So little background on what determins COO marking.
The Federal Trade Commission regulates how things are stamped, and there's a 40+ page primer on what it tames
here.
Basically for something to be 'Made in USA' all or virtually all of the parts, pieces, materials and labor occur within the united states and its outlying territories.
To qualify this further, this means that the materials that are used in processing are of US origin.
So let's take a wrench.
Say the steel for the wrench is produced in canada, brought to the US, then snap on (or whoever) fabricates that wrench inside the US borders.
Is the wrench US Made?
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NO! the steel (a major component) wasn't a US sourced material.
Same wrench, same manufacturer and that steel comes from Arkansas or some other US place. and that wrench is US made.
In the case of global sourcing of materials it's an extremely fine line. Chances are Snap on has seen the litigation that has occured against manufacturers who continue to use the made in USA markings when using global sourced parts, and the ensuing fines and civil liability that occurs and just want to cover their own asses.
Because really the FTC doesn't give a clear defined percentage.
Let's take the ratchet:
Say the metal is made in the US, but the guts are made in Spain. if the guts are 25% of the cost of production, then they can't claim it's made in the USA.
If it were just the screws or just the ratchet faceplate or some small portion of the total production costs, then I'm sure they'd still stamp them that way.
Does this mean they are cheating you? Do you feel that the quality of the overall product is decreased?
Let's take a non-tool related example:
Honda Civic
The honda civic is made in at least 3 countries: US, Canada, Japan.
Do you think Honda doesn't force their global production facilities to maintain the same quality standards? Do you think they'd leave their reputation, a very important thing to large global companies, up to the guy making the engine blocks for their cars?
Not likely.
I can almost guarantee Snap On evaluates the raw materials it receives to make sure they have a consistent quality regardless of it's source.
In other words, they make sure the steel they're getting to make wrenches from Arkansas is the same as the stuff they're getting from Canada, or Spain, or where ever the hell else they're getting stuff.
Because ultimately they know what sells is the reputation for quality that is associated with their name.