The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest why are good companies ruining thiername with crap

I was in costco the other day, and saw some cheap china crap flash light and knife set with the snap on logo on it,I guess they are like john deere and cat now whoring out their logo for a buck. When I was I kid I remember thinking I was the cat --- when my dad would bring me home a caterpillar hat off a road job somewhere,now people buy em in walmart truly sad!

you are right it's a bummer. hope it still just the decor and gift type stuff that's crap and not the real stuff.

I asked my dealer about it when I saw it at a local farm store. he said it was just that, they don't even sell those flashlights on the truck.

Its all about the almighty dollar.

Yep, It's the dollar thing, but it is also related to supply and demand. The public buys it which creates the demand.
If the public had any common sense they would quit buying all that crap and diminish the demand, which would tell suppliers to provide something better.
It's what I do, but then I'm only one person.
I must admit, it sure takes more time and research to come up with something worth buying than it did years back, but the crap just quickly ends up in a land fill.( formally called the dump )

Dan

Some years ago in the mid 90's I was involved in re-tooling an entire Navy squadron. Thousnands of pieces, over $2M spent, and all Snap-On all the way.
I found out back then that while they make some of the best hand tools, and some rock solid air tools and diagnostics, a LOT of thier light electronics, lights, and a few other items were absolute, grade-AA, CRAP,... Thier wanna-be Mag-Lite flashlights were the absolute worst of the lot.
That was in 1995 and it was mostly made in the US, occasionaly I saw Taiwan, but still, horrible designs and materials. Much of the cheap Chinese POS stuff at the tool sales was better. i was amazed & not very amused. Was when I vowed to never EVER buy anything other than roll-away boxes, hand tools, or air tools from Snap-On, and since then the air tools have fallen off that list.

Anyway, dont fool yourself. What you saw at CostCo is just the same rehashed garbage they have been selling for years.

I think it's probably due to a corporate high up that knows marketing, but knows nothing about tools or what makes a quality tool. It's a shame that so many corporations forget exactly what business they are in. Eventually some real life mechanic will start making a quality product and everyone will start using those products until after a couple of generations , the suits will be running that company having never actually used tools. A vicious cycle begins again.

That's pretty much it really. Any company is in the business of making a profit. Take what it costs to pay, insure, and train a modern American workforce today. Maybe add in a union and what effect that can have on the bottom line. Dont forget pensions/401Ks, unemployment payments, L&I, and coming soon to a business near you, MORE medical insurance costs,...
Sure, schmuckatelli is only taking home $8 an hour, but what does it cost the company on top of that?
So yeah, in the end, to defend the bottom line and ensure that the suits get thier six figures (+15% bonus, company car, and use of the company jet), it's cheaper to pay for labor & the shipping from China to avoid all that.

You tell them Glasman. Your dead on!

My new motto for a few years now is PUSH BACK. We do NOT have to take. I, for one, am willing to do without to get the mesaage across. Its not just to make a profit...its to make MORE profit.

..add in the fact that most of the junk is made as a ONE TIME use and then throw it away.
Let me vent...I had to put a Heli-Coil in my intake. I could not find my set. (Must have loaned it out!!) So, I buy a 3/8" set for $20 and bring it home. Well, using the handle to screw the helicoil down in the hole when all of a sudden the plastic handle started turning on the stem. Well, I ended up drilling a hole in it and then putting a roll pin in it just to finish my job. Well, Monday morning I'm taking it back and get my money back or raise heII and tell the BBB how I'm treated..... and of coarse thanking them for letting me fix the holes

PUSH BACK... We do NOT have to take.

And yes, I"ve ran my own business, I've been plant mgr at ocmpanies that built plants overseas. At the last company we were making OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS A WEEK and yet, they just had to go overseas..... now that company is running a skelton crew and will probably close a 50 year business here in the S.C. Yes, it was updated, kept up and a nice place. Good benefits and my entry level jobs were $12 an hour over 10 years ago....... NOW, who wants to argue with me thats it not GREED.

I was looking around in a western wear store, and I would say 90% of the stuff in there was made outside the US. Even George Strait's clothing is made in Bangladesh!

Businesses are so heavily taxed here in the US that it's cheaper to make it in a 3rd world country and slap your name on it. There is a bunch of Craftsman tools made in China now. You gotta read thed fine print.

If the government would just cut taxes on the small business and make it worth their while to make it here we wouldn't have such an unemployment crisis. I personally only buy USA made unless I have absolutely no choice.

www.madeinusa.org and www.stillmadeinusa.com are two websites that help you buy American. They have categories like tools, auto, household products, etc. The only way to stop the imports of crap is quit buying the garbage and get the word out to EVERYONE!!!

Well, by the looks of some recent labor changes in China, we may be getting a few more items made back on our own soil. The other end of it is we may see more things made in even less technilogicaly advanced countries than China.

Taxes aren't the only issue hurtin American businesses tho. Increased costs for employers come from several directions, and they ALL need to be curbed if we want to see American products actualy made IN America again. The most recent being the wonderful new heath care reform garbage that will cost employers even more on already idiotic health plan costs. But if you look at what people demand to be paid and add to it what it costs to employ them on top of the wages,... Companies are in business to make money, and so long as it costs less to make it offshore and people demand cheap goods not caring where or how they get them nothing is going to change

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Greed, thats got to be a big part of it.
I guess that's why Mc D's has gotten into the chicken business, they're not happy with just being big in the burger business, they want all the business

I expect it won't be long and they'll be selling egg rolls.

Dan

Sad part is that since all the manufacturing plants have closed and gone overseas, the American worker working a part time job of less thn 32 hours per week with NO benefits will NOT be able to even buy the chap crap from foreign countries. The day of reckoning is coming. As someone mentioned above, thre are places and things still made in America and I do buy them..... I even look for them. Teh best pair of jeans I have ever worn was made here in America. Yeah, they cost me a few bucks more but they fit good, wear good and I know I'm helping MY fellow Americans. I can spend more and do with less items. Its about Need vs Want. Nuff said.

I always try to buy USA made. my work boots are made in the US along with alot of my clothing. It makes me sick to see the crap coming from China and all the people going to Walmart to support China. If you look you can find made in America products. Buy American, buy Locally. Thanks Brett

Well I hear you guys and I also agree with you and Buy American is what I try to do but the problem goes a lot deeper; those fellow Americans that Chipmunk mentioned may well be illegals who sneak in here and take the jobs. The companies claim they have to hire the cheap labor to keep from going overseas. Like it or not the politicians and do-gooders have made us part of a one-world economy. We are venting on each other but we need to take our argument to the polls in November and THROW ALL THE INCUMBENTS OUT and START OVER. I see no other way unfortunately. I'm just one of those lost millions whom the media and big time liberals wants to call names and laugh at. But they do so at their own risk.

I'm off my soapbox now. Sorry gentlemen but I get [censored].

What I've tried to do is to stop at second hand stores, junk shops and the like to look for old American made quality tools. I don't care for pawn shops too much.
I've also bought off of Ebay small lots of things like an old set of different size screwdrivers for 3 or 4 dollars plus the shipping. It's been every day items that no one else bid on so I got it for the minimum.
I know I can't do this when I need a certain tool right away but I've built up my tool chest this way. I even picked up a pair of sheet metal snippers marked, "Shang hai". It was really old and well made and easy to use.
Jacques

Buy American

http://americanmadeyes.com/home.html

Anyone know who makes "Westward" tools? Its a brand sold by Acklands up here. I bought a 3/4" drive socket set about 10 years ago, and the quality seems good.

I tried a search, but nobody says where they're made.

One of the saddest things for me as an American is, in fact, the Walmart mentality of the general public. We as Americans demand to be paid "Top Dollar" for our goods and services, yet when we spend our own money it is on cheap foreign crap. Most of the general public would rather buy a $5 foreign alarm clock that they have to replace every couple of years, instead of buying a good quality American one for $20 that will last a lifetime. Chineese toy companies poison out children with lead paint on toys and yet there is no public outrage. Once was an accident ,but it happens so often it should be stopped. ALL IMPORTS should be stopped.
Look at other countries. you do not see them spending their money on American products. Even third world countries know if they spend their money on our stuff they will loose jobs there. They buy from HOME to protect their jobs and economy. When will we finally be as smart as a third world country?

Last year I went to our local Harley Davidson shop to buy a vest for a gift. All the leather in that store with the Harley Davidson logo on it was made in China!! I told the store manager it was just wrong and left empty handed and [censored] off.

I also buy made in the USA stuff when possible.But what some people gotta understand is that it is a worldwide market and mfg.now.Go buy your GM made vehicles and when you do understand that many of the parts are made out of the USA,then assembled here.Same way with Ford and Chrysler products.Not like the old days
I hauled way too many GM engines from Laredo,TX. to GM plants thruout the USA.And anything hauled out of Laredo was made in good old Mexico.Now I am sure someone will post that I am wrong,and they actually know nothing about how it works. But on the other hand ask any OTR truck driver where most engines are made today,they know,because they have transported them.I also haule many bonded loads from Canada to Laredo,TX.wher they were taken across the border,into Mexico,where they were mfg.into parts for GM and then shipped back to the USA,to be assembled into your good old made in the USA cars and trucks.

Good quality American made leather products! I have no financial interest in this company, just offered here as information.
http://www.foxcreekleather.com/mens_mensvests

I have a Boeing baseball cap which is made in China! All of our Canadian Craftsman tools are made offshore. Always have been. I would love to by Made in Canada/USA products but you just can't find them it seems. I have an electric carving knife and a can opener that are made in Canada. They are old and I was thinking of bagging them and keeping them as collector items.
Someone mentioned McD's in the chicken business and the real reason for that was that big mad cow disease fear some time ago. If they couldn't sell burgers they would be in big trouble. Hence the chicken.

Some of the major parts used in Boeing airplanes are made in China. Japan too. Sooner or later regardless of your feeling you just have to accept that the world ain't what she used to be. Go figure.


We used to be the salesmen to the world: cars, machine tools, airplanes, you name it. Then we got smart and showed them how to be salesmen too.

The problem as I see it is this:

OK so we used to be the factory to the world we made bulldozers airplanes etc.

The foreign country would trade what they have ie bananas or coffee or etc etc
The question now becomes
How many bananas do they have to sell to get a Boeing 747 or Cat D 9?

I remember Boeing having a bunch of Izuzu trucks. Why? Well dont the Japanese have to trade something to get an airplane?

I dont have the answer to this but I sure wonder about the questions.

Dan Bentler

Well the answer to that one is simple. They are still trading what they have - CHEAP LABOR.

Amen!....They will always have CHEAP LABOR and poor, unsafe working conditions as well as child labor to trade for products. And they will remain prosperous trading like this as long as we keep allowing them to do so by purchasing products from them simply because they are inexpensive for us to buy.