KWRB
Bronze Member
I feel duped.
I am an engineer. We design products in the United States, which are in turn manufactured in the United States. A higher quality, more expensive, American designed, American manufactured product feeds my family. In my case, we don't sell to individuals; we sell to an oem manufacturer. We count on that manufacturer wanting a higher quality product, which in the end they market as a higher quality end product. When other people care enough to buy American products, typically those that sell it reward a greater investment with greater quality. At least that's how it should work. Add in a little patriotism and the satisfaction of supporting our neighbors, and that's basically the argument for buying American products. We can argue all day about whether it has any merit, but I'm not interested in arguing. We can also discuss the gray area of the definition of "American products", and there is admittedly a very gray area and maybe it's different for different people. To each his own, I don't mean to try and convert anyone. I just don't like being misled.
I paid a premium recently for a disc harrow I bought, largely because I bought it from a manufacturer who prides themselves in being "American" manufacturing. Here's a recent quote from their youtube page: "Actually we DON'T sell Chinese attachments. Even the products we resell are of American quality. We work hard to make sure our products are not cheap Chinese products that won't last. Thanks for watching!"
After a few uses, a nut spun off (my own mistake) and the shaft threads got messed up and needed to be chased. I deconstructed the harrow to fix the shaft and lo and behold here's the shaft. Note that the words aren't even square, if that tells you anything.
Now, it's not like these things can't be gotten in the United States. I'm sure the American alternative is just more expensive, and that's why the decision was made.
So what we have here is "Do the right thing. Spend a little more to buy this product because we're American. But we won't pay that forward and do the same. We're going to keep all that premium and leave the American suppliers in the cold. We'll just hide the Chinese components" Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander and this is hypocrisy at its finest. I'd really, really like to know where they buy the rest of their raw material and components, but I'll bet I know the answer. My product has parts similar in shape and material to the cast spacers and the stamped discs. I know both types of products are available here and I know both types of products are cheaper offshore. I'll bet their plant is full of foreign made tools too, for that matter. And yet they plaster our flag all over their products (which is a violation of 4 U.S.C. § 8 (i) anyway).
It looks like I'm back to looking for something American, and if I fail in that I'll just buy offshore equipment that charges offshore prices.
Again, I don't mean to convert anyone who doesn't see it my way, or argue the merits of being discretionary about buying domestic products. To each their own, truly. I only mean to say, don't mislead those of us who do. It ticks people off to be misled.
I am an engineer. We design products in the United States, which are in turn manufactured in the United States. A higher quality, more expensive, American designed, American manufactured product feeds my family. In my case, we don't sell to individuals; we sell to an oem manufacturer. We count on that manufacturer wanting a higher quality product, which in the end they market as a higher quality end product. When other people care enough to buy American products, typically those that sell it reward a greater investment with greater quality. At least that's how it should work. Add in a little patriotism and the satisfaction of supporting our neighbors, and that's basically the argument for buying American products. We can argue all day about whether it has any merit, but I'm not interested in arguing. We can also discuss the gray area of the definition of "American products", and there is admittedly a very gray area and maybe it's different for different people. To each his own, I don't mean to try and convert anyone. I just don't like being misled.
I paid a premium recently for a disc harrow I bought, largely because I bought it from a manufacturer who prides themselves in being "American" manufacturing. Here's a recent quote from their youtube page: "Actually we DON'T sell Chinese attachments. Even the products we resell are of American quality. We work hard to make sure our products are not cheap Chinese products that won't last. Thanks for watching!"
After a few uses, a nut spun off (my own mistake) and the shaft threads got messed up and needed to be chased. I deconstructed the harrow to fix the shaft and lo and behold here's the shaft. Note that the words aren't even square, if that tells you anything.
Now, it's not like these things can't be gotten in the United States. I'm sure the American alternative is just more expensive, and that's why the decision was made.
So what we have here is "Do the right thing. Spend a little more to buy this product because we're American. But we won't pay that forward and do the same. We're going to keep all that premium and leave the American suppliers in the cold. We'll just hide the Chinese components" Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander and this is hypocrisy at its finest. I'd really, really like to know where they buy the rest of their raw material and components, but I'll bet I know the answer. My product has parts similar in shape and material to the cast spacers and the stamped discs. I know both types of products are available here and I know both types of products are cheaper offshore. I'll bet their plant is full of foreign made tools too, for that matter. And yet they plaster our flag all over their products (which is a violation of 4 U.S.C. § 8 (i) anyway).
It looks like I'm back to looking for something American, and if I fail in that I'll just buy offshore equipment that charges offshore prices.
Again, I don't mean to convert anyone who doesn't see it my way, or argue the merits of being discretionary about buying domestic products. To each their own, truly. I only mean to say, don't mislead those of us who do. It ticks people off to be misled.
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