Proudly Made in the USA.

[mkzhang]

THE CHINESE ARE CHEATERS! They purposely keep the value of the yen down making it more economical to produce there. It's not fair to other countries whose Cost of doing business is way higher than theirs.

I can't believe it's more economical to have a valve made in China and shipped all the way over here and still be less expensive than an american made valve. Have you considered all the wasted fuel that consumes? Just because it cost less is it really a smarter choice?

I live in the US and I tend to give more weight to products made here. Why? because The thought of somebody losing their job or a factory closing down as a result of me saving 10 bucks makes me crazy. I'd rather spend the extra 10 and keep the money within my borders.

I love this country and it's a shame to see how much influence a corporation can have on it by lobbying and campaign contributions. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Right, just like how America cheated by dropping a nuke on Japan before anyone else had a nuke

I find it funny when people complain about this or that cheating or is unfair, I would think people would know by now that the world is unfair. There is no rule stating you have to play by America's rules, or you must follow WTC. It's a free world, literally. You don't like it? You can go to war. If you really want them to obey your rule then put some tanks infront of their house.

Sustainability is really a critical issue in supply chain now, wasted fuel is a major concern specially with fuel costs.... however supply chain is becoming more efficient and moving back to USA is one of the options as well.

But you have to think, if you rather paid extra 10 bucks for tooth paste produced in USA, 3 bucks for tooth brush, 5 bucks for shirts, 50 bucks for tv, I highly doubt you will have any income left for vacation :smx2: The cost saving world of corporations have benefited you more than you know.

 

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[Bobo]

THE CHINESE ARE CHEATERS! They purposely keep the value of the yen down making it more economical to produce there. It's not fair to other countries whose Cost of doing business is way higher than theirs..

Seriously? No, Seriously? The Chinese government, while I find them distatasteful for a number of reasons, was smart. They loaded the gun and we shot our foot off, they legislated favorable conditions for Chinese businesses. Our own collection of DC assclowns legislated the most punitive anti-business rules out there into law and we blame China. That dog won't hunt, Fred.

I can't believe it's more economical to have a valve made in China and shipped all the way over here and still be less expensive than an american made valve. Have you considered all the wasted fuel that consumes? Just because it cost less is it really a smarter choice?.

Yes, it is cheaper, you are bloviating here and need to buy valves before pontificating on that which you have no experience with. When reality meets your theory you will be unpleasantly surprised.

I live in the US and I tend to give more weight to products made here. Why? because The thought of somebody losing their job or a factory closing down as a result of me saving 10 bucks makes me crazy. I'd rather spend the extra 10 and keep the money within my borders. .

As a consumer I am right there with you, when practical I will spend more for a local product and prefer mom and pop shops to the big box stores but I buy commodity items at Costco. As a consumer we make choices based on economics and emotion. As a BUSINESS OWNER that thinking will drive your a$$ out of business. Let's take your example. You pay an extra $10 for a widget made here, assuming you wholesale that product the final retail price just went up $30 or more. Do that ten times in a complex product and you have reduced your market to those who are willing to pay hundreds or thousands more just to say they bought an American product. You also just shut yourself out of the international market. As a business owner you just put the employees who count on you out of work because your principles mattered more than their jobs. Whoooooops.

I love this country and it's a shame to see how much influence a corporation can have on it by lobbying and campaign contributions. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Oh horseshit, corporations are evil my a$$. Wake up. Congress sets the rules, they set the rules so that a corporation can legally buy votes from them and guess what? That is their job. A corporation has to make money, unless the ForEx starts trading buckets of 'fair' for dollars. If you want to change things then spend your time, money and nausea firing the idiots who are running the country and hire people who could run a lemonade stand profitably. This batch of airbags would charge $50 glass for lemonade, tell you that there may or may not be lemons in it but buy some to find out and then they'd pass a law that you had to buy it.

FWIW: When the folks in power talk about those dangerous rightwing nutjobs? They mean me. I just don't confuse my politics with business because that's what those halfwits do and it doesn't work. By the way - when I use all those demeaning phrases to talk about our government it is bipartisan, both sides have responsibility for the mess because they focus on their jobs, not ours.

 

[fredtech1]

"Yes, it is cheaper, you are bloviating here and need to buy valves before pontificating on that which you have no experience with. When reality meets your theory you will be unpleasantly surprised."

hmm I guess this is the truman show and I'm truman. I guess you missed the episode where I was replacing a valve in one of my houses, went to Sears Hardware purchased a new one installed it and the F*cking thing leaked right through the casing.

I buy t-shirts for my business and I specifically pay 1 dollar more for each shirt than the shit made in China. I guess you would sell your country out for a buck.

Because the economy went global. That's why we are getting reamed. We used to manufacture a shit ton of goods and now it's mostly speculative paper trading bullshit pencil pushers making all the loot while the middle class hardworking people get their asses kicked.

If people realized that our country and the people in it are worth more than saving a few bucks we would be in a lot better shape. We need to start manufacturing goods like we used to. I'm no economist but I can read the writing on the wall. Look at how well China is doing and look at how much they manufacture.

If you're gonna sit there and tell me to take a hike and that China can do whatever it wants then why don't you go live there!

 

[fredtech1]

"Congress sets the rules, they set the rules so that a corporation can legally buy votes from them"

Prove It! Were you there in the room when these rules were signed in? How do you know it wasn't a corporation greasing the palms of the congressmen/women asking them to pass a rule like this?

Greedy Lobbyist: Hey wanna make a quick million bucks?

Congressman: Of course!

Greedy Lobbyist: Just sign this and allow us to buy votes.

Congressman: Der a OK! I just sold out my country.

 

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[Bobo]

"Yes, it is cheaper, you are bloviating here and need to buy valves before pontificating on that which you have no experience with. When reality meets your theory you will be unpleasantly surprised."

hmm I guess this is the truman show and I'm truman. I guess you missed the episode where I was replacing a valve in one of my houses, went to Sears Hardware purchased a new one installed it and the F*cking thing leaked right through the casing.

Was it American made? If not, why'd you buy it? Take it back, Sears does a warranty

I buy t-shirts for my business and I specifically pay 1 dollar more for each shirt than the shit made in China. I guess you would sell your country out for a buck. .

Sigh. What are you, 12? Buying a shirt for $1 more each because it's US made is a choice you make and hopefully one you use to market the product. My point was that making business decisions based on emotion is not rational. That's not quite selling out my country for a buck.

Because the economy went global. That's why we are getting reamed. We used to manufacture a shit ton of goods and now it's mostly speculative paper trading bullshit pencil pushers making all the loot while the middle class hardworking people get their asses kicked. .

Give me a break with your middle class nobility bullshit you halfwitted troll. I went to college for 8 years on my own dime, worked my a$$ of at three jobs throughout and I bill about 60-70 hours in an average week, not counting the 8 hours I spend on airplanes. This drivel about how people who make over $200K aren't hard workin 'mericans is nothing but the lameass class warfare slogan of people who would rather make excuses than profits.

If people realized that our country and the people in it are worth more than saving a few bucks we would be in a lot better shape. We need to start manufacturing goods like we used to. I'm no economist but I can read the writing on the wall. Look at how well China is doing and look at how much they manufacture.

We agree, you are no economist. I never said we did not need to start manufacturing goods but come to think of it I don't think that's where the money is going to be. I think we better start learning silly shit like say, economics maybe(?).

If you're gonna sit there and tell me to take a hike and that China can do whatever it wants then why don't you go live there!

Seriously? China can, in fact, do whatever it damned well wants to. If you are mad at me for pointing that out then the thread on Santa and the Easter Bunny is going to devastate you. Why don't I just go live there? What are you, 12? Seriously? I recognize that Cancer is a bad thing too but rather than pretend it doesn't exist I got it cut out and I go get my PET scan every 6 months. Yes, China can do whatever the hell it wants right now. Start a trade war with them and they kill the dollar. Do I like them? Hell no. Do I pretend that if I pound my chest and make emotional business decisions then they will suddenly fall apart? Also no. Welcome to the real world, it isn't always what you want it to be - wear a cup.

 

[Bobo]

"Congress sets the rules, they set the rules so that a corporation can legally buy votes from them"

Prove It! Were you there in the room when these rules were signed in? How do you know it wasn't a corporation greasing the palms of the congressmen/women asking them to pass a rule like this?

Greedy Lobbyist: Hey wanna make a quick million bucks?

Congressman: Of course!

Greedy Lobbyist: Just sign this and allow us to buy votes.

Congressman: Der a OK! I just sold out my country.

yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn....

You don't need to be in the room, just read the bills. Yes, newsflash, politicians do favors for their donors and it sucks. Had you been paying attention you'd have noticed that I am against that too.
Notice my recommendation to replace them, that was not because I respect and admire them.

So are you 12 or just drunk? Mad at the world and it's all the other guy's fault? IQ around room temp? All of the above?

 

[mkzhang]

No point arguing.

Refusal to recognize the current economic situation, competitors' advantage over you, and the ability to change and adapt, much like some people in this thread's denial, is why our traditional industry is in the shit hole it is now.

 

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[Jill]

Fredtech-

I think the point the others are trying to make here is that we agree with you about the state of the economy and the seemingly "unfair" playing field that has been created by the globalization of trade. After all, it's pretty hard to compete with labor costs of $3/day, when one is forced by restrictions, regulations and bargained contracts to pay labor costs of $30/hour for the same work.

I think the point you may be missing, tho, is that you must play by the rules of the game AS THEY ARE, not as you wish them to be. It's a good and noble pursuit to spend all your extra time trying to change the rules you don't like. But in the meantime, if you sit on the sidelines or just get mad at the refs because you don't like the NCAA's new clock management rules, then you WILL lose the game.

I think instead we should be asking, "WHY are we losing jobs to other manufacturing centers? What can we do to change that?" And if the answer is "Nothing," then the next question should be, "well, if we can't beat em, how can we profit from the situation?" or "what else can we develop as a core competency in which they can't easily compete"

 

[theBiz]

You can have it say MADE IN MARS you better make sure its cheaper than others.

Seeing what is going on recently i would say i hope you producing something that is necessity and is cheap, or at least extremely justifiable for being over market price.

Remember whatever you are selling my next door neighbor CEO will prob do for 5 bucks an hour gladly.

 

[Bobo]

Rereading... wow do I get creatively cranky when the right buttons get pushed

 

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[fredtech1]

@Bobo - haha good one. I guess i was wrong about you. You would probably sell out your own mother for a buck.

12 yrs old yes that makes me 6 yrs older than you. That makes me 7 right. My IQ is too small to figure that out. :groove:

@Jill - Thanks for the rational explanation

 

[Russ H]

@Bobo - haha good one.

I guess i was wrong about you.

You would probably sell out your own mother for a buck.

12 yrs old yes that makes me 6 yrs older than you.

That makes me 7 right.

My IQ is too small to figure that out. :groove:

Can't letter go, eh Fred?

You remind me of the guy in the bar who keeps trash talking the bouncer.

Sooner or later, he gets his a** kicked.

But the really funny part?

Everyone else in the bar pretty much thinks he's a moron.

But they don't tell him.

They're trying to be nice.

-Russ H.

 

[fredtech1]

oh and now i'm getting threatened. people need to stop being so full of themselves because they have big thread counts and big egos to go with it. he who shouts loudest or with the most money or with the bigger muscles is not always right.

Why dont you put your penises back in your pants and stay on topic.

My point is the Chinese manipulate the yen and buying American is an investment in our future. plain and simple.

if i wanted to show how witty and obnoxious i can be to a noobie and brag about how it took me 8 years to get an associates degree i would have gone to another forum.

 

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[Russ H]

if i wanted to show how witty and obnoxious i can be to a noobie and brag about how it took me 8 years to get an associates degree i would have gone to another forum.

And yet you do it here. Why is that?

BTW, congrats on that associates degree.

-Russ H.

 

[Russ H]

oh and now i'm getting threatened. people need to stop being so full of themselves because they have big thread counts and big egos to go with it. he who shouts loudest or with the most money or with the bigger muscles is not always right.

Why dont you put your penises back in your pants and stay on topic.

My point is the Chinese manipulate the yen and buying American is an investment in our future. plain and simple.

Funny, I could have sworn you said nothing about manipulation of the yuan (yen is Japan). Seems like what I was reading was a rant on plumbing parts, and how that proved your thesis that all Chinese stuff was crap.

Fred, seriously, you've been here for weeks.

You've NEVER posted an intro, even tho' that's considered proper forum etiquette (and is outlined when you sign up, I believe).

You start a thread asking for advice, but it looks like you didn't thank any of the people who took the time to give you thoughtful responses.

Did you give anyone rep speed for their answers?

All of these things are done (intro, thanking, rep speed), by the folks who hang out here. It's just good manners.

When you come here, and take but don't give, it looks pretty selfish.

If you've posted an intro, I've missed it.

All I know about you (besides your points on this thread) are:

I have been seriously considering another home but I have a stated income that a gerbil can barely survive on so getting pre approved for a home loan seems out of reach. I did entertain lonnie deals for a second which would allow some cash flow or maybe finding really inexpensive real estate out of state but i'm not comfortable with that.

I've seen a thread here talking about buying thrift clothes and selling on ebay but that's not my gig. I dont know how to spot bargains.

I can put an ad in the paper stating "I buy Houses" and maybe find someone willing to hold their note for me. I'm not very educated in that dept.

Why not post an intro?

And just to clarify-- my earlier post was not a threat. It was an observation about your behavior.

Entering a party where a bunch of entrepreneurs are hanging out and storming around disagreeing with people you don't know doesn't make friends fast.

In fact, it doesn't make friends at all.

That was my point.

Sorry if it came off as a threat. Not my intent.

Just wanted to Dale Carnagie you a bit.

-Russ H.

 

[TC2]

So my question to everyone here is-- How do you feel when you see a Made in the USA slogan on a product? More patriotic, more lenient to buy it? Whatever comes to mind, please feel free to share!

Thanks everyone!

All I care is the quality.

Forget about where the product is made. You want to produce a product that is marked "Made for Quality".

You need to have someone or yourself seriously about quality control in your production line to monitor the quality. Defect product happens, but they should just be a very small part of your entire production.

You need to put the right decision with the right action. Quality is always the #1 priority.

You need to build a solid brand that represent QUALITY.

Look at those expensive hang bag, super high-tech engine, and electronic component, they are made in China. It's the people behind the brand who make sure the quality is good enough to protect their brand.

I would not say Made in China products are all that bad, but they suck usually. There are bad products made in USA, India too.

You get what you pay for! Period! It's all about business and profit.

So don't make your product one of them.

 

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[Russ H]

Thanks for bringing us back on topic, Terrence.

-Russ H.

 

[JimN]

Made in the USA. First, it sounds expensive to me. It is better as a USA manufacturer to put Made in China on the product, people will think the price is good and you make a better margin.

 

[Icy]

Made in the USA. First, it sounds expensive to me. It is better as a USA manufacturer to put Made in China on the product, people will think the price is good and you make a better margin.

Yeah, that's the one common thought on "Made in the USA". I remember reading though a couple months back of a store that only sells products where every part of it is made in the US. If memory serves me right it was just a bit more in comparison to made in China products, like only a couple dollars or something. Definitely think the biggest hurdle for 100% made in the US stores is getting people to realize it's not that much more expensive. Although, it does add up over time....

Idk, I bet there is a big enough market of people who, give the option, would buy slightly more expensive thing made completely in the US rather than China. Actually the store I mentioned reading about had over 800 people opening day, and in the short time it's been open the guy is looking to franchise. So, if the guy has done his homework it could very well be a viable niche market to pursue.

 

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[Russ H]

I bet there is a big enough market of people who, give the option, would buy slightly more expensive thing made completely in the US rather than China. Actually the store I mentioned reading about had over 800 people opening day, and in the short time it's been open the guy is looking to franchise. So, if the guy has done his homework it could very well be a viable niche market to pursue.

Agreed. When Sam Walton (Walmart/Sam's Club) got started, that was one of their tenets: Everything they carried was "Made in the USA".

Definitely a niche that could be addressed, esp in these hard times.

I don't see it as a viable long-term option, unless we become more insular. If that happens, Congress will vote in tariffs and ban certain imports, which will level the playing field anyway.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. If the US decides to spend its money here instead of sending it over to China, it could really change the balance of things in a few short years.

So far, though, that's not the plan.

-Russ H.