Christmas catalogs

I enjoy the Christmas catalogs. 2 or 3 a day from mid-October to New Years. Love Uline ULINE - Shipping Boxes, Shipping Supplies, Packaging Materials, Packing Supplies . But yesterday Signals arrived. 

I like the t-shirt, door mat and sweatshirt slogans. 

Hardware stores are my therapy.

I don't want to go through things that don't kill me but make me stronger anymore. 

Ring the doorbell and let me sing you the song of my people--the Dog.

Wallet, Glasses, Keys and Phone, Keys and Phone. (to the tune of Head, shoulders, knees and toes. 

Life Goal pet all dogs. 

Mothers of little boys work from son up to son down. 

I remember when things only cost an arm. 

I don't mind getting older but my body is taking it badly.

 

Catalog browsing--Uline

I just love sitting down with the 800+ page Uline catalog. Oh sure, you can read it on line, but it brings back the memories of the old Sears and Roebuck, or the Montgomery Ward catalogs. Mom would give us the old one for craft and paper doll projects when the new one arrived. (Yes, and in the 40s some still used them for t.p.) The real name of the family is Uihlein, but it's been simplified for customers. Everything from pegboards to zippered partitions, from key holders to trash cans, from stretch wrap to label guns, from respirators to wall clocks. And the packages and tape to ship them. They've got boxes to ship your art, guitar, unicycle, dishes, wardrobe, wine, and drum set.

I've written about this catalog before. Collecting My Thoughts: Enjoying the Uline Catalog

Collecting My Thoughts: Thank you, Uihlein family

Liz, the president, writes interesting tidbits. In 2019 she compared Texas and California where they have companies, and California didn't look too good because of taxes, regulations, cost of living and gas prices. This year it's China, Covid and U.S. policy. She is very pro-American, and admits it's hard to compete with China, although about 20% of their products come from China. She says publicly held companies are too concerned about their stock share price and don't invest enough in new equipment and up date their plants. She liked Trump's support of American companies, and his "America First" philosophy. She wants a clearly defined policy because Democrats are trying to undo the lower taxes, increase in tariffs, Trump's new trade deals, and stopping the endless wars which were bad for security and the economy.

She writes, "America sorely needs a coherent, largely united trade policy. If we don't get this done, this century belongs to the Chinese."

You go girl--you make more sense than most of Congress.

Thank you, Uihlein family

At lunch today I read through the most interesting catalog (I am usually reading something)--Uline Spring/Summer 2010 [interactive]. If you ever need to ship, store, wrap, tape, strap, preserve, label, mail or secure something, this is the company for you! Somewhere I noticed that "Uline" is the phonetic spelling of the family name, "Uihlein" and that there are real people standing behind and in the warehouses of these products.

Liz Uihlein addresses the "made in China" problem:

". . . About 20% of what we sell today comes from Asia. This has never bothered me in the past. We all know that many products are not made in the U.S. anymore. What bothers me enormously is American jobs. During most of Uline's history we have scrambled to hire enough people. We learned how to do job fairs. We spent a ton of money on Monster and other career sites. But that was then and this is now.

And so, in this catalog, we've worked hard with some American firms to get a product that's made here versus being made in China. . . [costs more]

It would be nice if the Commerce Department or some government agency would put out some positive news on what can be made right here in the U.S. If we all think and talk about it, maybe we can do better. Also, the playing field is not level; a tennis court is. Personally, I am an American first. I care about American jobs."

Well, Liz, I'm not from the government, but here's 3 cheers for your excellent catalog, products, and your desire to keep Americans employed. The variety is breathtaking, the layout is outstanding, and the indexing excellent.

Also, all that packaging stuff sold at the U.S. postal branches? Where are those made? Just asking.