Crap from the Third-World

When you go into a dollar store, you just know you’ll be surrounded by crap. It may be interesting crap, but anything for a dollar or less these days, can’t be very good.

I used to like going to Home Hardware, a truly Canadian store, with lots of great things for the household. Then Home Hardware – or at least the ones near me – all started selling crap. They still sell hardware – though it is hard to find among all the cheap made in The Peoples’ Republic of Congo, Mongolia, or China. Essentially, they turned a great Canadian hardware store into a dollar store.

You can get good deals on paper, and occasionally you can find great prices on chocolate. But read the label – some of those chocolates are about to expire, and those that aren’t were made in some third-world country, and don’t taste very good!

There is an influx of cheap crap coming in from third-rate – I mean third-world – no, check that – third-rate – countries. That’s why there are so many dollar stores popping up all over the land.

I’ve seen people line up early in the morning to get into the dollar store. Reminds me of that famous quote from someone wise – “there’s a sucker born every minute.”

Yes, you can buy light bulbs, batteries and clock radios at the dollar store. But chances are, the light bulbs will burn out within a matter of hours, the batteries will die almost as fast as you paid for them, and the clock radio may tell time, but it’ll either be way too fast or way too slow.

Things bought al-a-cheap just don’t last, and why people continue to pay for crap is beyond me.

I was downtown the other day, and I saw a “Made In China” store – no joke. It is located between an adult novelty store, and a strip club – go figure.

Stuff made in China isn’t only cheap, it has proven to be quite dangerous too. Pet food and children’s toys made over there are constantly being recalled by the government because of toxins. Toxins which in some circumstances have actually killed people’s pets.

So far, we’ve been lucky – barely – and no human being as actually died from these shoddy discounted products. But with stores continuously pumping this crap, and morons continuously paying for it, sooner or later, we’ll hear about people dying from their cheap thrills.

Maybe once the “Made In China” bodies start hitting the news, people will wake up and stop buying that crap.

Then again, a sucker is born every minute.