Rant

TerryH · August 16, 2019, 06:33 PM

Yes, this is a rant, but hey - I'm old, so that's my excuse.
Many of us are very careful, when buying items, to check on where they were manufactured. Many of us, for obvious reasons avoid certain items that were made in some Asian countries.
Today I cut a piece of piano hinge that has been in my supply of materials for some time. A piano hinge is a simple item, three pieces. Two identical leafs and a full length pin.
It still had the manufacturer's tag on it.....

Made In The USA From Globally Sourced Material

To me this says that the three pieces were in fact made who knows where and then assembled and packaged in the USA.
To me this is not an item made as stated.

I have also seen .......
Assembled In _______ or _______ and
Packaged In _________ or _________.

Personally I prefer certain items that I know (assume) are indeed manufactured with experience, materials, tolerances, quality control and training from andin Canada, USA, Mexico (with caveats) and some European countries.
Also some - but definitely not all - Asian countries.
How in the hell are you to really know? Due diligence helps but not always.

Again, this was a simple piano hinge, so I am not really concerned about it per se.
What does concern me is the tag.

BamBam · August 16, 2019, 06:43 PM

"Made in the USA from Globally Sourced Materials" tells me that the hinge metal came from X country and the hinge pins came from country Y, and were assembled in the USA.

Elandan2 · August 16, 2019, 06:56 PM

And as you are no doubt aware, our governments have allowed corporations to run rough-shod over them and convince them that we need free trade and they shouldn't be restricted in how they conduct their business, as long as the money keeps rolling in!! We have slowly watched industry disappear only to resurface in another part of the world where the labour is cheaper or the environmental rules are less onerous. I guess we need to all keep this in mind around election time. That is my contribution to the rant.

joanfenn · August 16, 2019, 10:19 PM

Oh yes will be an interesting election up here this year. I can hardly wait to hear the promises that will be made before the election and then promptly forgot after they win. But that goes with the territory.

ClydesdaleKevin · August 16, 2019, 10:42 PM

I speak no politics here on Classic Winnebagos. If you want to talk politics with me, send me a PM...and maybe I will give you my www.gab.com handle.

Kev

BamBam · August 17, 2019, 12:34 PM

Quote from: ClydesdaleKevin on August 16, 2019, 10:42 PM
I speak no politics here on Classic Winnebagos. If you want to talk politics with me, send me a PM...and maybe I will give you my www.gab.com handle.

Kev

Is that like another form of facebook or spreely?

ClydesdaleKevin · August 18, 2019, 08:15 AM

Quote from: BamBam on August 17, 2019, 12:34 PM

Is that like another form of facebook or spreely?

It is more like Twitter, but with almost zero censorship of free speech. Their only real rules are: 1. No illegal pornography (and porn must be preambled by the # NSFW hashtag). 2. No direct threats of physical violence. 3. No doxxing the personal information of other members. And that is pretty much it. Warning: Because of the Free Speech aspect of Gab, it can be like the wild west over there...so if folks are offensive to you, you can mute or block them like an adult (Gab won't do it for you).

Kev

khantroll · August 18, 2019, 09:21 AM

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. In my industry, literally everything is made in Taiwan or China. As a result, I've got a slightly different perspective. While I am well aware that there are humanitarian and environmental concerns regarding the industrial landscape of both of those countries, it's not practical to me to take the "made in America" approach when many items simply aren't or can't be made here. Until the prevalence of solid state drives, for instance, there were only three hard drive factories in the world. When one was flooded a few years ago, storage prices rose by 30 percent and had a ripple effect on many industries. More common items, such as cables, are not made in the US either. I remember reading a few years ago that many "Made in America" themed stores were having difficulty keeping items on the shelves because they were either too expensive to sell or simply not available.

And honestly, the quality gap has been crossed on many Chinese consumer goods. Compare a harbor freight impact gun from 10 years ago with the "Earthquake XL" line. It will go toe to toe with an American made Snap-On impact driver.

BrandonMc · August 19, 2019, 09:54 AM

Quote from: khantroll on August 18, 2019, 09:21 AM
I'm on the other end of the spectrum. In my industry, literally everything is made in Taiwan or China. As a result, I've got a slightly different perspective. While I am well aware that there are humanitarian and environmental concerns regarding the industrial landscape of both of those countries, it's not practical to me to take the "made in America" approach when many items simply aren't or can't be made here. Until the prevalence of solid state drives, for instance, there were only three hard drive factories in the world. When one was flooded a few years ago, storage prices rose by 30 percent and had a ripple effect on many industries. More common items, such as cables, are not made in the US either. I remember reading a few years ago that many "Made in America" themed stores were having difficulty keeping items on the shelves because they were either too expensive to sell or simply not available.

And honestly, the quality gap has been crossed on many Chinese consumer goods. Compare a harbor freight impact gun from 10 years ago with the "Earthquake XL" line. It will go toe to toe with an American made Snap-On impact driver.

buyer beware at harbor freight - but a lot of those products are simply ready for rebranding, and are just as good as the others. Just need to watch out for the chintzy stuff.

Hey, at least Toyota Trucks are made in Texas from what i know. Isn't chevy operating in mexico nowadays?

fasteddie313 · September 03, 2019, 01:26 AM

Honestly I try to buy the older stuff that will last forever used from my fellow countrymen that are selling..

I have a shop full of tools, many of which unrivaled by todays standards, and my old cars, and old tractors, and old bikes, and old quads, and old motorhomes/campers..

I like it better this way..
I am probably the best recycler you know but don't even really believe in all that hippy crap..
Bought all my cars on craigslist..

Rickf1985 · September 03, 2019, 10:38 AM

Hey! Don't beat up on us old hippies! Some of us are (or were W% ) big enough and mean enough to beat back!! :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao

I tend to stay away from the Harbor freight hand tools but I am really eyeballing that Earthquake 3/8" drive electric impact.

khantroll · September 20, 2019, 04:29 PM

I'm thinking about the electric impact as well. My father in law had a flat the other day and a friend showed up with one. It beat the heck out of my breakover bar

But my pneumatic gun is tops. Don't get me wrong, there is some seriously chintzy stuff in that store. But there are some diamonds in there as well. I'd say half my toolbox is harbor freight. The other half is old craftsmen tools.

Oz · September 22, 2019, 07:47 PM

I've had quite a few tools from HF, over the years as well. It does stink that nearly everything is manufactured in foreign countries.

Rickf1985 · September 23, 2019, 10:01 AM

The one good thing about Harbor Freight is that if you take it home and is dies right away they take it back with no questions asked. I went through three motorcycle lifts before I got one I was satisfied with. It was a different part number. Looked almost exactly the same but just a couple little things were different and it was built a lot stronger and when putting a 950 lb. bike on it I wanted it to be stable. But they took back two of them with no questions asked, your not happy with it? no problem.