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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Somebody has to pay...
Nothing demanded by the government comes to the public without a cost.
This is a fact that I can prove anew, based on something that happened at work today.
I clerk for a temp service when not blogging. This afternoon, three of my company's temps returned from working at a warehouse.
I sometimes ask the workers what they did, and in this case, they worked a full 8 hour day doing labelling work. The warehouse had received an big shipment of canned fish from Europe.
"We spent all day putting Canadian labels on the cans." Not French/English labels, but the labels stating the percentage of vitamins in the product, how many calories each "serving" has, and such. Consumers, one assumes, can guess for themselves that each fish serving will have less calories than pure lard and more calories than a serving of celery. But, the government makes sure that we know precisely how much thanks to the labels that my company's workers had to put on.
I can't reveal trade secrets, but I can say that our temps do have a cost. And I can make an educated guess that the added cost is passed on to the consumer in the form of a few cents added to the cost of the canned fish.
I'm not complaining, as my workers value the work, and my company is thankful for the business. But European fish fanciers might, if they think about what costs might be added by the government that may be unnecessary.
Posted by Rick Hiebert on June 16, 2009 in Economic freedom | Permalink
Comments
Are the products also labeled "Product of Canada" like so many other foreign products?
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-16 9:21:06 PM
I read the nutritional facts on virtually everything I eat, even when I eat out. I appreciate it quite a bit, even the marginal extra cost.
Posted by: Pete | 2009-06-16 9:46:56 PM
Did you ever notice that the items that are really good for you don't come with a "nutritional facts" label? Fresh fruit, vegatables, meat, poultry and fish.
Posted by: B | 2009-06-16 9:49:51 PM
So the "made in Canada" is a lie?
Posted by: GeronL | 2009-06-17 12:31:34 AM
You're absolutely right. Unfortunately, most people still believe in free rides. That's why Keynesian economics and corporate bailouts are so popular.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-06-17 5:22:17 AM
So the "made in Canada" is a lie?
Posted by: GeronL | 2009-06-17 12:31:34 AM
Geron, apparently a great many products have been entering Canada unlabeled and then are labeled as "Product of Canada". Canned foods and the like.
The criteria is (was) that if a certain percentage of the cost was incurred here by way of labeling trucking etc, that it could then be labeled as a Canadian product. Its very misleading and might even be termed as fraud. However, I recall hearing something about the legislation being changed, I'm just not sure how, or if it ever actually was changed.
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-17 5:37:56 AM
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