Corelle, I Love You, I Love You Not.

No consumer product has ever spoken to us quite like Corelle dinnerware by Corning Glass.

Corelle Vitrelle was the perfect product. American made, extremely durable, and a marvel of material science, it was the embodiment of affordable, understated elegance, practicality and simplicity. Brought to you by the same folks that gave you Pyrex glassware, CorningWare and Visions cookware. It was an American classic, coming to a kitchen near you straight from Corning, New York, USA. Here’s a scientific explanation as to why the classic three-layer Corelle plates are as indestructable as they are, thanks to The Corning Museum of Glass. And here’s a Youtube video of the Corelle production line at Corning.

Even when we weren’t shopping for glassware or dinnerware, we would always stop to look at the flip side of dinnerware on display at whatever store we found ourselves at, just to see where a product was made. It was so reassuring to always find MADE IN USA on the bottom of Corelle products, when almost no other plates or bowls were made here. Even “That Internet Guy” sang the praises of his made-in-USA Corelle dinnerware on his YouTube channel!

But from the never-say-never school of thought, and in the interest of full disclosure, this can be the result of dropping a Corelle plate.

Well, it’s time to publish an obituary for another American classic. We recently began seeing Corelle products labeled MADE IN CHINA. Is nothing sacred?

It is unclear to us whether most Corelle products are made here or in China these days. Within the last few years, there were news reports that their Corning, New York plant was being modernized. On the other hand, the Corningware factory store in Corning, New York was reportedly closed in January, 2022.

This excellent 2014 “Built In America” video takes you inside the Corning, New York factory where all Corelle products were manufactured, before production was moved to China. As one of the employees in the video proudly states, “It’s sold worldwide, but every piece of Corelle comes out of Corning [New York]”. Sadly, that is no longer true. We wonder what the dedicated workers in the video are doing today. If you are in the market for Corelle dinnerware, we suggest you look closely at where it was made, before making your purchase. As Sy Sims used to say, “An educated consumer is our best customer”.

To add insult to injury, we noticed that the warranty on the made-in-China Corelle dinnerware (or what it’s manufacturer refers to as “livingware”), has been reduced to only one year. Perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that it is not as durable as it once was?

We understandably go crazy over a Chinese balloon, whether of the weather or spy variety, being spotted flying 50,000 feet over America, yet China has all but taken over the United States, one consumer product at a time. If you flipped a switch that made all Chinese goods magically disappear from America, store shelves would be bare, you would be naked and starving, and the computer we are writing this blog post on (and probably the device you are reading it on) would disappear. Welcome to The People’s Republic of America.

You have much more to worry about than whether TikTok is installed on your Chinese-made cellphone.

The Chinese Are Coming, The Chinese Are Coming

If you are breathing a sigh of relief, now that the United States Air Force has shot down that Chinese spy balloon that had the nation transfixed for the past week, I have bad news for you.

Our nation has been invaded by millions more Chinese balloons, and they’ve been here for years. They’re everywhere. In plain sight. Walmart. Amazon. Your local dollar store. Everywhere. Just try to buy a bag of balloons for your kid’s next party that aren’t made in China. Go ahead. Try.

Planning on celebrating next July 4th with fireworks? What could be more American than a fireworks show. Guess where those fire crackers, bottle rockets and sparklers come from. China.

Worried about TikTok? Well then, you’d better start worrying about your cellphones, televisions, the shoes on your feet, your clothes on your back, the raw ingredients used to make your pharmaceuticals, the COVID masks you’re wearing to protect you from the Chinese virus (thanks, Mr. Trump), the parts your cars are built from, even the pumpkin seeds you top your salad with. It’s all coming from China. China leads the World in the production of chemicals. Chances are that the packets of artificial sweetener you added to your coffee this morning contained Chinese-made chemicals. Even those hard-to-find products that say “Made In USA” usually contain a substantial percentage of Chinese materials.

Just look what happened to the supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We couldn’t bring the containerships packed with Chinese-made goods to the United States fast enough. There weren’t enough cargo containers, container ships or ports-of-call to accommodate the volume of goods we were buying from China.

Personally, and as a nation, we long ago surrendered and capitulated to Mainland China, when we gave up on trying to buy only American-made clothing and shoes. Had we not caved in, we would be walking around naked and barefoot today.

So, the concern about a single Chinese balloon, spy or otherwise, might make for great headlines, but the fact is that China has successfully invaded the United States without firing a single shot, and we welcomed them with open wallets. Besides, they can gather much more intelligence using Google Earth, than their over-inflated party balloon will ever provide.

The Chinese Are Coming ?

The Chinese Are Here.

Milking The Herd At T-Mobile

T-Mobile is milking us dry, and that's no bull !

T-Mobile USA’s (aka Deutsche Telekom AG) catch phrase used to be “Get More”, before they dropped it (like so many dropped calls) for their “Stick Together” campaign.  Well, now it seems that their next advertising slogan might just be “Pay More”.

We know times are rough.  T-Mobile is probably hurting just as much as the rest of us.  Evidence the bad news they’ve included in customer’s bills over the last few months.  First, they made the decision to charge customers who wanted to continue to receive their call detail on each month’s bill.  I believe they are charging $3.00 a month for the privilege of seeing what they are charging you for.  Then they decided to charge an additional $1.50 a month for the privilege of getting a paper bill in the mail each month (isn’t it nice to know that T-Mobile is saving the lives of innocent trees).  After what must have been a torrent of subscriber defections to other carriers and complaints from customers who didn’t bolt, they dropped their plan to charge for paper bills (but they’re still charging customers who want to see the call detail on their bills).  Apparently, T-Mobile decided that trying to milk their customers with yet another new monthly charge was going to cost them more than they would have realized in additional income (see “T-Mobile Customers Demand Traditional Paper Bills” at dailyfinance.com).

T-Mobile’s latest bills have included a strangely vague warning to their customers that they may be paying more for minutes used beyond their calling plan’s allowance.  But they don’t tell you how much more they are charging per minute. If you are a T-Mobile subscriber, and you decide to dial 611 to ask them about the rate increase, better do it during the day.  T-Mobile used to provide customer service 24 hours a day, but now,  if you try calling T-Mobile at night, you’ll get an announcement telling you to call back during the day.  That brings to mind another possible advertising slogan T-Mobile might consider… “Pay More, Get Less”.

Why the lack of specifics regarding their rate increase ?  (they tell you to check out their website for details)  Well, it seems to us that T-Mobile, just in time for Halloween,  is trying to scare subscribers into moving to more expensive monthly plans.  Is it really necessary to raise what are already exhorbitant per-minute charges if you go over on your plan’s minute allotment.  We believe those per-minute charges were already in the range of 40 cents to 60 cents per minute, even before their recent increases.

Those folks at T-Mobile must also think their customers are a bunch of idiots.  Here’s how they broke the good news to customers, via an insert in their bills titled “An important message about your additional minutes”…

“T-Mobile is committed to providing you the coverage you need at the price you want.  Therefore, it’s important to tell you about a change to ensure you are on the plan that best meets your needs.  Starting on September 1st, the price for the minutes you use over the minutes included in your plan will increase for some rate plans.  Those rates apply to all additional minutes, including calls to voicemail and call forwarding.”

Don’t you love it how companies always begin their notices of price increases on an upbeat theme ?   How about leveling with the customer and starting off with something like “We have some bad news for our most loyal customers” ?

When we first spotted their billing insert, we thought that perhaps T-Mobile was increasing the number of minutes in their calling plans, or perhaps that they were lowering their charge for additional minutes.  Unfortunately, it was nothing or the sort, but it is certainly reassuring to know that T-Mobile is so concerned about us.  Why then all the secrecy ?  Why not just say how much they’re charging for additional minutes, right there on the billing insert ?  And the fact of the matter is that they can’t legally raise their rates without notifying their customers.  We guess that T-Mobile figures that this indirect method of notifying their customers of a rate increase fulfills their obligation to notify their customers.  How lame can you get ?

We wonder what little bit of good news T-Mobile might be planning to stuff into the envelope with your bill, next month.  How about charging a fee for speaking with a customer service rep, or charging you $1.00 every time you check how many minutes you have used up.  There’s probably dozens of ways they can come up with to squeeze more out of their customers every month.

Long time T-Mobile subscribers might remember the pre-T-Mobile days, and perhaps even the pre-Voicestream days.  The T-Mobile U.S. cellular network started it’s life as “Omnipoint”, circa 1996.  (Does anybody remember Fred, the Omnipoint parrot ?  See Fred in this Omnipoint TV Commercial on Youtube.)  One of Omnipoint’s selling points was “No Contract Required”.  As any T-Mobile customer can tell you, that is not the case with T-Mobile.  But for T-Mobile customers who have fulfilled their contract (and maybe even for those who haven’t), all of  T-Mobile’s recent attempts to nickel and dime their customers to death might signal that it is time to move your mobile number to a different network, one that is more customer-friendly, and one that gives it’s subscribers a little more credit for being able to see through a thinly veiled attempt to increase profits.  According to this article at cellphonesignal.com, T-Mobile’s decision to increase their per-minute overage charges means that subscribers who are under contract can opt to terminate their contract without incurring an early termination fee (ETF), which just may be the silver lining in this network’s cloud.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, when is T-Mobile going to bring back Jamie Lee Curtis as it’s spokesmodel ?

– Routing By Rumor

The Death Spiral At The New York Times

Extra, Extra… Read All About It !

The New York Times hikes its cover price yet again.

Another New York Times price increase.

Get ready to shell out more for your copy of The New York Times.

Extra, Extra !

Executives at The New York Times must be taking business strategy lessons from the same experts that have guided the once mighty General Motors to the brink of bankruptcy and needing to take federal bailout money to stay alive.  Shares of GM, once considered a “blue chip” stock that was among the most highly regarded of all investments, and which were trading at close to  $90 a share ten years ago, are now virtually worthless.

The New York Times has announced yet another round of price increases, the third in less than two years , that will hike the newsstand price of their Sunday edition to $5.00 or $6.00, depending on the geographic edition.  The weekday New York Times increases to $2.00 !  And you still don’t get any comics.  The price increases are effective June 1st.

$6.00 for a newspaper?  Are they joking ?  Perhaps New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. hasn’t yet taken notice of the new kid on the block.   Mr. Sulzberger, we would like to introduce you to Mr. Internet.  He’s big, he’s getting bigger all the time, and he’s eating your lunch.

The Internet is eating everybody’s lunch.  This Time Magazine article names the ten most endangered newspapers in America.  And according to this CNN article, at least 120 U.S. newspapers have folded since January, 2008.

Faced with a sharp drop in advertising revenue and falling circulation, the price increases at The Times are likely to just exacerbate the problems facing the newspaper.  Price increases will inevitably produce a further errosion in circulation, which is sure to further weaken advertising income.  A decision to increase prices at a time like this, for many businesses, is tantamount to committing suicide.  We believe that the New York Times has made the worst possible decision at the worst possible time.

Our readers will note that we have not raised the cover price here at Routing By Rumor;  reading our blog is still free!

Understandably, the bean counters at The Times are desperate.  They’re being squeezed from all directions.  But you have to wonder who made the strategic decision that may very well seal their fate.  Perhaps a price decrease, coupled with an agressive advertising campaign would have been the right course to follow.  We believe that with the increasing competition for readers that the Internet has created, along with belt tightening by consumers in the depths of this economic recession, and the drastically shrinking size (the number of pages) of newspapers over the last few years, including the Times, newspapers are increasingly becoming  irrelevant to more and more readers.  It’s not unlike a phone company that keeps increasing it’s rates, in an attempt to offset the loss of revenue from customers who are dropping their traditional phone service, and using cellphones exclusively.  Price increases will only serve to accelerate the trend.

Will the New York Times disappear completely? We fully expect to see a copy of the New York Times on the newsstand in the near future, with a headline of “THE END”.  The fact that you are reading this blog, when you could be reading The New York Times instead, isn’t helping the Gray Lady one bit.  We believe that their print editions are in mortal danger,with The Times becoming an online-only newspaper.

Better buy your Amazon Kindle now !

– Routing By Rumor

Companies In Mirror Are Closer To Bankruptcy Than They Appear !

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

This article will be of interest to anyone replacing the rear view mirror in their General Motors (GM) or other vehicle, whether you are purchasing a replacement mirror from GM SPO, Gentex, Donnelly, or another manufacturer.

Installation information is included for Do-It-Yourselfers (DIY), including wiring harness connector pinout data.

Perhaps the most valuable tip we can give to a vehicle owner planning to purchase a replacement mirror is COMPARE PRICES !

The U.S. government can throw as many billions of dollars at General Motors as they wish, but they’re unlikely to change the fundamental problems at the automaker. Problems that have brought what was once a cornerstone of the American economy to the brink of extinction, dependent on a government bailout for it’s survival.

GM is not competitive for many reasons. They are hobbled by high labor costs. They lag in innovation, particularly in the area of electric and hybrid vehicles. In our opinion, they can’t compete with Japanese auto manufacturers on quality (or perceived quality) or customer loyalty. They’re certainly not competitive on pricing when compared to aftermarket parts suppliers. For most vehicle repairs, we think you’ll spend a lot less, and get a better job done at a private garage, then you would at a GM dealership. This might come as a shock, but in our opinion, Mr. Goodwrench isn’t.

As we’ve stated previously, we believe that their new vehicle warranty isn’t worth the paper its printed on. And GM seems to follow pricing policies usually associated with companies that sell hammers and toilet seats to the Pentagon.

Case in point…

Our GM vehicle was built with an auto-dimming electrochromic rear view mirror. Some rear view mirrors in late-model vehicles are marvels of modern technology, containing On-Star controls, handsfree cellphones, compasses, thermometers, back-up camera displays, garage door openers and other gadgets. But our mirror is just an auto-dimming mirror, with none of these other bells and whistles (see this NY Times article on these “bells & whistles”). On most of the auto dimming mirrors that we’ve seen in GM vehicles, after a few years of service, the magic liquid inside tends to leak out of the mirror. This either renders the dimming feature inoperative, fogs the mirror, or leaves it with an uneven or blotchy reflective surface.

For the past few years, the liquid crystal stuff (or whatever the chemical is) in our mirror has been leaking out, increasingly producing areas on the mirror’s surface that are either always clear or always dark. We finally decided to replace the mirror.

We checked with our friendly GM dealership’s parts department. They quoted us a price of $284.00 for a replacement rear view mirror, excluding the cost of installation.

Almost $300.00 for a rear view mirror ? Sounded awfully expensive to us, so we started to look at aftermarket mirrors. Virtually all American cars use a standard “wedge” type glass mount. The mirror attaches to a glass-mounted “button”, which hopefully stays attached to the windshield when you remove your old mirror from the vehicle.

Our search for a replacement mirror lead us to products manufactured by two predominant manufacturers of automotive mirrors, Donnelly (now called Magna Donnelly?) and Gentex (see company info). It seems that Donnelly sells exclusively to automotive manufacturers (OEMs), and not to the automotive aftermarket. Gentex sells to OEMs (probably the vast majority of their business), but they also sell their products to aftermarket suppliers (in our case, through a distributor named Mito Corporation).

We ended up purchasing a brand new, in the box, Gentex electrochromic rear view mirror that is virtually identical to our vehicle’s original mirror, for under $70.00, including shipping ! That’s less than a quarter of what General Motors wanted for a replacement mirror.

When you consider the fact that GM certainly pays much less for mirrors than the RoutingByRumor Corporation does, that probably equates to a markup of 400%, 500% or more.   What word best describes that sort of profit margin ?  “Criminal”  might be a bit too strong.  How about egregious.  How about unconscionable.  How about stupid ?  How many businesses that try to fleece their customers are able to stay in business ?  It certainly seems to indicate that GM doesn’t make their money selling cars.  They make their money (or at least they did) by selling parts and service;  Service that we’ve never been very impressed with in the first place.

The only caveat is that we had to replace the wiring harness connector that powers the mirror, because the Gentex mirror uses a 7-pin connector, while our original equipment Donnelly mirror used a 3-pin connector (our vehicle does not have auto-dimming external mirrors, and the Gentex mirror we installed does not have a temperature or compass display). But replacing the connector was a quick and easy procedure. The hardest part was getting the old mirror off of the windshield. Maybe it helped that we popped our Stevie Nicks album “The Other Side Of The Mirror” into the CD player while we installed our new mirror. To quote Stevie, “This is me talking to you. This is me talking to ya”.

The Gentex mirror we purchased came with very limited hookup information. We found the following pinout data on the Web, and we’re guessing that this information will apply to all Gentex mirrors that use a 7-pin connector.

JST "VH" Series Connector Housing (8-pin version shown)

If you’re trying to figure out what type of connector Gentex (and Donnelly) use on their mirrors, our research indicates that the 7-pin Gentex harness connector (as well as the 3-pin harness connector on our original Donnelly mirror) are “VH” series connectors, from JST Manufacturing. Their U.S. website is at www.jst.com. View JST’s data sheet for the VH series connectors here. These connectors (and the necessary crimp terminals) are available from Digi-Key.

We’re not sure if the wiring color coding is standard on all vehicles, so we would be more concerned with the function associated with each pin on the connector (pin numbers are molded into the connector housing on the wire-side of the connector, but you might need a magnifying glass to read them).

WARNING: Before you begin working on your mirror’s wiring harness, we strongly suggest that you either pull the fuse(s) that protect your accessories (ACC, RAP, ACC1, ACC2, etc., depending on your vehicle), as well as the fuse that protects your backup lamps. In lieu of pulling the accessory fuse(s), remove your key from the ignition and open a door to deactivate the Retained Accessory Power (RAP) circuit, if present and utilized by the mirror. If you really want to play it safe, disconnect your vehicle’s battery, following your vehicle manufacturer’s recommended procedure (for your safety). This will prevent you from blowing a fuse, should you inadvertently short or ground a lead while working on your mirror’s wiring harness.




PIN # …. HARNESS WIRE COLOR …………. FUNCTION

. 1 …………….. WHITE …………………………. +12v (SWITCHED B+)

. 2 ……………. BLACK …………………………. CHASSIS GROUND

. 3 ……………. LIGHT GREEN ………………… FROM BACKUP LIGHT CIRCUIT

. 4 …………….. GRAY …………………………… TO AUTO DIM OUTSIDE MIRROR

. 5 …………….. PINK …………………………….. TO AUTO DIM OUTSIDE MIRROR

. 6 …………….. DARK GREEN/WHITE ……… TEMPERATURE PROBE

. 7 …………….. BLACK/WHITE ……………….. TEMPERATURE PROBE

Notes:

At a minimum, you must connect pins 1 & 2 (+12V & ground) for your auto dimming Gentex mirror to operate.

Not all Gentex mirrors or all vehicles will utilize all pins, but we believe pins 1 – 5 should be functional on all Gentex mirrors. If your experience differs, please let us know by posting a comment to this article.

Pin 3 is used to clear the mirror when the vehicle is placed in reverse. (DO NOT connect pin 3 to ground, since this will blow a fuse (or possibly damage your mirror) when you put the vehicle into reverse gear.)

Pins 4 & 5 are used to control outside mirrors on vehicles equipped with auto-dimming outside mirrors.

Pins 6 & 7 are used on mirrors that incorporate a temperature display. If a temperature probe is connected, either lead from the temperature probe can be connected to either pin.

Of course, your best source of information is your vehicle manufacturer, or the manufacturer of your new mirror. The above information is believed to be correct, but we take no responsibility for its accuracy.

A Volt-Ohm meter is an indispensable tool for any installer, and we recommend that you use one whenever working on your vehicle’s electrical system.

In our opinion, the auto-dimming feature of the Gentex mirror performs as well as, or better than, our original equipment Donnelly rear view mirror, even taking into account how it operated when our vehicle was brand new. We saved more than $200.00 by not buying the mirror from GM, and probably much more than that, if the dealership would have installed the new mirror for us. The Gentex mirror we purchased appears to be manufactured in the U.S.A. (see this article about their Zeeland, Michigan plant & headquarters buildings), and came with a three-year warranty. We said the Gentex mirror “appears” to be made in the USA, because the only indication we were able to find was the letters “U.S.A.” on the carton label in 2-point type. Not “Made In U.S.A.” or “Assembled In U.S.A.”. Just “U.S.A.”. We’re left to guess that Gentex may be embarrased to admit where the mirror is manufactured. If their products are indeed made in the USA, why don’t they state that fact prominently on the carton, with “MADE IN U.S.A.” clearly visible, like they are proud of it !

We always welcome the opportunity to buy products made in America. We think that buying American made goods, and supporting American workers, is the best way to repair the failing U.S. economy. The U.S. Government’s economic stimulus plans certainly won’t do that.

Let’s hope that if we should ever have to file a warranty claim with Gentex or Mito (their aftermarket distributor), that they honor their warranty better than General Motors has, on the numerous occasions that we’ve had problems with GM products.

As an aside, here’s an article we stumbled upon about another Gentex product, designed to solve one of nighttime driving’s most annoying and dangerous problems.

So the question we are left to ponder is this… Why does General Motors think it can gouge consumers for replacement parts ? If you said “because they’re General Motors”, think again. In our case, they couldn’t. And when you consider the fact that they are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, begging for federal bailout money, it’s clear to us that their policies, including their pricing policies, are a failure. All of the GM dealerships that have gone belly-up, and those who continue to struggle to survive, in an American new car market that has all but evaporated, are testament to their failed business model. And of course, the decrepit U.S. economy doesn’t help either.

Ya know, our mention of Stevie Nicks’ album “The Other Side Of The Mirror” is quite appropos, because when our GM dealer gave us their price for a new mirror, we suddenly recalled the advice that Alice received from the Mad Hatter… “Better run for your life”.

– Routing By Rumor