Red budget + white teeth = blue teeth

Red budget + white teeth = Blue Christmas

I smeared a dab of Crest toothpaste across my chops the other day only to be greeted by a rather unpleasant taste…so I searched for a contact number on the dispenser. 

Just as I found the contact number, my eyes were drawn to rather bold print, made in Mexico.  I got really angry and muttered, no wonder it tastes like you know what!

My call to Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati started with, to continue in English, press one.

Now I was ready to continue in French.  The next recording was a warning about an FDA ban on toothpaste imports from China.  I started thinking, hmmmm what about Mexico?  I was then connected to a customer service representative.

I shared my experience that this Crest toothpaste was excessively runny and had a rather fowl taste, but I was  most angry about this product being outsourced to Mexico.  I got a quick reply that a lot of their product is made in North Carolina.  My reply was, what are you saving $.20 to$.50 a tube by producing this particular variety in Mexico?   I continued, now, I want to share a story with you…

We had a cedar mill here in Naples that just laid off 93 employees, which boosted our county unemployment rate to near 20 percent just in time for Christmas.  The reason our mill shut down is because your employees in Cincinnati and Greensboro lost their jobs to corporate outsourcing.  They lost their homes due to foreclosure and no longer are able to buy Welco’s products sold in Lowe’s, Home Depot or Menard’s.

I’m sorry Mr. Higgs.

You sure are, I want  you to play the recording of this conversation at Proctor and Gamble’s next board meeting.

Good-bye….my 56-year relationship as a loyal Crest customer is over.

Retailers like Wal-Mart routinely black mail their suppliers into outsourcing.  Wake up America.  The next cheapest product you buy may cost your own job.  May your Christmas be blessed with meaningful employment.

Jerry Higgs

Bonners Ferry