- cross-posted to:
- business@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- business@lemmy.world
Home products retailer Williams-Sonoma will have to pay almost $3.2 million for violating a Federal Trade Commission “Made in USA” order.
Williams-Sonoma was charged with advertising multiple products as being “Made in USA” when they were in fact manufactured in other countries, including China. That violated a 2020 commission order requiring the San Francisco-based company to be truthful about whether its products were in fact made in the U.S.
The FTC said Friday that Williams-Sonoma has agreed to a settlement, which includes a $3.175 million civil penalty. That marks the largest-ever civil penalty seen in a “Made in USA” case, the commission said.
“Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass.”
In addition to paying the penalty, the seller of cookware and home furnishings will be required to submit annual compliance reports, the FTC said. The settlement also imposes and reinforces a number of requirements about manufacturing claims the company can make.
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That’s like, what… The cost of three “Made in USA” Williams Sonoma credenzas?
You spelled “three plastic spatulas” wrong.
That’s why I always get my spatulas from Spatula City! In fact, if you buy nine spatulas, you get the tenth one for just one penny!
Shut up! 10 for the price of 9, hell YES! I am totally phoning in my order now. Operators are standing by you know.
For real I had that written out but couldn’t remember if they sold spatulas.
The 7 products found to be made outside of the USA probably didn’t make enough net profit to cover these fines much less the mandatory annual compliance reports.
Keep in mind this is out of brands including “Goldtouch, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids brands” which is a lot of products, so if anything this report shows they’re honest 97% of the time. To me, that’s a lot more surprising.
The FTC said Friday that Williams-Sonoma has agreed to a settlement, which includes a $3.175 million civil penalty. That marks the largest-ever civil penalty seen in a “Made in USA” case, the commission said.
THATS NOT A BRAG YOU WORTHLESS FUCKS
It’s not even the company’s first fine for similar misbehavior.
If the fine isn’t big enough to act as a deterrent, it’s almost like granting permission to do it again.
If you’re rich enough, a fine is never a deterrent.
It is if you consider it was exactly 7 products out of everything in the brands “Goldtouch, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids brands”. They’re almost certainly losing a lot more than they profited.
They broke the rules, they got fined, they broke the rules again, the fines went up and now they have to submit annual compliance reports. That seems good to me, if they do it again we fine them again and more every time.
Who cares if it takes a bite out of the profits for those 7 items? The company did something illegal.
If they lose money by doing an illegal, and their sole motivation is to make more money, then why would they choose to keep doing it? And, this is the second time they’ve been fined and the fine is already at a new record, plus they have to submit annual compliance reports or the next fine will be another new record.
Did you miss the part where they made over a billion dollars in profits? Don’t bother replying – I don’t give a fuck what you think.
Lmao, those 7 products did NOT make billions in profits.
I don’t give a shit. That’s not how justice works.
It is the literal definition of Justice: if you do crime you get punished.
It’s a warning. The more that know lying will cost you millions the fewer will risk it. The more consumers who know of cheaters the more it will impact the business. Headline grabbing numbers are GOOD.
It’s not even the company’s first fine for similar misbehavior.
If the fine isn’t big enough to act as a deterrent, it’s almost like granting permission to do it again.
bullshit! -history
See also: The free market
Oh wow a whole 3.2 million.
Poor them. A whole $3.2 millions? How will they ever recover from this?
Really depends on the value of the products sold. The find should be double or triple that to have any impact.
Personally I avoid buying anything made in China. Too much risk if it’s something I’ll touch all the time. Too much lead and chemicals in their products.
You had me up until “chemicals”.
Literally everything IS chemicals. If you take all the chemicals out of something all you have is nothing. Nothing as in, the hard vacuum of deep space. Even that will have a hydrogen atom here and there. At least call them hazardous chemicals. Please?This, quite literally, sounded like a poem in my head while I was reading it.
You and I have the same pet peeve. o7
Now if we could only get things like I dunno leaking million peoples of private information to the dark web which adds up to billions in lost revenue and scams for millions of Americans taken as seriously… Nah…
I’ve never bought anything specifically because it was made in the USA because US made does not equal good quality. When I used to work retail and people would ask me if something was American made it was because they assumed it was better quality and they were racist. I do find it ridiculous that a company can do this and still be allowed to operate. William Sonoma should be forced out of business for even having the audacity to do this as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve never bought anything specifically because it was made in the USA because US made does not equal good quality.
Not sure about the USA, but I consider it’s more likely the ecological and social impact of the product is better if it was made in my country than in a cheap labor one.
That’s a blunder.
I’m happy to hear the FTC is doing some shit. Seems like they kept quiet for years, but lately they’ve been on fire
