The Chinese have been making fine things for years and have some of the wolds most talanted workers.
It is not China that is making things but comapnies and people form around the world having them made with Chinese labor. A product is only as good as a manifacture. Yes, they do make some real **** and a lot of knock offs. That is very bad but the tool companies that make cheap tools are not willing to make quality. Dont blame the Chinese for that. They want jobs just like we do. They are not in charge of the way things are made. Besides they make things the way they are told. Many things Chinese are the finest in the world. They can sit for hours and do the same little job and do a perfect job. Find some Yank to do that for what they get paid.
I don't care where anything is made as long as it has good quality. We sell our goods around the world. As a nation we can only gain welth by trading with other countries. It is a two way street. Products and supplys come form all around the world. If we only had the American market to sell to or do buisness with we would be in a real world of hurt. It is what goes into a product. Blame the company owneres not the Chinse worker. They are loosing a lot of jobs because they are demanding a higher rate of pay and better working conditions. In our early days as a country the fisrt Americans found they could make money selling to England and Europe. We made money and grew as a nation selling to other countries. That is how we started. If we did not sell to other countries we would not have gained welth as a nation. That is basic economics 101.
I just want good quality. The next time you buy an auto part see where it is made? Canada or Mexico. Why not ***** about them?
I will pay for quality not where a product is made because in the end that makes no diference.
Yeah, I get it, I've made the same argument, and there's truth in it.
However, most tool companies having things made in Asia aren't maintaining the same quality. It's not that they can't, it's that they don't. Granted, the same lack of quality could occur with US made stuff, but it generally doesn't. Contrast with Asia, especially China, where it's the rule, not the exception, to make ****. I've spoken to people who deal in getting parts made, and have faced the choice of domestic vs. outsourced, and a recurring theme I've heard is that when having a company make your stuff (not having your own factory there) in China, you have to specify EVERYTHING, or they'll take the cheapest way out. If you tell them to make you 1000 14mm 3/8" drive shallow sockets, you better tell them what metal composition, what process to use, what finish you need, what language you need them stamped in, what tolerance the hex has, and on and on. If you just said "1000 14mm 3/8" drive shallow sockets", you'd likely get what you asked for... except cast from melted down cans, with +/-3mm accuracy, as-cast, with the engravings in Chinese.
Don't get some rosy view that the Chinese, as a nation, "just want to work". You must be high. The industries want to make as much money as possible, by pushing out as much **** as possible, with the lowest allowable quality for the price, using grossly underpaid labor, in deplorable conditions, with no concern for any side effects. Hey, if we could do that here, we'd have plentiful, cheap manufacturing opportunities, too. Maybe we could finagle our currency to make our stuff cheaper, too.
The best thing Chinese is cashew chicken.
All that said, I don't hate on all things Asian. I own plenty of Gearwrench, it's decent stuff, at a price that reflects that while it's not junk, it's not exactly the greatest. When I buy Craftsman, I pay a premium over what I'd pay for similar Gearwrench, and I expect it to a)have better warranty service and b)be better quality. However, everything I've seen of outsourced Craftsman tells me they're not capable of making product overseas and maintaining an acceptable quality standard. I think they're shooting themselves in the foot trying to outsource Craftsman-branded tools, tripping over $20s to pick up some pennies. Among other reasons, a lifetime, no questions warranty means that when your shoddy product breaks 2x as often, you have to eat EVERY cost twice as often... like slow-boating it to the west coast, shipping it across the country, inventorying large quantities because it takes 2+ months from order to delivery, all in addition to that tempting low unit cost.
