In a dead serious moment recently, my son Brian asked me about Uline and our "China deal." From just about the very beginning of Uline 30 years ago, we imported first from Taiwan and then we added China. About 20% of what we sell today comes from Asia.

This has never bothered me in the past. We all know that many products are not made in the U.S. anymore. What bothers me enormously is jobs in our part of the world. During most of Uline's history we have scrambled to hire enough people. We learned how to do job fairs. We spent a ton of money on Monster and other career sites. But that was then and this is now.

And so, in this catalog, we've worked hard with some North American firms to get a product that's made here versus being made in China.

The mold from Wisconsin costs more, but it is better made and will last longer. The product that comes from Ohio costs slightly less than the Chinese version would have cost. We're proud of this and hope you, our customers, will take note. Check out our new Uline Utility Cart on page 298.

Our two years in Canada have really made us a North American company. We're proud of that. Our future plans include hiring more people, adding buildings, improving shipping times to Central and Western Canada and certainly adding more products. Our continued investment in Canada benefits the entire company. That's a good relationship.

Liz Uihlein