Poll of the Day > "Buy America made" is so damn stupid.

(+) Yeah! (+)

There is something I wanna buy, the two "optimal" options are made in Turkey and USA. They have the same build quality and both handmade. However the turkey has premium components such are real leather, and the USA made one, fake leather and less premium wood... the one from turkey? 830 doors to my door. USA one? 1980 damm dollars BEFORE TAXES AND SHIPPING.

America made crap is always the same, cheapest damn materials and a premium price because it doesn't have a "made in <other country here>" sticker on it.

/rant

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Ya, I hate when I see ads for "buy local" but what they really mean is "buy from your local walmart and mcdonalds, not the little guys"

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It really should just be "buy from democracies". And said democracies shouldn't be allowed to use slaves in foreign countries.

Lokarin posted...

Ya, I hate when I see ads for "buy local" but what they really mean is "buy from your local walmart and mcdonalds, not the little guys"

uber eats: eat local!

also uber eats: *takes a 35% cut from every delivery order and 15% from every pickup*

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Raddest_Chad posted...

It really should just be "buy from democracies". And said democracies shouldn't be allowed to use slaves in foreign countries.

Made in America items often use the same slave labor but for the materials only. So its just as bad almost

What were you trying to buy? When you're talking leather and wood at that price, I'm thinking it's either a couch or a sword.

hypnox posted...

America made crap is always the same, cheapest damn materials and a premium price because it doesn't have a "made in " sticker on it.

Untrue. It depends on the product. Made in America isn't like a Made in Taiwan, or Made in China (which, if you ask China, is the same thing).

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Zeus posted...

What were you trying to buy? When you're talking leather and wood at that price, I'm thinking it's either a couch or a sword.

Untrue. It depends on the product. Made in America isn't like a Made in Taiwan, or Made in China (which, if you ask China, is the same thing).

Sometimes Made in America just means it was finished in America even if it was 99% worked elsewhere

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In my experience, the Made In America items (I do a lot of purchasing in an industrial environment) are superior and readily available. Items made elsewhere (such as Europe) tend to be as good, but less available. When downtime = money lost, the USA versions win out every time.

Zeus posted...

What were you trying to buy? When you're talking leather and wood at that price, I'm thinking it's either a couch or a sword.

who would pay that much for a wooden sword?
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Zeus posted...

What were you trying to buy? When you're talking leather and wood at that price, I'm thinking it's either a couch or a sword.

Untrue. It depends on the product. Made in America isn't like a Made in Taiwan, or Made in China (which, if you ask China, is the same thing).

The worst part is that there is a lot of good stuff coming out of China and Taiwan, but it's like funding a diamond in the rough in a sea of poor quality crap and straight up counterfeits and clones.

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Post WW2 America, most of our products were "American Made" then that all began to change in the 1970s so much so that America no longer makes tv's, appliances etc.

I looked at my appliances in my kitchen and they were all made in some part of China. Very little if any of the things in my were made in America and to me that's sad but it's also demonstrate the lengths manufacturers go to to make money outside of this country at the expense of American workers.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

The worst part is that there is a lot of good stuff coming out of China and Taiwan, but it's like funding a diamond in the rough in a sea of poor quality crap and straight up counterfeits and clones.

Is this post from 1990? It's not remotely hard to find quality stuff coming out of China or Taiwan these days, including most of the components in the device you're using to post. The "China makes cheap garbage" attitude stems from a time when China was just starting to become a manufacturing powerhouse, and their strengths lay purely in their population (which offered a near-infinite supply of labour with no need for competitive wages) instead of in having significant manufacturing infrastructure. These days, they've established enough infrastructure and developed enough expertise that they're no less capable of producing quality goods than America is, except with the added bonuses of a large population (which makes it easy to find specialists and operate on a larger scale) and a blatant disregard for human rights (allowing lower wages and less money spent on silly things like making sure workers don't freeze to death on the job) keeping costs down.

There's still plenty of cheap crap coming out of China, certainly, but there's plenty of cheap crap coming out of every country that does any manufacturing, including America. This is because there's a demand for cheap crap, and there will continue to be such a demand until it's made illegal to sell anything with a warranty of less than 5 years (which won't happen, as much as that's really the only solution to humanity's plastic problem). It's nothing to do with China.

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All my clients I work with are American, so I dont have any problems with spending extra to buy anything made in America.

I try to minimize purchases from countries whose governments I disagree with.

The funniest is when it comes to cars. I work with a lot of Teamsters, who more or less refuse to buy anything but American cars, even though they tend to be shittier than Japanese/German ones.

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Everything is stupid. We live in a stupid country in a stupid world in a stupid universe.

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CyborgSage00x0 posted...

The funniest is when it comes to cars. I work with a lot of Teamsters, who more or less refuse to buy anything but American cars, even though they tend to be shittier than Japanese/German ones.

Why would it particularly shocking that union members support another union industry.

Hospy posted...

Why would it particularly shocking that union members support another union industry.

I didn't say it was, just funny. And I'm pretty sure the America aspect is more important than the union aspect to them. No one else in the film business gives a shit, despite being all unionized.

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kukukupo posted...

In my experience, the Made In America items (I do a lot of purchasing in an industrial environment) are superior and readily available. Items made elsewhere (such as Europe) tend to be as good, but less available. When downtime = money lost, the USA versions win out every time.

This is my experience as well while maintaining a fleet of 300 or so pieces of equipment.

Hospy posted...

Edit: Biggest differences in price in goods is usually because of labor laws and the price of labor. US minimum wage is like four times that of Turkey and no doubt a bigger employer tax load. If youre not willing to pay a premium for compensated labor thats essentially why outsourcing of jobs becomes a thing.

Both in my case are hand made buy a dude(America) and a Husband and wife(Turkey). So no accounting for labor or other staff related costs.

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hypnox posted...

Both in my case are hand made buy a dude(America) and a Husband and wife(Turkey). So no accounting for labor or other staff related costs.

Cost of living is roughly twice as much. I dont know anything about the Turkish corporate tax rate but I would wager the US guy has a bigger tax load as well.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I didn't say it was, just funny. And I'm pretty sure the America aspect is more important than the union aspect to them. No one else in the film business gives a shit, despite being all unionized.

The film industry probably isnt as cut throat competition wise. Someone who watches a movie can watch a whole bunch of different movies while being a normal consumer. Someone who buys a car means he isnt buying a different one.

Hospy posted...

The film industry probably isnt as cut throat competition wise. Someone who watches a movie can watch a whole bunch of different movies while being a normal consumer. Someone who buys a car means he isnt buying a different one.

I'm not sure I follow how that relates.

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CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I'm not sure I follow how that relates.

The film industry is not in direct competition with the film industries of other countries, whereas the auto industry is. Your union is against management, theirs is against management while simultaneously having to compete abroad.

A union worker in America wants to support his fellow union workers by buying domestic.

Edit: I mean someone who buys a car in most cases isnt gonna buy another one unless they need another one, whereas you can watch any number of movies.

I would like to purchase one American Maid please

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Krazy_Kirby posted...

who would pay that much for a wooden sword?

https://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/sword-handle-wrap.html

WhiskeyDisk posted...

The worst part is that there is a lot of good stuff coming out of China and Taiwan, but it's like funding a diamond in the rough in a sea of poor quality crap and straight up counterfeits and clones.

And many times even with the crappier makers the early batches can be reasonable quality then they start to cut more and more corners.

BUMPED2002 posted...

Post WW2 America, most of our products were "American Made" then that all began to change in the 1970s so much so that America no longer makes tv's, appliances etc.

I looked at my appliances in my kitchen and they were all made in some part of China. Very little if any of the things in my were made in America and to me that's sad but it's also demonstrate the lengths manufacturers go to to make money outside of this country at the expense of American workers.

It's almost like government regulation, unions, etc, raising production costs in this country caused the work to nations without those restrictions where can be done more cheaply.


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Hospy posted...

The film industry is not in direct competition with the film industries of other countries, whereas the auto industry is. Your union is against management, theirs is against management while simultaneously having to compete abroad.

A union worker in America wants to support his fellow union workers by buying domestic.

Edit: I mean someone who buys a car in most cases isnt gonna buy another one unless they need another one, whereas you can watch any number of movies.

Ah, I see what you're getting at.

That said, like I said, this applies almost exclusively the Teamsters (aka, the Transportation Dept., aka, the people who deal with automobiles in film), so it tracks. No other department in film cares and generally owns whatever. So, it's definitely more of a "yeehaw, America!" sort of thing, and less of a "Go Unions!" thing. It helps that most drivers in film come from farm/rural backgrounds, meaning the "yeehaw, America!" attitude runs deep.

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adjl posted...

Is this post from 1990? It's not remotely hard to find quality stuff coming out of China or Taiwan these days, including most of the components in the device you're using to post. The "China makes cheap garbage" attitude stems from a time when China was just starting to become a manufacturing powerhouse, and their strengths lay purely in their population (which offered a near-infinite supply of labour with no need for competitive wages) instead of in having significant manufacturing infrastructure. These days, they've established enough infrastructure and developed enough expertise that they're no less capable of producing quality goods than America is, except with the added bonuses of a large population (which makes it easy to find specialists and operate on a larger scale) and a blatant disregard for human rights (allowing lower wages and less money spent on silly things like making sure workers don't freeze to death on the job) keeping costs down.

There's still plenty of cheap crap coming out of China, certainly, but there's plenty of cheap crap coming out of every country that does any manufacturing, including America. This is because there's a demand for cheap crap, and there will continue to be such a demand until it's made illegal to sell anything with a warranty of less than 5 years (which won't happen, as much as that's really the only solution to humanity's plastic problem). It's nothing to do with China.

I'm mostly looking at it thru the lense of EDC gadgetry. Knives, Flashlights, watches, tools, that sort of stuff. I'm not about to write an essay nobody is going to care about various brands out of China that I'll vouch for, but I can find awful knockoffs of just about all of them on Wish, and even on sites like banggood, AliExpress, etc you have to triple check that you're on a maker's official storefront or risk getting junk. They'll use pictures of one thing and ship another, and don't even get me started on batteries...

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