Boots is the best example of cost of goods. You can take a company that had a very long history of making decent quality boots like Sorel, Merrell, XtraTUF, etc. Once it was sent to China they had a massive influx of quality issues that impacted their brand. Now you can still go out and but a pair of them for $100-$200. But you'll end up replacing them in a year. Rinse and repeat. Or you could shell out front for say something that's still fully US made with quality like Wolverine, White's Boots, Nicks Boots, etc. Now they may cost you anywhere from $500-$750 but outside of the soles they will last forever. It gets back to the need to constantly replace, replace, replace, Even if it's the same item but only the new 2019 color.
WTF So I just dick'd my butt
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Our culture and economy is not based on the ability to buy quality and American. If everyone stopped needless spending it would have a drastic impact. It would eventually balance out but that would take possibly a generation.
Mr. Argumentor
I fab shitboxes and shitbox accessories.
I'd add the disclaimer that we may not be able to make these items at bulk levels, but I'd agree with the rest
I remember the good old days, when you weren't allowed to park a non-Big 3 car in the employee parking lot at many tool & die shops. We rotated the car of the poor fool 90 degrees(group of us, with foreman's permission), then blocked him in.
Jehannum
Puts the "pro" in procrastination
When you buy a Big-3 car from any point since 1970, you may have been buying American, but you sure as fuck weren't buying quality.I remember the good old days, when you weren't allowed to park a non-Big 3 car in the employee parking lot at many tool & die shops. We rotated the car of the poor fool 90 degrees(group of us, with foreman's permission), then blocked him in.
Most of that overhead is labor. You can't operate a factory here making something and pay someone $2 an hour. Hell these days there is so much "living wage" fighting going on that the cost of labor/benefits continues to go up. When it's sent to another country the company doesn't carry any of that liability.
Jehannum
Puts the "pro" in procrastination
That's the classic conservative argument for eliminating environmental and labor protections.
Darth Handsome
Not Nearly as Handsome as Advertised.
Jehannum
Puts the "pro" in procrastination
A few exceptions but i would generally agree. Sometime in early to mid 70s they just stopped giving a fuck. I blame Ricardo Montalbán and the Cordoba. Fine Corinthian leather not withstanding.
Darth Handsome
Not Nearly as Handsome as Advertised.
oh id start by cutting "salaries" at the "top"
I think my "American made" Fords have more metric bolts on them than standard ones.
There is a fix and it's called passing the cost back to the consumer. People sometimes just have to get used to the fact that something they always paid $2 for now costs $4. That is why there has been such a shift of goods the past 10 years. Places like China and India that used to be super cheap have come up. Now they have labor laws and require higher wages. So the companies moved items from there to other Asian places and Mexico. Some reached the breaking point that with tax breaks it was easier to just move back to the US. The overall fix is really just a reality check that the item you were alwy
Jehannum
Puts the "pro" in procrastination
Speaking as someone who has owned both, and commuted in both, I'll take the Datsun's build quality, reliability, and performance 10 times out of 8 when choosing between it and the USS Malaisey Dayz land yacht.