YesIHaveAHammer
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There is a phrase "people [collectively] get the politicians they deserve".
Perhaps it's the same for tool buyers.
Perhaps it's the same for tool buyers.
Stanley is stopping making tape measures in the USA.
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JoeMcGov
Well-known member
This 30 footer has been a faithful servant for 30 years. Do I need another one for the next 30? Or will this one go another 30 for a total of 60?
Idk. There are plenty of people willing to shell out the cash for good tools. But like healthcare, sometimes huge profits alone aren't enough to justify offering the product/service. It has to be exponential profits.
USA manufacturing of basic tools is in the last dying gasp. US businesses want very large profit that are incompatible with low price points. Companies would rather do services and use the cash for that with less risk and higher margins. It is all a shame, but that is the reality that we now live in. Maybe *some* manufacturing will come back when fully automated and cases where materials/supplies/energy are cheaper in the USA. More problematic is that services can be outsourced too and AI is changing the game there rapidly also. I am afraid we are transitioning to a more flat playing field in the global market and considering the USA is largely elevated economically relative to skill and education, we are likely going to "fall" more in coming to equilibrium with rising regions in the world. I see no solution to any of that. Unfortunately, some political decisions recently including the war on university education is likely going to accelerate further this issue. Up till recently, the USA remained a very strong recruiter of international talent and that helped compensate for domestic issues. But that is now severely broken over the last year and a half. I have teenage sons and I am very concerned what I am seeing recently. For whatever it is worth, I have done my best over my life to support USA companies that really manufacture here. But it has gotten almost hopeless to do so over the last 10 years or so.
jar944
Well-known member
What's the % of tools sold to union workers vs non union vs everyone else (diy)just looking at union vs non union construction it's 10 vs 90%.
I'd bet it's 50/50 diy vs professional likely higher diy so maybe 5% on a good day.
5% isn't changing anything.
The company I work for has closed a huge manufacturing facility in the past year. They didn't do it to boost the stock or give the executives a raise. In fact, we took a giant write down on the balance sheet for the closure costs. The fact is that facility was consistently losing money, and California enacted new legislation that further increased costs and made future losses more likely.
Most people don't think about it, but refineries are manufacturing facilities. They take in crude oil and manufacture clean products. The cost to close one down is a huge hit to the balance sheet and makes no money. It just means that we won't lose as much in the future.
Most people don't think about it, but refineries are manufacturing facilities. They take in crude oil and manufacture clean products. The cost to close one down is a huge hit to the balance sheet and makes no money. It just means that we won't lose as much in the future.
There are top tier tool manufacturers all over the planet, thats competition and that's good for consumers. My concern is that our culture isn't supportive of our own people. It's cost driven and that is a recipe for disaster.
Tarrifs would hedge against that... I'm all for tarrifs!
And as a culture we need to protect our assets for future generations. Your children should have the opportunity to work in manufacturing.
The problem is the Unions virtue signal to be champions of the domestic workers. In practice I don't see it...
Unions aside, it was my impression, living in Europe, that we are suckers in the US for not buying domestic. Suckers. And dumb. And shortsighted.
In Europe, at least where I was, "buying local" wasn't just about buying domestically made goods. It was about supporting local businesses, shops, farms etc.
We in the US really need to up our "local" game.
I have to respectfully disagree on this one. It seems to me that the dedicated tool store has become much more visible in the last 20 years. Acme Tool is a good example. Formerly stores like these tended to be located in industrial areas of town and would not open on Saturdays. Now they are likely to be much more visible and accessible to the general public and will have a large selection of US and non US made tools.
And for specialized US made tools like those made by Lie Nielsen there is the internet
finn
Well-known member
Like all those battery tools Milwaukee, a Hong Kong based company, makes in China and elsewhere in Asia?
Nobody should use TTI as an example of Made in America, just because they have a couple of plants here.
They’re a foreign owned company, not American.
finn
Well-known member
The online stores sell a small fraction, dollar wise, compared to the consumer focused big box stores that carry predominantly imported tools.
No, double sided as in measurements on both top and bottom surfaces of the blade. Typically, tapes measure left to right from the top surface, and bottom to top on the bottom side.
Where we have tapes in multipe units, i typically see those both units on the same (top) side of the tape. Hope this is clear (as mud).
cody1325
Well-known member
Yep.
And if . I've actually seen people in my Lowe's complaining that cheap tools less than half the price I've paid for "good ones" was too expensive--I mean, I saw a guy whining that $10 was too much for a hammer. I'd hate to see what would happen if he saw a Stilletto or Martinez.
From historical evidence they do not work as you would hope.
From present day evidence manufacturing jobs have been in decline in the recent years.
How long do you guys figure it’ll be until they shut down the Swanson Speed Square factory in Illinois? Hell if that happens, will be lucky to even get a friggin plastic speed square it’ll all be corrugated paper.
I agree with that. But the consumer votes with his pocketbook. If he wants to buy American he can.
neophyte
Well-known member
In Center City Philadelphia, there used to be more than one actual “Industrial” hardware store that could be walked to in 5 to 10 minutes.
One was Buck’s Hardware, but that got put out of business, because the PA Convention Center wanted yo expand, forcing the hardware store out of the building they had been in for decades, and they couldn’t find a suitable location nearby to move to.
They were one of the close stores nearby where workmen from the Convention Center, and Students from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts School/Museum could go buy tools and supplies quickly.
Buck’s actually had a full board of Channellock pliers.
Another was called National Hardware, and they got pushed out of business a few decades ago by Home Depot. (Back when Home Depot had a much larger percentage of USA made tools). They actually had a case of Stanley hand planes.
Grainger is still around in the area at least.
As for Lie-Nielsen, I used to be able to buy the Lie Nielsen tools at a Woodcraft store in Bensalem right outside Philly, then later in Delaware, but then Woodcraft stopped carrying Lie-Nielsen.
The internet has made certain tool brands easier to find, if you know the brands exist, but in the past, tool catalogs helped with the same.
Did you know our government was once funded entirely by tariffs?
Tariffs are a tool to even the playing field against unfair advantages presented by foreign nations in our markets. To the spoiled consumer a tariff is a "tax" they have to pay, to a conscious consumer: it's strategic manipulation to protect the home team.
Laws regarding the phrase "Made in USA" restrict it's usage. If the product isn't entirely (or virtually) it cannot be "Made in USA". If you see a new product on the shelf today that is labeled "Made in USA" then it bleeds red, white, and blue.
Yes. Many things have changed over the last 200 years.
Targeted tariffs can protect particular industries from dumping or unfair competition or just to protect critical domestic industries.
All encompassing tariffs have been shown to be economic failures.
I looked at some Stanley tapes in a store today. The chrome cased tapes say “Made in the USA with global components”
The yellow plastic cased tapes say made in Thailand IIRC.
sparky 1971
Well-known member
Good riddance. It's probably been 15 years since I've seen a Stanley tape measure worth owning.
This thread seems to have become a quasi political thread . It already was cleaned up once... probably time to shut it down.
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