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scooby074

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Stock photo from a distant time when it was MiUSA. Description is correct, MiChina. With OTC now, I always assume MiC unless expressly said otherwise.
 

zendriver

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We go on Amazon And eBay looking for the cheap prices, but expect the item to be everything we want it to be

If people want to buy American why not just go to a Reputable tool dealer or directly from the American Company - And pay the price?

“ Bargain hunting” Has got us to the place where we are at in the first place i
 

username2

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That's pretty wild. A funny problem is that all the other sellers use the same image (like eBay). I'm not sure what to think here.
 

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mike93lx

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I disagree the photo was a false and misleading representation of the product and that cost them money.
I would strongly recommend not making purchases based on photographs, especially when a particular characteristic is important. Especially again on Amazon.

Like it or not, it's reality.
 
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K13

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I would strongly recommend not making purchases based on photographs, especially when a particular characteristic is important. Especially on Amazon.

Like it or not, it's reality.
This. Thinking that any picture is of the actual product you are getting from Amazon is wishful thing at best and naivety at worse.
 
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terrific

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Zoro lists it as USA, but lists the Bosch model (same thing) as Taiwan. Can't win.
 

four.cycle

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I would posit that American retail customers demanding (and receiving) full refunds (including shipping costs) on items which turn out to be "not as described" will eventually start putting a dent in somebody's bottom line, in this case, Amazon's.
Only when it hits their pocket will they make an effort to assure that items are as presented, as "Country of Origin" will become more of an issue for consumers in the future.

Another reason for never using a "debit card" for purchases of this nature. Always use a credit card.
See Frank Abagnale on "Credit Card vs. Debit Card"
 

mikey03

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A us flag picture dont mean anything I was looking for a us made scissor jack to put together some spare tire kits for family member cars that are older and don’t got working spares and came across a company called US Jack with a big American flag logo and it has US in the name but guess where there scissors jack is made? China.
 

Hakeem

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I would posit that American retail customers demanding (and receiving) full refunds (including shipping costs) on items which turn out to be "not as described" will eventually start putting a dent in somebody's bottom line, in this case, Amazon's.
Only when it hits their pocket will they make an effort to assure that items are as presented, as "Country of Origin" will become more of an issue for consumers in the future.

Another reason for never using a "debit card" for purchases of this nature. Always use a credit card.
See Frank Abagnale on "Credit Card vs. Debit Card"
I’d expect Amazon to start restricting returns long before they hold their sellers accountable
 

Lou's Garage

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A us flag picture dont mean anything I was looking for a us made scissor jack to put together some spare tire kits for family member cars that are older and don’t got working spares and came across a company called US Jack with a big American flag logo and it has US in the name but guess where there scissors jack is made? China.
Interesting. I recently purchased a 12 ton bottle jack from them. Not only was it made in the U.S. (they are the manufacturer) but I had a problem with it so they offered me a choice of resolution. It was a simple repair so I chose to have them send me the parts. With the parts (extras were included) was a set of detailed instructions and an offer to talk me through the repair over the phone. I wonder if they have closed their manufacturing center or if it was just the scissors jack?

Lou
 

neophyte

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We go on Amazon And eBay looking for the cheap prices, but expect the item to be everything we want it to be

If people want to buy American why not just go to a Reputable tool dealer or directly from the American Company - And pay the price?

“ Bargain hunting” Has got us to the place where we are at in the first place i
“Bargain hunting”, has and always will be an occurrence amongst consumers.
There are exceptions, but most people don’t mind, or prefer to pay less, for an “identical” item, were reasonably and easily possible.
Not doing so, in many cases is stupid, although there are exceptions, such as not walking half a mile to save $0.20 on a bottle of soda.
The issue is retailers, mis marking products, to sell those products aa something those products are not, for a higher price than the consumer would likely pay if they knew what the product actually was.

People complain about Harbor Freight knocking off Snap-On products, like HF’s Icon pistol grip pliers.
Other than the “compare with Snap-On” advertising, HF doesn’t lie about country of origin, or claim that the pliers are actually made by Snap-On.
Very similar pliers are also manufactured under other brands, and sold for less than the cost of the Icon pliers.
In some cases, the only difference seems to be brand, the grip material, and the lack of the bead blasted finish found on the Icon and SO pliers.
Maybe the other pliers are from the same producer as the Icon pliers?
Maybe the other pliers are simply another SO knockoff, made in China instead of Taiwan.
I spend a bit extra for the HF version, because I know were the brand’s retailer is if I have a problem.
With Snap-On, the minimum shipping fee is more than the cost of the HF pliers.
 

neophyte

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Assume everything is made in China unless it has an American Flag plastered all over it in which case it's still made in China but assembled in the USA. DeWalt pulled that **** for a number of years. Perhaps they still do.
To be fair, Dewalt makes power tools, and most electrical items have some components that cannot be sourced from the USA.
Legally, all materials and components are required to be produced in the USA for “Made in USA” labelling, meaning the most some manufacturers can get away with is “Assembled in the USA” even if most components and parts are actually made in the USA.
 

BrandonV

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A us flag picture dont mean anything I was looking for a us made scissor jack to put together some spare tire kits for family member cars that are older and don’t got working spares and came across a company called US Jack with a big American flag logo and it has US in the name but guess where there scissors jack is made? China.

Yup. I was trying to do the same the other day. It seems at least all the tooling for scissor jacks has left the country.

Honestly snagging a few of the older Made in Japan scissor jacks from Toyotas is the ticket these days IMO. I always grab them when I have a chance.

There is a really cool South African scissor jack I bought. Haven't tried it out yet but it's built for off-roaders and it's a tank.
 

zendriver

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“Bargain hunting”, has and always will be an occurrence amongst consumers.
There are exceptions, but most people don’t mind, or prefer to pay less, for an “identical” item, were reasonably and easily possible.
Not doing so, in many cases is stupid, although there are exceptions, such as not walking half a mile to save $0.20 on a bottle of soda.
The issue is retailers, mis marking products, to sell those products aa something those products are not, for a higher price than the consumer would likely pay if they knew what the product actually was.
Not really in the case of tools.

Old days people went to the local hardware/parts store and purchased what they wanted or needed. Nothing was "on sale" and there not a ton of competitors.

Then came companies like Sears and their " good **** - lower prices" business model, that started the downward trend of nearly everybody having "sales" to compete, whether they wanted to or not. That mean less for their bottom line.

Worked great (for Sears, anyway, other retailers not as much) until they got a taste of their own medicine, coming from Imports.

Someone here purchased a Milwaukee tool for 30% less then wondered if it was counterfeit. Maybe legitimate sellers can only eat so much of a discount. :dunno:

IMO if people want to "buy American" (from companies who now have to compete with low cost imports) then make decisions based on price, almost seems counterproductive, for the business, anyway. It's more expensive to manufacturer here, but hell yes, they'll gladly cut prices, simply to give Americans what they crave. :rolleyes2
 

dnschmidt

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Zen, your points are valid for somethings like, for example, a wrench. Where the steel is either up to snuff of it isn't. Hell man I sold TOPTUL for four years because the quality was outstanding and the price ridiculously low. But Li-Ion batteries are a different story. 1) There is the safety factor. I really like my house and I don't want to burn it down. 2) You can't tell if the fake (and by that I mean the ones that are packaged as being authentic and not sold as a Wing-Wang battery compatible with Makita which to me is fair as you know you're buying **** to begin with and paying a low dollar amount for it.) The only way manufacturing is returning to America is if American's are willing to lower their standard of living to pay for the stuff we would then make in America that had previously been made in China for 1/2 the price. Are you willing to pay twice as much for a Milwaukee drill made in Wisconsin as you currently do for one made in China. My guess is that you are not.
 
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zendriver

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Zen, your points are valid for somethings like, for example, a wrench. Where the steel is either up to snuff of it isn't. Hell man I sold TTOPTUL for four years because the quality was outstanding and the price ridiculously low. But Li-Ion batteries are a different story. 1) There is the safety factor. I really like my house and I don't want to burn it down. 2) You can't tell if the fake (and by that I mean the ones that are packaged as being authentic and not sold as a Wing-Wang battery compatible with Makita which to me is fair as you know you're buying **** to begin with and paying a low dollar amount for it.) The only way manufacturing is returning to America is if American's are willing to lower their standard of living to pay for the stuff we would then make in America that had previously been made in China for 1/2 the price. Are you willing to pay twice as much for a Milwaukee drill made in Wisconsin as you currently do for one made in China. My guess is that you are not.
Spot on and yes, you are correct.

If we bring back all these factories, I'm still trying to figure out, where we think we are going to find the workers to run them?

Drag the age 70 something baby boomers, back out of their recliners (or graves)? We already know there will be no "Ellis Island". Maybe recovering drug addicts?
 

username2

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Spot on and yes, you are correct.

If we bring back all these factories, I'm still trying to figure out, where we think we are going to find the workers to run them?

Drag the age 70 something baby boomers, back out of their recliners (or graves)? We already know there will be no "Ellis Island". Maybe recovering drug addicts?
How many humans do you need in a built-in-2024 power drill or wrench factory?

(now that I think of it, I wonder how a wrench might look if it were slightly redesigned to be more suited to automation. Different finish? Slight different shape?)
 

Ohio Andy

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A us flag picture dont mean anything I was looking for a us made scissor jack to put together some spare tire kits for family member cars that are older and don’t got working spares and came across a company called US Jack with a big American flag logo and it has US in the name but guess where there scissors jack is made? China.
I like my SK USA made LP90 ratchets, but their name SK Tools USA feels highly deceptive to me since the majority of their tools are not USA made.

I will admit however that they're Chinese made round ratchets have kind of grown on me, but I'm not a big fan of their selective switch. Kind of makes me want to try their 90 tooth pearhead Chinese made ratchets... More likely to try for their round head USA made.

But I just refurbished some old scissor jacks that were absolute rust bombs. I dropped them in a pretty big container full of stuff to remove rust. And I painted them, they came out pretty well. They work great.

I was staring at some Williams screwdrivers. I wanted to try them because I was told they're very similar to the snap-on screwdrivers. I haven't tried those either, but I couldn't figure out if it was Williams screwdrivers were made in the USA. I finally found a statement somewhere that stated it, but it has simply been difficult to determine some of these things lately.
 

BrandonV

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I was staring at some Williams screwdrivers. I wanted to try them because I was told they're very similar to the snap-on screwdrivers. I haven't tried those either, but I couldn't figure out if it was Williams screwdrivers were made in the USA. I finally found a statement somewhere that stated it, but it has simply been difficult to determine some of these things lately.

FYI - the old hard handle style are made in the United States. You may see conflicting COO information because the vinyl pouch they come in comes from China.
 

Firebrick43

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That's pretty wild. A funny problem is that all the other sellers use the same image (like eBay). I'm not sure what to think here.
Unless things have recently changed, OTC was made in the USA and OTC Stinger was China.

I have that press and it was made in USA. There are reviews with pics as late as July 15 2023 that was USA. Did they recently switch? Or is Amazon shipping OTC Stinger instead of regular OTC because they are too stupid to realize there is a difference?

Or OTC has moved production and Amazon hasn’t updated the listing fully?
 

BrandonV

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Unless things have recently changed, OTC was made in the USA and OTC Stinger was China.

I have that press and it was made in USA. There are reviews with pics as late as July 15 2023 that was USA. Did they recently switch? Or is Amazon shipping OTC Stinger instead of regular OTC because they are too stupid to realize there is a difference?

Or OTC has moved production and Amazon hasn’t updated the listing fully?

If it’s the latter, I’d expect the OTC website to update their photos quickly. Currently, they still show the same photograph as Amazon.

Whenever I’ve seen a tool offshored, the manufacturer has usually been careful to avoid setting any expectations about the country of origin.

I'd almost be worried about a bait & switch with a return to Amazon. You think they're checking someone isn't swapping tools?
 
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