ARE TOOLS MADE OVERSEAS OF POOR QUALITY AND IF SO WHO'S TO BLAME

For the most part you do get what you pay for. People say buy American but they don’t exist anymore. American companies are building things over seas and a few even sold out to overseas like Milwaukee that are owned by the Chinese now. Buy American is what they say, so I guess we need to all drive Toyotas, they have the highest percentage of American made parts in them.

Hopefully, President Trump will help bring America back

-- Roger from KY. Work/Play/Travel Safe. Keep your dust collector fed. [email protected]

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/55141

This thread sheds a lot of insight into the current American mindset re: saving a few bucks on a Chinese vs American made product that is very similar.

Low cost “good enough” Chinese products are the crack for American consumerism and until people are willing to pay more for goods and have fewer goods in their life you won’t see a change in the consumption of lower cost goods. It isn’t just the people that can’t afford to live a comfortable life with goods made just in the US (and other countries with similar cost to produce) I see this in my neighborhood. All of my neighbors have incomes of at least $100k most over $200k and bemoan the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US, when I help them do projects their garages are full of Chinese tools and when queried about it the standard response is US tools are too expensive… these are people with 2 or more 50k+ cars and 100k+ boats on the lift in their “front yard”. Now tools are not a priority for them but if you can’t get people who could comfortably buy US made products to buy them you realize what an uphill battle it is.

Yes, there are plenty of good tools made overseas (which includes Europe) but assuming the question is related to Chinese goods the key is they are “good enough” for most people and while China could make very high quality tools they mainly deal with the majority of the market which is “good enough” tools. Have you ever noticed on the bottom of the Harbor Freight home page they show pictures of the newest stores and say they open a new store every 3 days...

Nowday Chinese are capable to build anything with highest quality. However the middleman benefits the most by ordering junk and bringing it here.

Roger: Not going to happen. Already the new oil pipeline has been given a waiver to the buy American edict; allowing them to buy their pipe from overseas. Yours is a nice thought though. As long as the shareholders hold such sway over American companies, those companies will go for the cheap way to produce their goods. The CEOs want to protect their own fat paychecks and bonuses and really don’t care where their products are made as long as they are as low cost to produce as possible, sold with the highest margins. It is the new reality in America.

-- "Now I'm just another old guy wearing funny clothes"

Wood bum the pipeline is not a good example. The steel was sourced before Trump took office. Any new projects going forward will be American steel.

-- mrg

Back to the topic of quality wood working tools…..

The old adage of “you get what you pay for” holds true no matter where the product comes from. Consider Bessey clamps are German. Leigh dovetail jigs are Canadian, the Dewalt 735 planer appear to be made in the US. All of these are on the higher end in terms of quality and price. They also have been the subjects of countless reviews both here and elsewhere on the web. I don’t typically worry about the price and where a tool was built as much as I want to know whether it is going be reliable, consistent and not break down. Usually those criteria result in a very short list that I can choose from, at which point, price comes into play, and maybe where it was built.

As with nearly everything today, the answer isn’t black and white, or even grey, it’s complicated.

-- Earl "I'm a pessamist - generally that increases the chance that things will turn out better than expected"

Manufacturing scours the globe and finds the lowest labor rate and best workforce ….so the finished goods can compete in the marketplace and the importer and distributors can make a handsome profit.

Less regulations in the less developed counties contributes to this also

Lower payroll tax or no payroll taxes on the workforce in these counties is another advantage

Poorly negotiated trade deals also give foreign manfactuers an advantage

Now that the workforce in China has moved towards middle class levels and the enviroment has suffered

Manufacturing will migrate again in the next decade

Probably to India

The manufactures that went to Thailand a few years back …....very quickly saw the labor rate double and triple

Because the manufacturing expansion was fast and furious and miscalculated the labor force available

If you bring the manufacturing back home to the USA the labor rate will triple

Alan Greenspasm was the mouthpiece for globalization for over 20 years

He knew that labor rate inflation in the USA needed to be curtailed

The middle class slowly slowly felt the pain

Every country is capable of producing quality. China didn’t get maglev transportation with poor quality. They provide only what the customer wants and not an iota more. “You get what you pay for” generally holds true. Countries like Japan, Germany, Switzerland, England are usually excluded from any discussion regarding quality. These countries are in a class all their own. It is sad to think the United States used to be included in that class. When people demand quality and are prepared to pay for quality, then we will see a change, BUT sales and especially repeat sales depends on products wearing out or breaking (out of warranty off course) to keep the economy going. Henry Ford found this out very early when his model T was so good, he lost out on repeat sales. That was the beginning of “planned obsolescence”.

mrg: With all due respect; “Any new projects going forward will be American steel.” until they too are exempted. This is just the first of many to come bait and switch promises. It has happened before, and it will keep on happening as long as huge amounts of money flow from corporate entities to political parties. This is just the latest incarnation of that situation. I expect nothing to change.

-- "Now I'm just another old guy wearing funny clothes"

Considering that everything with the TRUMP name on it is made in China or Mexico or Sri Lanka or Ethiopia I seriously doubt Potus gives a crap.

Marketing and product heads from companies back in the 80s and 90s screwed us over long term just so they could get their huge Christmas bonuses. Reinvent yourself or go hungry.

Hey, companies are in business to make a profit.
When conditions are right (maybe never again) more products will be made in the US.
Until then, suck it up.

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

These are made “overseas”.

I believe “made-in-America” will again hold a prominent place on our store shelves as foreign made junk self-destructs and is replaced by American made products. I have noticed an increase in “proudly made-in-America” products recently, so it appears there is a trend towards the goal of making America great again. The public is more optimistic than ever before and that signals the growth of the economy. I DO NOT TRUST POLITICIANS, but Mr. Trump is not a politician, so I would trust the POTUS to be looking out for the American people. Only the next 46 months will tell.

“Good enough” isn’t.

Mark