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Company removes 'Made in China' desks after contract flap

Made in China sticker
Pixabay

A company has removed Chinese-made office furniture it delivered to a Michigan courthouse following a six-month legal battle with officials who wanted American-made products.

The Greenville Daily News reports that Custom Office Systems removed the unwanted desks - many of them faulty - on Monday from the Ionia County Courthouse. The Ionia-based company earlier this year delivered the desks in boxes clearly marked "Made in China" along with some American-made furniture.

County commissioners in April went with Custom's $41,862 bid over a rival's $33,739 offer based on the promise that the furniture would be made in the U.S. Commissioners demanded the Chinese-made furniture be replaced with American-made products and in June voted to end Custom's contract and accepted the rival's bid.

Custom apologized and blamed the mistake on an oversight with its U.S.-based supplier.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.