Just how do you BUY AMERICAN?

[Scooby074]

It changes so fast, what is made in North America today, wont be tomorrow. I was at HD yesterday, the Milwaukee drywall gun i have, that was made in the US, now is made in China. It was bought less than a year ago. Whats happening with manufacturing? Is there no market for a made in Canada or US powertool? Even if sold at a premium? I cant think of a single power (hand) tool company that has the majority of their manufacturing in canada or us. Makitia used to have their drill and saw manufacturing in Georgia, but i think most of it is China now. My Mitre Saw is Georgia, so maybe they still have some manufacturing there maybe just not the smaller tools?

I know that General ( not General International) still makes a number of stationary woodworking tools in Canada. i think they may be the last one in canada aside from a few industrial manufacturers. We used to have Delta rockwell stationary and Black and Decker hand tools just off the top of my head but now theyre gone

My first powertool, bought by my grandfather for me (when i was 12) was a BD jigsaw made in Ontario. (Yes, i still have all my fingers). I still have and use that tool. I also have a BD professional 3/8 drill that was made in Ontario that gets used alot, but not as much as it used to since ive gone cordless. These tools are old, but keep going. They dont make them like they used to. My Skill saw was probably 30 years old when it finally died.

 

[Builder]

Stihl's largest models are made in Germany, but 3/4+ of the product line is actually built in Virginia Beach.

Doesn't matter if they're made on Muscle Beach, they're still a german company.

 

[Builder]

Order a pizza... chances are it is made in your hometown!

mark

Awww come on now, you know all sicialian pizza is made in Sicily.

 

[Renze]

My Husqvarna chainsaw is American made, despite the marque is Swedish, and i live in Holland...

 

[rtimgray]

Something that is still largely manufactured in the US is prepared food products. Now obviously not all of the products are made in the US or with ingredients from the US, but I can tell you about the factories that I'm familiar with.

The flour we use is milled about 50 miles up the road, and it is made from wheat that is locally (within our state and a neighboring state). Now, I don't know where all the seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, etc come from, but I know that the wheat that is locally grown by farmers is locally milled and then locally baked into cracker and cookie products that are sold nationwide and in many foreign markets.

Our sugar comes from US sources; the shame is that if we could, we would buy sugar on the open market because it is so much cheaper in the rest of the world. However, due to duties/taxes/whatever, the cost of imported sugar is greater than American sugar (so I guess this as at least one case where the American producer is protected). I know that some of our factories will import compound coating (fake chocolate) from Canada because we can buy the coating cheaper than we can make it, simply because Canada has such a lower price on sugar.

All of the salt we use is from domestic sources; probably 90% or more of our minor ingredients (ammonium bicarbonate, molasses, corn syrup, malt, etc.) is domestic. I know that we do get some figs from Spain, but we also get some figs from California (the problem is we cannot get enough figs from either supplier to meet demand, so we have to split sources).

Now I know that bakeries are not considered heavy industries, but our plants employ anywhere from 60 to about 700 people at a given location. These are all American jobs that benefit local (and to a degree) national economies. Because of the recession, our sales are actually improving (we are private label bakeries, making store brand products that sell for less than name brand products). Obviously our goal in this time is to have people that buy our product because it is cheaper continue to buy it when the economy improves because it is on par with branded product but at a lower cost.

Of course, we also co-pack (i.e. produce branded product for name brands). And of course, the product is made to the brand name specifications...which, oddly enough, is really not that different.

I say all that just to say that there are lots of products out there, that are not heavy equipment and hand tools, that can be helped when consumers buy American.

Take care.

 

[patrick_g]

We can claim most of our fresh food products are American..

Due to COOL (Country Of Origin Labeling) you can read on the package where it comes from or at least a list of the top 2-3 suspects.

Much of our fresh fruit comes from Mexico, South America, South Africa (navel oranges) and of course bananas are strictly grown in the USA.

Read the labels at the meat counter. WallyWorld and others are selling imported beef.

Pat

 

[kenstrac]

Let me put my 2cents in
I agree with you on all of the above it might hurt us financially but there is a bigger problem

FOOD I was listening to a show and they said that we send back 60-70 % of imported food from Asia back because its tainted or rancid what gets by the inspectors?They tried to kill our pets first then the kids they even did this to themselves grocery stores are now selling more crap from china and look at the labels on food now DIST BY American co. but where is it made or where are the ingredients made?? 95% of shrimp comes from Asia I buy the Maine or LA. shrimp .Looked at some crackers at Target weeks ago box made
in china crackers made in USA packaged in Mexico I WANT TO KNOW WHERE MY FOOD COMES FROM !!!

INSECT
Now we have the Asian Longhorn beetle to to worry about and who knows what else is already here.
Any idea how much damage this will do to the USA

I was shopping with wife before X-Mas and picked up a tin of cookies that we normally get every year and checked the label and it was made in Denmark wife said it was cheaper at another store we were going to so we got them at the other store when she bit into it she said it was terrible I looked at the bottom of the tin it was made in China. she brought them back.
I bought a box of crackers was marked dist by XXXX USA I called the company and asked where it was made and they told me Canada I don't have a problem with Canadian food products since I have done service calls in there plants very high standards BUT IT WAS NOT MARKED MADE IN CANADA .
I refuse to eat any food from Asia farm grown in a cesspool.
I want to know where my food comes from.
Call your congressman and force these companies to put the origin of all the ingredients on the label that you can read without a magnifying glass

 

[Builder]

Gotta watch those Chinese cookies.
They prolly toss a little melamine in each one for filler.


Just like the Chinese dogfood.

 

[kenstrac]

The dog food wasn't made in China it was the ingredients .

 

[KubotainNH]

I was shopping with wife before X-Mas and picked up a tin of cookies that we normally get every year and checked the label and it was made in Denmark wife said it was cheaper at another store we were going to so we got them at the other store when she bit into it she said it was terrible I looked at the bottom of the tin it was made in China. she brought them back.

To me, this may be what at some point saves us, all the product that is returned because it is crap. Think of all the foreign built junk that is brought back to Wallyworld on a daily basis. When I worked at a department store during college the amount of returns was microscopic compared to now. Who knows though, maybe this loss is accounted for in the price.