To think most people have any idea where the contents of their homes comes from?

[Skinterior]

I work in manufacturing and until very recently took it for granted that most people have a basic understanding of where the things they buy - eg food, clothing, furniture, electrics, petrol etc - comes from.

DH is from a knowledge based industry and even though he's far from uneducated, it's becoming apparent that he has absolutely no clue. Asking around it seems like most of my family and non work friends are the same.

As supply chain issues really begin to impact our quality and cost of living - AIBU to think that most people don't know how products are sourced and therefore why these problems are occurring?

Could you look at a random thing in your house and explain to someone how it was made, where it came from and how it got to you?

Could you look at a random thing in your house and explain to someone how it was made, where it came from and how it got to you?

Could you look at your actual house and say how every single part of it was constructed?

It’s not really a problem not to know these things. I’m not sure why you would think it’s strange an educated person should know everything about everything.

This is all so interesting, I wish I didn't have parenting to do right now to really get into it.

It strikes me that those of you who buy second hand (I'm a big second hand buyer too) assume that your items were somehow originally sourced in a more ethical way. I agree that in many cases the product quality is better, but from what I can tell the sourcing - whether originally or by the second hand vendor - is no more likely to be better than a virgin product.

I was gobsmacked when I realised how much artificial fertilisers farmers use as demonstrated on Jeremy Clarksons farm - OMG something like 17 huge bags (lifted by forklift from delivery lorry)
Umpteen tonnes - for one big field of ? Wheat or barley

I don’t think it’s necessarily about being more ethically sourced the first time, but that your purchase is effectively neutral, at least in theory.

The "I buy things secondhand so it doesn't matter" is nonsense. If nobody is able to buy things firsthand then you won't be able to acquire things secondhand.

Whatever you buy, however many people previously owned it, it still had to be built. Materials still had to be sourced. Things still had to be transported.

Yes, of course. There’s no judgement of people who want to buy new, why the hell would that be any of my business?? But I’m happy to buy second (or third/fourth) hand where I can. The older it is/the further back you can go, the more neutral it is, I suppose. If it were actually possible to be more or less neutral...

A mix of both is good, I personally think, and makes for a better balance overall. I love to consume, I’m not some kind of holier-than-thou environmentalist - I love beautiful things and I have a terrible collector’s drive. So I do buy more than I strictly need. But I’m still mindful, for money’s sake also also for sustainability’s sake.

A really interesting question OP. I don’t know the details of where everything in my house is from, but I often think of the complexity of the supply chain even in making something that seems quite basic.

For example, just a basic biro includes:

• plastic (made from oil by-products I expect, so that requires oilfields, transport of oil to refinery, refinery splitting out oil and other plastics or by-products to turn into plastics)
• metal for the nib part
• Ink - I have no idea what this is made from?
• Designer to design the pen
• Factory to make the different parts (pen, nib, ink, pen top) and put them together
• Pens then put in packaging (cardboard - so another supplier needed) or plastic again
• Packaged pens then go in boxes to be transported to shops/ warehouses.
• Shipped from factory to warehouses/ shops. If they’re made overseas this will involve air or ship travel.
• Put onto shelves in a shop for us to buy

Quite a lot for one small item that we just take for granted.

I grow my own veg and have great respect for those in the past centuries who didn't have a supermarket down the road and grew their own supplies.
Sooooo many things can go wrong - caterpillars, slugs, too much rain, too little sun, plague of pigeons/ deer/ rabbits, late frost, blight, any other disease.
Then there's the problems of storing it - modern houses are far too warm - thankfully we have freezers but you would need fields to grow enough for a family for a year.

I reckon I could for most things. They certainly didn't magic themselves into being although socks, working pens and hairbands seem to magic themselves out of this dimension frequently enough

My DH is an agronomist (crop scientist) and I’m a pharmaceutical scientist (originally a chemist by training). The supply chains of both are highly complex and regulated. Most people have no idea the amount of effort that goes into developing and making drugs, for example.

I grow a lot of our vegetables but I then need to store them so have an extra freezer to do this so I am not sure how this works out environmentally I do know however that it is grow with minimum chemicals and also gardening is a hobby I enjoy.
Quite a lot of my furniture is family heirlooms so the tree cut down to make it happened 100 years ago

Most people have no idea the amount of effort that goes into developing and making drugs, for example.

And why should they? Just like most will have no idea how oil is produced and refined, or a surgeon cuts out an organ, or the supermarket supply chain works. I’m just not sure why OP thinks we all need to know everything about everything.

@BoredZelda

Most people have no idea the amount of effort that goes into developing and making drugs, for example.

And why should they? Just like most will have no idea how oil is produced and refined, or a surgeon cuts out an organ, or the supermarket supply chain works. I’m just not sure why OP thinks we all need to know everything about everything.

I don't imagine anyone would understand the ins and outs of everything, I'm thinking more along the lines of - the door handle in my house is made of metal, which would have been mined, possibly in China. The smaller bits of it would all come from different factories that specialised in those pieces. The handle company would assemble to the specifications of the store in the UK that would sell it to me. It would be shipped in a big container that would take a few weeks. The handle order would go to a central warehouse and be split out to go to my local store or my house if I'd ordered it online. I've bought from a UK or EU brand so at some point someone has made sure the handle won't break easily, poison me or the workers in the factory, the factory workers will be getting a half decent wage and not be abused etc.

It's more about whether there is a basic understanding so people can understand why prices fluctuate and what they're actually paying for.

I think our grandparents knew much more than we did, but as a primarily service economy we seem to have lost the knowledge.

That's not always a bad thing, but I'm interested to know how much knowledge is around now.

@BoredZelda

Most people have no idea the amount of effort that goes into developing and making drugs, for example.

And why should they? Just like most will have no idea how oil is produced and refined, or a surgeon cuts out an organ, or the supermarket supply chain works. I’m just not sure why OP thinks we all need to know everything about everything.

Some people are interested in the world around them, but it’s OK to be small-minded and insular too, don’t worry.

With food, yes I am pretty aware of where it comes from.

Wouldn’t have any idea where my sofa comes from though. Or the various elements of a microwave etc.

I've bought from a UK or EU brand so at some point someone has made sure the handle won't break easily, poison me or the workers in the factory, the factory workers will be getting a half decent wage and not be abused etc.
Buying off a UK/EU brand doesn't guarantee factory workers aren't abused tbf. Always been news stories of supply chains from UK brands having slave labour/awful conditions.

Could you look at a random thing in your house and explain to someone how it was made, where it came from and how it got to you?

Yes. I read labels before I buy (food, clothes, furniture, flooring, plants) because I care about ingredients, materials and their source and avoid needless waste.

I always read where things come from on the packet.

But packaging needs to be more clear.

Eg Scottish smoked salmon isn't necessarily Scottish but smoked Scottish salmon is.

No wonder people are confused!

I hate that so much comes from China.

I try to buy local or at least UK/EU over countries with questionable ethics.

But most people aren't ethical consumers.

No, I really don't assume ethical origins. That is only a factor for me if I end up having to buy new which is vanishingly rare.

I'm just trying to reduce demand by not buying new. Trying to use items that already exist and then pass them on again.

When you get in to supply chains it goes beyond where it was manufactured, it all goes down to where materials are sourced from.

Yes, I know where everything I have comes from. I have completely boycotted anything made in China for over a decade over their absolutely disgusting recreational and economic animal cruelty on everything, going as far as including Mohair jumper manufacture. It disgusts me and I want nothing from there.

I only buy clothes made here, mostly by people I know. I get shoes made. I built two computers which I use and have no mobile phones or any other electronics at all. No new furniture or new anything. I do know and care very much where stuff comes from as have spent time in the countries that stuff is imported from, and see what happens in those places.

I think even if people think they know where the product comes from it is likely to be far more complicated than they think. I’ve seen products where the cartons were made in China then shipped to the US to be filled then on to the EU to be assembled into a complete product then sold worldwide. You’d have no idea of this from the labelling assuming there was any labelling re country of origin. Similarly as someone said above, a lot of Scottish shellfish is sent to the Far East for processing then sold back here but the labelling might not make that clear.

Looking round my sitting room, the only thing that was new when I bought it is the sofa. Three of the armchairs were bought from antique fairs or at auction, the fourth chair was inherited. Dining table brought at auction, and dining chairs from antique shop. Learnt to do upholstery some years ago, and still go to classes, saved me a lot over the years.

I actually worked out on the way home on the bus after buying two old kitchen chairs for a fiver how they came into being.

First, acorns sprouted. Then trees grew, saw Summers, Autumns, long, cold winters when people died of the cold and hunger and disease and then attended Mass at Easter if they survived. Eventually, people who could have been their grandchildren or great grandchildren cut down the trees, stripped the lichen covered bark, split planks and left them to age.

Then a carpenter took his tools and cut and planed and made joints and created some chairs following a rough outline of what was both fashionable and practical for daily use. These chairs were in houses long gone and eventually went to other homes. Children rocked on them, husbands and wives ate their meals, cats and dogs wandered round them in hope of treats.

Wars came and went, Winters and Christmases came and went, Monarchs and kingdoms and empires came and went; Woodworm came and went and eventually, a man came along to do a house clearance and the two chairs sat in his cluttered, covered yard until a skint woman and her partner came in looking for a couple of cheap wooden kitchen chairs, rather than paying more for something made of cheap pine or plastic that they'd have to assemble themselves.

To make it sound even more pretentious amazing, at the time those saplings were first feeling the breeze in their leaves and birds were picking off spiders from the branches, across the Atlantic, the Salem Witch Trials were going on.