head. Not a single person clicked on the more expensive model “Made in the USA”.

“I was surprised and not surprised,” said Van Meer. “I was expecting the cheaper Asia, produced in Asia [version] City-on-grip “profit”. But I hadn't expected the results to be out of balance. We have sold Zero 'Made in the USA' versions. “

Then there is Sakershower, which is manufactured in the USA

The offers in a stationary hardware store indicate similar purchase patterns.

Almost all shower heads that are exhibited in an ACE hardware business outside of Washington are manufactured in China. The only exception is a water -saving version of Rick Whedon's family business in West Hartford, Conn.

“My father designed the original savings shower in 1976,” said Whedon proudly. “We sent 2,000 shower heads a week here because everyone wanted to save energy.”

In addition to ACE hardware, Savershowers at Menard's, a large home improvement chain in the middle west, are popular.

“Menards buys from us because we had a product made in the USA and the only goods they could find,” said Whedon. “The buyer of ACE told me that he didn't think consumers are interested in where a product is being produced. And I think he is right.”

It takes eight local suppliers to make the parts for the all-bras shower head and they are becoming more difficult to get.

“When we started, there were 300 machine shops in Connecticut that turned brass to produce parts,” said Whedon. “Today there could be 75.”

The WHEDON company produces the most other models of its shower heads overseas, with the exception of these original, water -saving version.

He is doubtful that Trump's new tariff policy will trigger a domestic renaissance in this type of production.

“There is no one in the USA that will start doing shower heads, even if the tariff was 250%,” said Whedon.

The Californian irrigation expert was shower head manufacturer

Even companies that want to produce in the United States often have difficulty competing competitions.

“We calculate a reasonable price for our shower heads,” said David Malcolm, an irrigation expert in California, who transformed his knowledge of water into the interior about 15 years ago. “If you compare yourself with” Made in China “shower heads, our may be twice as high as the price.

Malcolm used to buy parts for his shower heads from a machine workshop in the nearby Merced, but this shop was folded when most of his customers went overseas.

“At that time everything went to China,” recalled Malcolm. “And gradually, the screw machine shops disappeared.”

Today Malcolm buys parts of a supplier in Taiwan. His website advertises with shower heads “in our factory in the Californian mountains of domestic and imported parts”.

“If the strategy behind tariffs consists of bringing industry back to the United States like the screw machine shops, this cannot be done after a remarkable termination,” said Malcolm. “It has to take some time.”

So far, neither buyer nor the president have shown the patience. After just over a month, Trump temporarily suspended his most punished tariffs for imports from China. And it is not foreseeable what comes next.

“The uncertainty is really bad for business owners,” said Van Meer, Texas Duschkopf -Markter. “It will be very difficult to plan longer than three months in advance.”

Van Meer said he did not give up the production of shower heads in the United States. But it is not a high priority. He noticed that imported products also help to employ American employees.

“Hafen workers are paid. Truck company. Warehouse employee,” said Van Meer. “Lately it has recently been about manufacturing jobs, but not about all other jobs that are alive because we can do it in other countries and sell it at a price that people are willing to pay.”