TylerDama Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 just curious, who looks at tags to see where things are made and will that information influence whether or not you purchase the product? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerDama Posted April 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 p.s Matthew Wiswell you won hammerhead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pennywise Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 Don't mind buying Chinese made as long as it says for example,"built by Hilti in china" , which generally means it's the companies own factory and the manufacturing hasn't been subbed out to a third party who cut cost on the materials etc, the quality control is also overseen by the company as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 I buy made in China only if I have to. If I can buy something made here or in one of our neighboring countries I will buy that item instead but truth be told, the problem is mostly everything including the iPad 4 I'm typing on is Chinese made. With me it's not a "cheap Chinese crap" thing because many items are becoming a quality item, to me it is based on political and ethical reasons. Copyright infringements etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kato Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 I don't care where stuff is made, if it's made good it's made good, place of origin means nothing. These days you know what you're getting, plastic comes from the same places, metal comes from the same places...who cares who assembles it. Apart from the sob-story "support America" bullcrap, buying American doesn't guarantee you a good product. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 I hate buying anything made in China. I always look for USA made tools. I don't mind stuff made in Europe or Taiwan, but I don't like Chinese made stuff. It's hard for me to justify supporting the exploitation of people that takes place in China. There are times when Chinese made is the only option, such has been the case with cordless power tools, but when there is an option, I'll go USA every time. Dewalt is shifting some assembly back to the USA. I figure I have another 4 years or so left in my cordless kit and if Milwaukee doesn't follow suit, I may be buying ugly yellow next time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 It doesn't necessarily mean it's a great product Kato but it does mean your supporting Americans making American products. It also means not supporting a country that is constantly subverting our own products not to mention blatant copyright infringements. That's why I try to stay away from as many products as possible that come from China. Not always easy, not always possible but I do what I can when I can. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerDama Posted April 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 I don't care where stuff is made, if it's made good it's made good, place of origin means nothing. These days you know what you're getting, plastic comes from the same places, metal comes from the same places...who cares who assembles it. Apart from the sob-story "support America" bullcrap, buying American doesn't guarantee you a good product.No it doesn't guarantee a good product I have bought things "made in USA" to find out they were inferior products...it is sad when that happens because when you are buying american made products you are supporting domestic work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 In some cases American companies are forced to cut corners to remain price point competitive with imports. I'll put any of my Proto tools up against the best Chinese equivalent you can find any day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR99 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 It's not all butterflies and rainbows in China anymore. China has had about a good 20 year run of being a super cheap place to manufacture items, and the large population allowed the companies to not care for the employees much at all in the beginning. Now they have created a middle class and like all middle class people they want time off to raise their families ,and not be a bio robot like they had treated people in the past. If you look at the assembly lines in China its mostly hand assembled items very little automation even in a high tech operation like assembling I phones. We will see manufacturing move back to the USA but the momentum will be slow and highly automated so you will need to have some kind of specialized training to get the job. If you look hand tools and consumables like saw blades didn't have the huge exodus like power tool manufacturing did. The other big problem is shipping you either have to options ship by air which is expensive or ship by container ship which is cheaper but very slow. It makes it very hard for a company to react to market conditions by keeping their supply channels filled properly at times. The scariest thing I saw about China were kids speaking perfectly accented mid west English it just blew my mind after watching that news report. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-21/china-strike-at-nike-adidas-factory-extends-to-sixth-day.html Sorry about the long post but this is what I think will happen long term to the quality issue the Chinese can make a quality product, but the company that contracted the manufacturing has to keep on the suppler like a hawk with quality control its a cultural thing there to cut corners. It's a communism thing the Soviet Union had the same problem they would rather ship bad products to keep their production numbers up. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Very nice post DR. Very detailed and in point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highdesert Splintermaker Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 The sad part about seeing all that Made in China merchandise on American retail shelves is; so many Americans have recently been furloughed from good paying jobs and have to accept lower wages somewhere else just to feed their families. As a result many Americans can no longer afford to buy American made. In essence we have exported our labor and, in so doing, have literally fired a large portion of America's consumer base. So many of us who have personally experienced this, and many others who haven't had a wage increase in years, largely a secondary affect of our ever shrinking job market, can no longer afford to buy American so they have to buy the less expensive imports. I do agree with those who prefer to keep Americans employed by buying Made in US but, on the other hand, so many higher priced products produced by union labor are, I'm saddened to say, of no better quality than many of today's imports. American industry is so focused on today's bottom line they are holding every nickel so close to their eye they can't see a dollar bill five feet away. We need to stop being so tunnel visioned on the bottom line. Easy to say but next to impossible to do. It seems to me that if our federal government really wants to affect our economy in a positive way it has to take a number of steps simultaneously. We need to return American name brand products to being made on American soil. We need to refine our labor market at the top by restoring competition based on skill rather than solely on union membership. We need to refine our labor market at the bottom by insuring every new hire is here legally. I have nothing against immigration - LEGAL immigration. I do NOT believe in rewarding people here illegally with jobs that legal American citizens need. If in fact there are some jobs legal Americans will not do, let new technology fill that gap. Necessity is the mother of invention. Americans developing new technologies to do those jobs also creates jobs for Americans. One of the simplest ways to return jobs to America is to put Americans on the phone in the consumer service centers of American companies. If you've ever tried to solve a technical issue over the phone with HP, OnStar, or any number of other high volume high tech manufacturers, you know what I mean. I do believe that once those steps were taken the minimum or living wage issue could resolve itself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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