How Important is Made in the USA?

[Gale Hawkins]

Thankful to the local WM that was open at 2 am this morning and the taxi driver that waited for me to buy the correct new battery, some screw in posts and a China set of jumper cables I made it home. :thumbsup:

Thanks to HF sale on ratch wrenches I had the tools in the back of the Blazer not yet removed from the last trip from HF to remove the old battery after I got up this morning.

Paying for quality that you do not need is financially less than bright we know today.

Not sure I ever wore out any hand tool but I have lost, left, etc a lot of them over the years. I seem to buy a $10 blister pack of screw drivers quite often and still never can find the right blade after they come put of the package.

 

[Snaker]

I think the "USA" labeling has lost the trust of americans (I'll include you Canadians just cause I like ya). It's been well over 10 years that products have been labeled as made, assembled, designed, touched, looked at, etc. Imports with brand names including US or American or US flag decals are comman. I'm not sure if labeling will get people to pay extra.

I see many products that don't have any country of origin statement. Was there some sort of change in law?. Even food products often say "distributed by" rather than "made in" or "manufactured by".

I don't think that imports are automatically bad. Our industrial revolution was based on machinery imported from Europe. There has been a good history of trade balance with Europe mostly due to comparible economies. Most imports were higher end products. Their basic plain jane products couldn't compete and stayed there. The real problem has been the exploitatation of 3rd world labor and lack of regulation (something we can not compete with unless we become a true 3rd world country) and the US opening the doors to world free trade.

If our trade system was working properly, there wouldn't even be an issue of "would you pay more if it was made in USA" Tariffs used to be applied to ensure that a imported product was equal to or more in price than a similar domestic product. Our New World Order lobbist's took care of that.

I remember in the mid 80's Harley Davidson complained to the Fed's that the Jananese motocycles were flooding the country. A tariff was applied on imported bikes 750cc and up which were viewed as a competitive threat. Harley was happy and the Japanese worked within their strategy by developing a whole new line of 700cc bikes and bringing some manufacturing to the US. That should be an example of what we need to be doing now.

 

[MaineTWLSB]

Just an example, make of it what you will....

I'm in the market for a wood splitter and would love to buy a 'Made in the USA' brand; Timber Wolf, Iron & Oak or (the one I really want) a Super Split. These all 'start' at $2200-ish, with the Super Split coming in at about $2700.

Lowes, Depot, TSC or Northern I'm looking at prices of about $1200 to $1500. We have a limited budget (like everyone else) and I have to sell off some of the other items we have hanging around here to even think about getting a splitter.

With as much a $1500 difference in price to buy 'Made in the USA' (for me it's more about 'keeping it local' than a quality thing) it's hard to justify.

This is more of a vent than a constructive comment, I know. Just throwing it out here.

John

 

[DAY]

Are these "Apples to Apples" comparisons? Same quality? All American-made parts? Cylinder, pump, hoses, valves, etc? How about the steel? Or are they 'assembled' from off the shelf parts that may be from abroad? $1000-$1500 seems to be a big difference, even given the volume discounts that Big Box stores get from manufacturers.

 

[MaineTWLSB]

Are these "Apples to Apples" comparisons? Same quality? All American-made parts? Cylinder, pump, hoses, valves, etc? How about the steel? Or are they 'assembled' from off the shelf parts that may be from abroad? $1000-$1500 seems to be a big difference, even given the volume discounts that Big Box stores get from manufacturers.

Actually I almost put that in there, Day. The Super Spit, at least, is really a totally different machine as far as it doesn't use hydraulics like the others. As far as the steel, pumps, hoses, etc I don't know but on paper they largely 'spec out' the same. I know the Timber Wolves are excellent well built machines but a well received/reviewed machine from Northern for a $800-$1000 less...it's hard to argue with.

These are extreme examples and gets away from Ted's original question (would you pay 10% more), but it struck a cord with me as far as 'wanting' to buy 'Made in the USA' and 'needing' to. If that makes sense.

John

 

[Car Doc]

Well there wouldn't be so many people out of work if more things were made here and replacing items every year just because it was cheap at waly mart would come to a screeching halt and then maybe we wouldn't be printing money like it was toilet paper its worth about as much and its 100% the fault of the US government makes no diff what color or political party they all are to blame. my 2c

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Manufacturing will always be done where governments encourage it the most or maybe I should say discourage it the least.

The crew (in part from MX) that built our Lowes CMB building two story shop mainly used a 6 foot ladder. They got up the 2x6" ridge beam and then stood/walked it to nail the rafters to it.

Local crews would have twice the man hours to build the 1000 sq ft of space with a 350 sq ft lean-to. They did it in 96 man hours but they worked 12 hour days and took hair raising risks.

Actually how they squared it and all was quite impressive and low tech. They build the same building several times a week and have a good system to help insure reasonable quality.

Safe and cheap do not belong in the same sentence. :thumbsup:

 

[Mistyridgefarm]

One time use tools? The $60 AAA membership would have gotten you going, employed a good old USA person (unless the tow operator was an alien, which is a whole other apple, and the throw tools wouldn't be needed. I'm not saying it has to be made in the USA to be good, just that a consumer that buys junk will eventually pay more in the long run than buying quality. Why is china so cheap? They have no quality, safety, or envirnmental systems. Couple that with a pegged exchange rate and they will always be cheaper. We used to have tariffs to balance these things. Do your children a favor, if it says made in China, put it back on the shelf.

My grandfather said, "if it is worth doing, it is worth doing right."

A quality product will never disappoint!

 

[Old Rooster]

That is exactly where we want to be! Very well said.

It would be according to what made in USA quality you are talking about, would it be 1950 and 60 quality or would it be. I don't want to mention any Co. names but I am sure you remember not long ago a major tire Co. found out just how cheep they could make tires and I have not found any real quality even in made in USA products in the last 20 years.
So my friend just what kind of Quality are you talking about, I sure hope it isn't the tire Co. Quality.

 

[Haywire]

Didn't read the whole thread, but here's my take.

I usually buy the thing that meets my needs while impacting my wallet the least. I don't need a super duty implement that will last a commercial farmer 40 years to till or cultivate my garden patch.

If I see two things of equal quality and equal price, one of which has a US sticker, I will buy the US version.

If the US version is more expensive but has no practical advantage over the import, I buy the import. Runny paint or welds that are structurally sound but ugly and maybe don't match up exactly are not that important. I don't even ask what LandPride or Woods prices are because I know I'm not willing to buy them when something of lesser quality and smaller price tag will suffice.

Ian