I had a discussion with a guy last December about things Made in the USA. He and his brother had a contest to see who could buy more Made in the USA gifts for family members.
It seems like it gets harder to find things that made here, but I recently started to pay greater attention to where things are made.
I recently bought a pair of Carolina boots from AmericanMadeWorkBoots.com and the SnoSeal that I waterproofed them with are both Made in the USA.
I bought my Dad some screwdrivers that were Craftsman and Klein that are Made in the USA.
My drywall (sheetrock) was also made here, along with my new Stanley Powershot stapler.
I buy the products that I want and or need. Where it is manufactured is of no concern to me. I’ll often do some research and buy the one that seems to be the best value.
What about people who only buy American cars, but the company (GM) produces them in Mexico or some Pacific 3rd world country?
Yeah, I really don’t pay attention to where something is made. I am not about to buy something that is lower quality and higher priced just because someone in the US made it. I buy the products that are in my price range and give me the greatest amount of satisfaction and quality.
It’s also important to know the difference between:
Made in the US
and
Assembled in the US
The example of the toy industry and leaded paint just scratches the surface. The Chinese are all about volume and quantity. US based assembly processes are learning the hard way that far east based manufacturing is in excess of 37% of incoming product is non conforming. Most manufacturing processes are now budgeting 25+% parts rejection when buying foreign parts for mass production assembly in US.
Companies that are truly concerned about quality are bringing the manufacturing back to the US, it’s the only way to control quality with out stringent (expensive) screening processes.
In the past three years I have been to China, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico and Korea. In many cases the acceptable standards of incoming product to the US is so low, and unregulated. We have become the dumping grounds for what Europe won’t accept. Many foreign soil based manufacturers find humor in that…But they are laughing the whole way to the bank.
It will be interesting to see what base of the GNP is in 10 to 15 years.
Foreign graded bolts are a concern. If you design something for a Grade 5 or 8 bolt and it isn’t, not good. Just because it has the markings doesn’t mean it actually meets specs.
With that being said, for general consumer products, I guess I don’t usually check that often. Except for brake rotors. Cheap Chinese rotors flash rust if you breathe on them.
90% of the things i spend “money” on($100+) come from Japan.
Japan is by FAR the majority leader, holding the brand names of every electronic device i own, as well as every car part i buy. im sure im not alone in this, whilst replying to a thread on a board with the term “speed” proudly represented in the name
usa/recession/jobs or not, japanese engineers know how to make 99% of things things better than american engineers can. while this might NOT include pushrod V8’s or fried chicken, it does hold true for the majority of the things we as consumers enjoy on a daily basis.
with that being said, i’ll just go right ahead and zip up the nomex
and for a little extra protection:
before calling me out, think about what YOU spend real money on. granted, that wont include a house or an engagement ring, but it will cover a lot more than you may have thought about before i got up on my soap box
