Sure there are many excellent Chinese made products, but they are drowned out by an ocean of cheap quality junk. It irks me madly when I use a product for a short period of time, only to have it break. Usually the product experiences regular wear and tear use, not abuse. When I take it apart to try to fix it, I often find critical components are made of cheap plastic. These components are hidden from the consumer, who only finds out when it breaks for no good reason. These products are giving China a bad name. Such is the case of a paper shredder kindly given to us by a neighbour. Premature breakage of products is a waste of natural resources, cheats consumers and is plain and simple bad for the environment. I hate it.

My neighbour was kind enough to give me her paper shredder. This one was a no brand name, no factory name, Made in China, model number WMC6X. It is slow and could only shred 6 pages at a time, which is Ok for our family. She bought a faster and more expensive model. The Little Weed and I started shredding paper. After a couple minutes the shredder would heat up and shut down. Once cooled down it would resume working. A couple of days goes by and while shredding we hear a thunk and the shredding mechanism refuses to move while the motor is running. I begin to take it apart to find out if the shredder had slipped a belt or something else, such as a paper jam.

What I found was disappointing. The motor’s main axle was connected to the shredder’s transmission and subsequently to the shredding teeth. The shredder’s transmission was completely made of cheap plastic gears. The reason the shredder stopped working was because the first gear directly connected to the motor had destroyed itself, thereby decoupling the motor drive from the rest of the transmission. The shredder was therefore irreparable.

The shredding teeth mechanism was made of metal and was in pristine condition. Who was the smart one that decided the transmission gears should be made of cheap plastic?

All I could think of is what a waste of natural resources. We spend the resources to make this product, ship it across from China to Canada, only to have it fail prematurely due to a couple of cheaply made plastic gears? Now we need to dispose of it? By this method we will pillage Mother Nature and Mother Earth very quickly, short changing our children and grandchildren. Who is the winner here?

Chinese made paper shredder, no brand name nor factory, model number WMC6X, irreparable because of this cheaply made plastic gear. While there were many metal parts in this paper shredder, the gears driving these metal parts are plastic? Who decided this? What a waste of resources, not to mention cheating the consumer. Photo 3x macro.

I am unsure who to blame. Do we, as North American consumers demand and therefore receive products as the cheapest price possible, even if it quickly breaks? Are these paper shredders designed by North American engineers to a price point, rather than a quality standard? Do we blame the Chinese factory for skimping on quality in order to maximize their profit? Either way, these shoddily made products are a waste of money for consumers and a waste of natural resources for the whole Earth. We need to work better and smarter if we want to have a future as bright as our past.

I have traced the model number of this shredder down to the Aurora Office Equipment Company Shanghai, SHANGHAI, E237840, 388 JIANXIN RD, JIADING DISTRICT, 200000 SHANGHAI, CHINA. Please do not buy their products, as they are badly made. Apparently Ace Hardware carries them under the Aurora brand name. This company is connected to the Aurora Group of Taiwan.

My brothers in China have purchased 2 Philips brand compact flourescent bulbs from Walmart China, one which burned out after only a month and another which burned out in less than a week. These bulbs should last for 10,000 hours, or over 6 years. His case is well documented.

___He paid 30.80RMB each, for a total of 61.60RMB, for which he received 1 month and 1 week’s worth of light, all in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Due to terrible quality control in Philip’s China factory these bulbs were shipped to Walmart stores in China, where my brother purchased them and was cheated. That is a lot of money to lose.

___I purchased GE compact flourescent bulbs here in Canada, similar to the ones pictured here. The older version of these bulbs were rated for 14,000 hours. At 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, they should last 5 years. I kept my receipt. After only 2 years my bulb burned out, so I called up GE in Canada, and explained that my bulb burned out prematurely. They sent me a coupon for a free replacement bulb.

GE Compact flourescent bulb, Made in China

___The compact flourescent bulbs pictured here are the newer version of the same GE bulbs but rated at 10,000 hours. At 8 hours a day, 365 days a year they should last me 3.5 years. They were purchased at Walmart, here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If they burn out prematurely I will call GE for free replacements. These bulbs are made in China, where my brother lives.

___I hope that my brother in China can either return his bulbs to Walmart for a full refund or he can call up Philips in China and get free replacements for his bulbs. It is bad business for Philips to sell bulbs in China that are of bad quality. Philips has a world wide reputation as a high quality manufacturer, but when my brother in China gets cheated, then why should I here in Canada purchase Philips products? Maybe I will also get cheated?

___The internet makes the world smaller. While I am separated from my brother by half the globe and a time difference of 12 hours, I will not purchase any Philips product here in Canada until my brother in China can resolve his Philips issues. I ask that others In China, Canada and around the world to also not purchase Philips products. I think this is only fair.