This is precisely why SK can't survive. If a guy in Detroit doesn't understand the importance of buying American made products, companies like SK don't stand a chance.
When I was young, Taiwan tools sucked. Craftsman was more money, but good value and USA made. Sales were frequent, and buying Craftsman was very convenient. The tools we bought then were made by Ideal, and the old SK and Armstrong, etc.
Today, Sears is selling some of the worst Chinese products, Taiwan has greatly improved, offering affordable, decent quality tools. Like Sears of my day, Harbor Freight is readily accessible across the country offering liberal return policies. Meanwhile, SK and Ideal and to a lesser extent Armstrong/Danaher are still making the same product they always did but now without the Sears distribution system and seem perplexed as to why they aren't doing better.
For those of us old enough to remember, this is exactly what the Detroit auto industry did in the 1970s and 80s. The goofy x wrench is the AMC Pacer of the tool industry. Faced with direct competition from Asia in a free market economy, US companies must either join them (moving production overseas) or beat them by producing high quality, desirable products for affordable prices.
The question here is whether SK produces a product substantially better than the Taiwan competition. What SK needs to do is start competing- let's see the youtube comparisons, the magazine articles ("The Best of the DIY Grade") and products people are asking for. Its not enough to say "we are proudly made in the USA". That didn't save the car industry, unfortunately. And if we can't convince someone from Detroit to buy American, and realistically, I think we can't, we must compete.
