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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Looking Good Vs. Feeling Good

By Bob Proctor


Small things can make a big difference and in this day of cheap imported goods what you see isn't necessarily what you get. Most people find this out by buying something that looks good but doesn't perform as expected and needs to be replaced. After a few times it becomes apparent that maybe you really DO get what you pay for.

Cheap goods have flooded the market, as I'm sure you're well aware. I live in an Asian country and buying American (which is my nationality) requires extra expense in the form of taxes and duties. And, of course, 'Made in America' is going to cost more than 'Made in China' anyway. It's worth it.

I got a couple new photos of my folks recently, which necessitated a trip to the store that sells photograph frames at the mall. Their selection of styles and sizes is enormous and their prices low. Their choice of levels of quality however was not so great and, while most of the frames tended to 'look' good, there was no indication of 'quality manufacturing' to be found. But I needed two frames and bought a couple of gilded numbers at a very reasonable cost.

Trying to put the pictures in the frames was challenging. Several of the retainers broke and the back was too loose in the frame. This caused the photos to slide down, which I remedied by applying some duct tape to the back. This worked pretty well and was hidden from view so it looked okay too.

After a few weeks the tape started peeling away and the photos started slipping again. I put a couple of rubber bands around each frame and this did a great job of holding everything together but it also looked really funky. It was time to find some new ones.

As I probably should have done in the first place, I went online and found a huge assortment of not only picture frames but also certificate frames (which I also needed). It was easy to find something that looked good and was QUALITY made and, guess what? Made in the U.S.A.!

Metal frames, wood frames, shadowboxes and custom-made units all available and most very reasonably priced. True it would take some time for delivery but anything was better than looking at the cheesy rubber-band set-up. Anyway, Mom and Dad deserve to be displayed with some style and panache.




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