| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
I can't even buy freakin' LIGHT BULBS that don't say "made in China" anymore. **G.E.** light bulbs. This is ••••••• pathetic, what we've done to our country. I went to Lowe's today because I needed a new chain for my chainsaw (fortunately, Oregon brand chainsaw chains are still made in the USA). I have a security floodlight that I'd like to upgrade / make brighter - two PAR 38 flood bulbs. I was looking at LED PARs...every goddamned one, "made in China". Last week, I was adding an outlet at the top of my steps for a night light, so I don't break my leg in the dark. Junction box? USA. Not sure on the outlet itself, I used one I had in a box in the basement from another project. Faceplates? I could NOT find one that didn't say "China" that matched the hallway (brass plates with fluted edges). So, I got a plain white steel one that was made in the USA, and swapped it with a brass one that was in my office behind a desk, where you can't see the mismatch. I was also clothes shopping last weekend - fortunately, stuff at the Columbia outlet store, while not made in USA...at least, doesn't come from China. Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone else even care? Or, am I some sort of oddball cranky old man for getting pissed off about this? | ||
| Tootal |
 I'm with you! I try and research everything to see where it's made. I only buy Chinese if I've exhausted all other options. I buy most of my clothes from these guys: https://www.allamericanclothing.com/ | ||
| Pwnzor |
Harbor Freight. Where else can you get a hammer for $3.00 that will do everything a $30 hammer will. And if it doesn't, you can always buy nine more. Think about this... somewhere in China or that continent, trees are grown, harvested, transported, milled, and transported again. Somewhere else in China, there is an iron mine. The ore is dug out of the ground, stamped, smelted, mixed with carbon, milled or forged into hammer heads and transported. Somewhere else, there is a factory where the wooden handles are made. Lots of people there, and dangerous machinery. Perhaps the hammer heads are transported here, or maybe these handles are also transported somewhere. The two things get assembled and loaded into containers which move by rail down to the shipyards and are placed directly onto the container ships. 24 days at sea, and the hammers are disembarked onto another rail line, while others may travel by truck to distribution centers. They're handled and transported again, unloaded and stocked. This is a very simplified version of the way the hammers get here. And they're $3.00 | ||
| Ratbuell |
Which they can get away with, when their communist government subsidizes all production in the name of overthrowing the United States of America. And, when they keep their cannon fodd....er, "citizens", in abject poverty. They can't dominate the world through overt warfare...so they've chosen economics, and trade. And we're too stupid to see it, so they're handing us our asses. | ||
| 86129squids |
Occasionally I run the scenario through my mind... what if anything Chinese made suddenly disappeared from my/our reality? Weirdness/hilarity/chaos/bedlam would ensue. It's simply a symptom of late stage capitalism. We've outsourced EVERY dang thing to minimize production and labor costs, and to maximize profit. We've been down a long road since Nixon played ping-pong... | ||
| Hootowl |
https://www.sylvania.com/en-us/products/Pages/Amer ican%20Pride.aspx | ||
| Ratbuell |
Good tip on the bulbs, Hoot. Thank you. Also thanks for the link to allamericanclothing.com, Tootal. Keep 'em coming - I think, with a little digging, we CAN actually sustain ourselves and our homes with items that are made here in the USA. | ||
| Court |
Good to know about Sylvania. I don’t do the LED lights since they don’t dime and they’re still struggling with color tradition. But, I see Sylvain’s also offers a full line of incandescent products. Yay. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Court - lots of LEDs are dimmable now. You're right, color temps are kinda all over the map but I've found when they claim "warm white", they're pretty decent; "daylight" still looks blue to me though. I try to do anything in the 3000k-4300k range for a warm, true daylight color. Unless I'm doing accent lights, or fog lights on a vehicle, when I'll drop down closer to 2500k for a real amber. | ||
| H0gwash |
Americans see "Made in China" but prefer to see it as saving a couple dollars. Anything you make in your shop is made in USA | ||
| Tpehak |
Because of China makes better quality for lower price. | ||
| Aesquire |
Nope. Wrong again, Wuhan breath. | ||
| Hootowl |
Faster, better, cheaper. Pick two.  | ||
| Oldog |
Because of China makes better quality for lower price. Slave labor. I heard a China horror story first hand from a former exec that I used to work with. Chinese safety practices are a joke Workers processing arsenic in shorts and flip flops, the correct PPE is akin to a moon suit..... China makes lots of the led bulbs the irony is that the chips if they are Cree brand are made in the us.( or were? ) I try to buy made in usa | ||
| Buellerxt |
Communist China, our arch enemy SUCKS, Ratbuell; I'm in full agreement with you and do just as you do, check where everything is made to minimize any purchases from Communist China. Spread the word, explain the consequences of not changing and encourage USA Made! Thanks for the tips on clothing and bulbs Tootal and Hootowl. Much appreciated. | ||
| Two_seasons |
I've got an ABC policy... Anything But China Most of the time, I can find made in USA if I try hard enough.  | ||
| Greg_e |
I need new headlights for my car, guess I'll look at Sylvania first. Mostly that's what I try to buy for home lighting, most of the other brands don't last very long, even the big name brands. The Utilitech "brand" from Lowes is dreadful, wasted a lot of money on those before better brands were cheap enough to consider. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Faster, better, cheaper. Pick two. : ) Reminds me of when I did concert rigging (the lights, scenery, and speaker towers that "fly" over the stage) for a living. We had a saying: "There's three kinds of rigging: Fast Safe Cheap. You can pick two." Fast and safe? Gonna cost ya $$$. Fast and cheap? I won't walk under it! Safe and cheap? Better not be in a hurry...we'll get to it...eventually... | ||
| Tpehak |
If you want mostly made in USA motorcycle you have only one option - Confederate, but you gonna pay premium price for this pile of garbage. (Message edited by TPEHAK on October 19, 2020) | ||
| Zac4mac |
At least that comment made sense... | ||
| Akbuell |
Several reputable firearms brands are made in the USA. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
I love allamericanclothing.com been buying from them for about six years now. Love their stuff. Tyndale also makes great made in the USA clothing. Their FR Jean's and pants are terrific. New Balance Shoes has a number of models made in the USA. I have found, if I'm willing to spend time searching both on line and in stores, I can find most of what I'm looking for made in the USA. I usually go online to find what I want that's made in the USA, and then check with my local stores to see if they have it in stock. If they don't, I order online. | ||
| Court |
>>>>lots of LEDs are dimmable now. No they are not. When I was doing the renovation . . . I tried . . REALLY tried to find something . . . I bought all the top of the line dinners . . . I bought the best, using the capability tables of the various manufacturers, lamps I could get and I built something that looked akin to a 7th grade science fair project. I tried all the combinations . . . . . Now . . to put it in perspective. . yes, they are disable . . . but they get to about 30% and bam . . they drop out. I'm running about 150 devices in the house on WiFi and about 80 of them are lights. The combination of the Leviton radio controlled dimmers, in league with top quality incadenscent bulbs, let me do precisely what I am wanting to do. I ended up. . . . largely because of clearance issues when we reframed the 1st floor ceiling, we installed about a dozen LED units . . . the wafer units are amazing. They have the ability to select color temperature and we matched them to the other lights. One thing, if you are doing renovation, the LED "wafer" lights . . . are almost a "stick on" think they are so thin. I also used LEDs . . . . . . REALLY high powered ones . . . for the exterior "prison yard lighting" aptly named by the electirancs. The lights are cosmetically blended into the signing and when someone pulls in the driveway . . .they light the entire property to about 100 foot-candles. That . . . couple with a collection of red TIR2 Whelan lights in the treee stumps . . . seems to have them making their u-turn without lingering. | ||
| Hootowl |
Isn’t technology wonderful? I have but to say ‘computer, turn on the shower’ and my home automation system runs me a bath. It also runs the shower when my alarm goes off in the morning. Since I have a tankless heater, it’s also at my desired temperature. | ||
| Riding_tall |
It is hard to find but there are some. You have to be deliberate. Thanks for the allamericanclothing.com I'll have to check it out. https://originmaine.com/ https://trinidad3.com/pages/mission https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ | ||
| Sami |
"Capitalists will furnish credits which will serve us for the support of the Communist Party in their countries and, by supplying us materials and technical equipment which we lack, will restore our military industry necessary for our future attacks against our suppliers. To put it in other words, they will work on the preparation of their own suicide." -Lenin. Buy local. Easier said than done, though. | ||
| Tpehak |
Just installed 110 series Cane Creek headset on my Haibike eMTB. Proudly made in the USA out of 7075 T-6 aerospace grade aluminum alloy https://canecreek.com/product/110/   The USA made headset is so much better than the original Chinese manufactured loose out of spec headset was originally installed on this bicycle. I am actually not sure who is responsible for such crappy OEM headset, Chinese manufacturers, or German engineers who maybe did not specified proper tolerances or geometry. The chamfer for the tapered bearings on the top and on the bottom caps are too small so the bearings can not engage with the chamfers keeping the steering neck loose no matter how tight you torque the headset. I feel this is German engineers fault because of both top and bottom caps have inappropriate interface and Chinese fabricators just followed their spec. | ||
| 1313 |
I feel this is German engineers fault Good luck with getting them to admit to it... | ||
| Sami |
"Chinese fabricators just followed their spec." Or, as is often the case, Chinese fabricators simply don't have inspection control on quality. So it could very well be that German engineers did provide the specified proper tolerances or geometry, but that there was no quality inspection control present in China, and if there was, it was not on par with the quality inspection in Germany. What people often forget is that what makes a product good is not only how it is made, but what happens after it is made. After a product is made, it has to go through quality control (i.e. testing process) to be able to meet the specifications. Quality control is what separates the men from the boys, it is what separates German/USA products from Chinese products. An example is Apple products, most of which are made in China. Yet, Apple products made in China are as good as Apple products made elsewhere, for the simple reason that Apple insists on quality control on their products. If you remove the quality control inspections, then Apple products made in China would be worse than those made elsewhere. The reason why quality control is skipped, or done poorly, in many cases is because of cost reduction. Quality control adds cost to products, so if companies choose to avoid it, then they can sell their products cheaper. Some people wonder why American products or German products are so much more expensive than those made in China. There are multiple reasons for this, but one reason is the lack of quality control in China. If you have to test your products before you sell them, then it makes them not only better, but also more expensive. In short, you get what you pay for. (Message edited by Sami on October 21, 2020) | ||
| Sami |
"Because of China makes better quality for lower price." Yes and no. All things being equal, no. That is to say, if China implements the same procedures, inspections, safety, wages, etc. as the USA or Germany, then for the same quality you pay more or less the same price. The thing is, however, that China does not implement the same procedures, inspections, safety, wages, etc. as the USA or Germany. So what you often get is the same or lower quality for lower price in China. China rarely makes better quality, because the USA and Germany and other countries invest far more in Research and Development resulting in product innovation and improvement. Any better quality coming from China is largely the result of copying the R&D from other countries. Also, don't forget that many manufacturing companies in China are State owned. They receive State funding, see Huawei for example. Huawei went from zero to hero mainly because of State support. China's labour costs are increasing, making their products more expensive than what they used to be. Chinese population is becoming urbanised as more people are moving into cities, where wages are higher but so are living costs. Manufacturing in China has become more expensive compared to the past. |
