Colgate recall

I happened to watch Lou Dobbs and I remembered that I had actually opened a new Colgate toothpaste this morning and the carton was in the waste basket. I knew that I was spooked because I actually went back to check the carton to see the country of manufacture. Whew ! it was made in USA, and then I remembered that Connecticut is not one of the "recall" states.  Goes to prove that Lou Dobbs is
extremely compelling and that there is increasing stories about China supply chain problems. There was the petfood problem, then beef recall, the toys problem and now toothpaste.

The toothpaste is not really a formal supply chain problem but a Grey market and counterfeit issue. Apparently the manufacturer is supposed to be Colgate South Africa but Colgate points out that the packaging is clearly counterfeit and the product was sold in dollar stores in the US. The fact is that there is just tons of counterfeit consumer products in Asia and the dollar stores have to get their stuff from somewhere.Poor Colgate and the China Supply Chain get a bad name! The root cause of these things is price pressure, the more pressure there is the more suppliers,particularly in developing countries, tend to cut corners. Perhaps understanding changing costs in different countries is a step in the right direction….