Should we make a concerted effort to NOT buy from China?

Japan actually makes great stuff though. They were just more efficient. Now China is all over the board. Some stuff is actually very well made, and other stuff is just designed to last so long, while other stuff made in China is crap. Caveat emptor

 

a lot of the quality issues have to do with what the company that ordered the goods is willing to pay ,yes they can make good quality but i would prefer american goods if possible . it is hard to find usa made stuff ,trying to think about what i bought in the last few months that was made here and i come up with a estwing hatchet ,reloading components and a lie-nielsen plane there were cheaper options but the quality is outstanding ,it would be great to manufacture more here but as others said we need to lower the demand for the low quality imports

 

True. The other issue is that there's a necessity for lower cost items. This is due to wages not going up as much as inflation has, for most people at least. So, you have to find ways to save.

China is actually very good at making electronic stuff, but the cost of the final product dictates the cost of the components.

 

Yup, farm 5 minutes from here milks 3000 cows...how many acres does it take to support that?! Any time there is a farm nearby the goes up for sale, you already know who is gonna end up with it.
And this same family owns 2 other very large dairy farms too...one in southern Ohio, and one in Kentucky!
I sold this farmer a used truck probably 20 years ago, before they blew up their operations...they haven't bought used anything in a very long time now! Seems like they are still making money when the rest are going broke...

 

Come on guys you can do it!





I got to admit though thats the only one i have in the toolbox... im a kraut and a kraut buys whenever possible MADE IN GERMANY.


Kraut over and out.

 

They heard us, Jack!
Coronavirus pressures US manufacturers to bring plants home from China

 

I’m not convinced! I’m sure some of the folks in control want to bring manufacturing back, but lots of people have been bought off! The system is so corrupt and I don’t trust most people in power. In a year or two when things get back to normal we will be too busy with our lives and things won’t change. There’s a reason why folks go to Washington and work until they die, they have to keep their business covered up. Where else do you see 80+ men and women still working? They and their family become wealthy beyond imagination.

 

A lot of German products are great, they put a lot of pride in their work.

 

that's so true some of the best stuff made comes from germany ,my screen name comes from the german company festool

 

My daughter owns a Volkswagen I resent that statement. Hitlers revenge at it’s finest.

 

Volkswagen's are the most expensive average persons vehicle to repair IMHO, other than this they are great cars!

 

She’s got a Tiguan. Loves it it is a nice car but the stupid problems are expensive. And don’t try to replace a backup light bulb. You have to remove the entire rear bumper cover to do it. PIA.

 

Ted Koppell did a piece on China a while back about the auto industry in China. I've searched high and low to find it, but can't. The gist of it was that US automakers needed a Chinese sponsor that owned 51% of the company in order to be in China. After the sponsor learned their methods, a factory would be built by the sponsor sometimes right across the street building an exact replica of the US brand with a Chinese sticker for far less. China has absolutely no regard for US patens. They trample all over them and make billions doing it. There is very little recourse for the US unless we want to play hardball. Unfortunately, Washington does not want to play hardball for a variety of reasons.

Ted Kopell did another series for Discovery on China in 2008, The People's Republic of Capitalism Part 1. There are three parts to this series, and it's well worth watching the series as it pertains to this conversation.

As for buying Chinese made products or not, I love the idea of Made in the USA. In fact, I don't mind spending more money to do that. In the 80's, there was a push for Made in the USA. Recently I've noticed products with labels saying designed in the USA. It's a sad change in the global economy that companies can no longer find cost-effective ways to have their products made in the USA or that there are no manufactures to make their products.

Over the past 30+ years, there has been a major push for all of our youth to go to college. Resulting in a major glut in the trades. This has only made the manufacturing of products in the USA even harder. While I know that not every high school student has gone on to college, the vast majority of them that did not belong in college have been pushed there. Many of them very well could have been factory workers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, welders, etc. In a way that is good for the trades because the pay scale has risen due to the glut of qualified people in those lines of business. The problem was that not enough people were going into those trades to keep them going. We are now starting to see a shift with the likes of Mike Rowe and his foundation along with many others that are promoting the trades.

I don't think we'll be able to bring back all of the manufacturing we've lost to China and other countries, but we should be able to establish a better balance in North America. Maybe not fully in the USA, but between Canada, Mexico, and the USA. That would help wrench the stronghold that China currently has on the overall market for products.

Jason from RI.

 

No question, medications, and/or components of medications, should absolutely be made within the continental US... from now on. I'll be willin to bet the idea of 1.4 billion consumers in China, is looking a little less inviting to US companies... for now. However, folks in the US seem to have a 10 minute attention span so... there's that. But in general, yes Jack Straw , I think we all ought to think long and hard about buying anything with a Made in China tag on it.

 

This. There’s impossibilities that run the gamut with this. When cheap labor and materials flood the market, we’re left without much option. Usually I depend on cheap replacements for stuff like saw blades and whatnot but even finding their American counterparts is more and more difficult than we can imagine. “Made in China, Bought in America” has been the ultimate caveat because even if we did build something newer that lasted longer for US to make and sell, we’re still back at square one for that labor because it’s more expensive in comparison and we unfortunately cannot compete. However the stand has to be taken, when we figure out a better way to make our toys, tools, everything else to be Tried, trusted and true products, that’s when we’ll set it in motion.

Blow out the competition, it’s nice buying $7 10’inch saw blades and drill packs that give you a bunch of uses out of them until they wear out but the defining moment is that it’s all metal or plastic, it’s going to wear out pure and simple. We just have to be willing to drive down the cost of metal and other resources we use or else we’re losing that battle to competition and it isn’t just China.

In some ways that saying goes “they don’t make it like they used to” is entirely true. Example: I LOVE carbon steel knives. Old hickory, Dexter, etc these knives were built for longevity, holding an edge and the nostalgia of looking at them is second to none. However what happened? They changed the mixture. The alloys changed. Why? People complained how carbon steel rusted. “It’s too much trouble, I’d prefer to wash them and put them away without them rusting”.

There’s no blame for China or any other country that mass produced knives with such Alloys. America did this as well. They only changed it to make it “better” by personal preference. No one method works better than the others but in doing so it cheapened the process. Now knives are bought up for a dollar a dozen it seems and they hardly stay sharp for long. We have to look at a product we value and recreate that again. Recreate products that are affordable or even cheap to make and still worth the dollar. Having us all buy a product that was a dollar or so only to have it break as soon as it’s used needs to be discontinued.

 

The companies in China have very few environmental rules compared to the American companies.

 

Absolutely they do. Very good point.

 

I think that’s gonna catch up to China someday, if it hasn’t already. There are no short cuts that don’t catch up with you someday.