Made in China

[ologan]

It's getting very hard to find anything made in the good ol' USA anymore. Used to be you could walk into,let's say, an Academy sporting goods store and pick up a firebox BBQ grill labelled 'New Braunfels Smoker" or "Hondo " smoker,and be pretty well assured that it was made there. Not anymore....They're all made in China. This is just one example of many,many,many you will find today. I point out this example for no particular reason except it was the first one that came to mind.

My question is,if you went to a store and had a choice between an American made item,and a foreign one,and if the item made here was more expensive,would you buy it over the foreign made item? If you did think of buying American,albeit more expensive,how much more expensive would it have to be to sway you to go with the foreign product? 2%? 5%? 10%?
Just curious.

[ologan]

Thanks for moving this to this forum. I don't know if it's that political,but I guess it could turn out to be. BTW,I would pay up to 10% more if I could buy American,if quality was the same.

[Vintage]

Whatever's cheaper...... is what I am buying.

[vta]

I'll buy what's going to make the most sense, in terms of getting good quality, even if it costs more to get a better product.

I have more faith in foreign cars, that's for sure.
I live a much more trouble free existence for choosing Acura/Honda than some of my aquanitances, who drive Dodge's and Chevy's.

That's a shame. I'd have no problem buying American in that regard if it were equally reliable, but unfortunately, our cars aren't.

It seems electronics are all foreign, from my Nikon/Fuji/Sony camera equipment to my TV and DVD players. The only thing American is the Apple Computer on my desktop... and this might have been assembled in another country.

Aside from cars, what is made in America anymore? Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything.

[ologan]

I'll buy what's going to make the most sense, in terms of getting good quality, even if it costs more to get a better product.

I have more faith in foreign cars, that's for sure.
I live a much more trouble free existence for choosing Acura/Honda than some of my aquanitances, who drive Dodge's and Chevy's.

That's a shame. I'd have no problem buying American in that regard if it were equally reliable, but unfortunately, our cars aren't.

It seems electronics are all foreign, from my Nikon/Fuji/Sony camera equipment to my TV and DVD players. The only thing American is the Apple Computer on my desktop... and this might have been assembled in another country.

Aside from cars, what is made in America anymore? Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything.

That's a good follow-on question. What is made in America today?? Add to the list if you can think of anything else:

Case knives, Hershey chocolates,John Deere tractors(and I'm not too sure of that).....

[PosterChild]

I'll buy what's going to make the most sense, in terms of getting good quality, even if it costs more to get a better product.

I have more faith in foreign cars, that's for sure.
I live a much more trouble free existence for choosing Acura/Honda than some of my aquanitances, who drive Dodge's and Chevy's.

That's a shame. I'd have no problem buying American in that regard if it were equally reliable, but unfortunately, our cars aren't.

It seems electronics are all foreign, from my Nikon/Fuji/Sony camera equipment to my TV and DVD players. The only thing American is the Apple Computer on my desktop... and this might have been assembled in another country.

Aside from cars, what is made in America anymore? Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything.

I'm in the health care business and can assure you we still produce high-end medical equipment with advanced technology content, which are recognized by most as first line goods. I'm talking imaging devices such as Ultrasounds and MRIs, etc...even some less sophisticated consumer health products are made domestically. And they're often superior to the stuff flooding in from Taiwan and China. Not always a great disparity in price either.

As for run-of-the-mill consumer goods there are various portals for those who wish to by American: http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

Not an impressive directory there, but oh well...

To the original question- It depends on what it we're talking about here. If it's a trash receptacle or pooper scooper, I'm going with the cheapest one. If I'm buying a fairly expensive durable good I'll seek out American products as a rule, though not exclusively. Sometimes imports are just better and I want the best (for a reasonable cost).

[ninja]

When I bought a new car I only considered Toyota, Honda, VW and miniCooper. I didn't even waste one second looking at any car by GM, Ford, Chrysler. GM owns miniCooper but I think BMW makes the car. I refuse to give the UAW or the management of the Big 3 one cent of my money. I hate unions with a passion. The UAW has destroyed the quality and raised the prices of all American cars with their ludicrous blackmail demand to either get a raise or go on strike. And Big 3 management just grabs whatever profit is left in bonuses. Neither care about the company. I probably paid about 10% more for my Honda Civic in the shortrun. But, in the longrun probably saved about 25% with better quality, better resale, and less depreciation.

Non-union American made products I would love to support. Wherever you see a union, you see high wages, laziness, poor quality, huge overhead, ridiculous medical and retiree benefits, etc. In today's global economy, it is not where the product is made but whether union/nonunion made that is the big issue.

[Bach]

I didn't even waste one second looking at any car by GM, Ford, Chrysler. GM owns miniCooper but I think BMW makes the car. I refuse to give the UAW or the management of the Big 3 one cent of my money.

I hate unions with a passion.


I agree about unions. In modern times they cause more trouble than they're worth. Now days it's not about protecting the worker from horrible conditions, it's about greed and it instills laziness.

As for buying American products or not buying products made by union workers, I don't consider that in the purchasing process. I'll research most large items and consider quality and value.