An Idea for the Billionaires Who Claim to Love New Zealand: How About an Electric Water Kettle?
June 18th, 2011The economy in Northland is in a state of collapse:
The recession in Northland has had most impact on young people, with 29 per cent of the region’s 18- to 24-year-olds now on welfare, and on Maori, with an extraordinary 48 per cent of Maori aged 18 to 64 on benefits.
Now, in New Zealand, what’s the one appliance that people have the most (apparent) choice with regard to which one to buy? I was in our local Farmer’s department store and, even here in Kaitaia, at the tail end of the supply chain of the developed world, there were dozens of electric water kettles on the shelves. I went through and turned every one upside down to see if I could find one that wasn’t made in China. Nope, they were all made in China, dozens of them. The closest thing I could find to one not made in China was, “Designed in Australia.”
Ok, so:
* Most people in New Zealand use electric water kettles.
* How many types of electric water kettles are made in New Zealand? None. (I found a 1930s newspaper reference to hot water kettles that were made in New Zealand.)
* There’s an unemployment crisis in Northland.
Now, most of the electric kettles for sale here are total garbage and will only last weeks or months before breaking. I see them going into the landfill all the time. We’re using a higher end stainless steel model that has lasted for two years, but it’s starting to fail. The retail price was NZ$139 for this one, but we bought it during a half off sale. So, the nicer kettles, which are still garbage, cost over NZ$100.
I was thinking: How about a premium quality, stainless steel, Made in New Zealand electric water kettle? Yes, there are higher labour costs in New Zealand than in China. However, dear billionaire, you could eliminate parasitic middlemen (wholesalers) and sell directly to customers through a website (in the same manner that Dell sells computers to people). Word would soon spread and people around the world, noting a similar lack of not-made-in-China hot water kettles in their countries, would be placing orders for this premium, Made in New Zealand kettle. I bought kettle.co.nz, which I will be happy hand over to any Buy New Zealand Made member company that agrees to manufacture a stainless steel, electric water kettle in New Zealand.
Design the thing to last and give it an industry leading warranty period. Get New Zealanders off the dole by building a high quality appliance that would be in high demand at home and abroad. I can’t imagine a New Zealander doing this, since people here are (wrongly) convinced that very little can be manufactured here. But, I’d love to be proven wrong about this.
If this guy can park an almost 3 million dollar automobile in a bunker, there should be a way to make an electric water kettle in New Zealand. And if not, well, I’ll let you do the math on where that leaves us.
i’m sure you have talked with your in-laws and older neighbours about what nz was like pre-1984. over-protected and (surprise, surprise!) run by an “old boys network”, but most stuff got manufactured or at least assembled in nz, except for a few specialised categories. nz-assembled cars, nz-made shoes, clothes, toys, plastics, rubber goods, metal goods, appliances, PCs even, building materials, tools, etc. we got down to the last dribs and drabs of manufacturing (95% has gone) in around 2005 or so. even now, the remaining bits are disappearing very quickly. tyres and buses in the last year. and get this (you probably know already), the government (Kiwirail) put out a tender for a huge contract to construct new freight train cars last year. there is a rail worksop in Dunedin. the last major one. the contract for tens of millions went to a *Chinese* company. no requirements (as far as i can tell) to do any manufacturing in nz. then last month, dozens more people at the Dunedin rail workshop got put out of work. no work. this is nz, don’t ya luv it?
btw, when i was a kid in the 70s, my mum had an electric jug (kettle) made in nz from super sturdy (thick) stainless. it would have been bought in the early 60s. kept using it till the late 80s. 25 years! couldn’t buy replacement elements eventually, so it had to be chucked. then she had to buy a junky one every few years. even though she kept buying the high-end ones.
Doesn’t it seem possible that something like what your mum had over those decades could be built again? Wouldn’t people want to buy something like that?
There used to be a NZ company – Zip Industries that made stainless steel pots and pans. Certainly the same equipment could be used to make kettles. I remember my dad used to machine blocks of asbestos that were part of the manufacturing process and he’d bring these home to cure in the oven at home!
yeah, the one my mum had was probably a Zip. although there were at least one or two other NZ brands. this stuff could be made in NZ but the real estate scam plus the milk powder scam plus the carry trade make the NZ dollar ridiculously high for an ag-and-tourism-driven economy. light manufacturing would be really up against it. but it could be done. a lot of stuff that China makes dirt cheap still gets made in Japan at much higher quality because the plant is much better and the skills in engineering are higher. the prices aren’t that different. maybe 20-40%. if the engineering and marketing are done well, you could do it in NZ too. trouble is, scamming real estate or the like is just so much easier, apparently.
Australian businessman, aviator, film-maker, and explorer Dick Smith founded Dick Smith Foods to sell food made in Australia by Australian owned companies. He faced the reality of limited space as major food retailers “private label range” expanded.
http://www.dicksmithfoods.com.au