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Picture of konata88
posted
Perhaps I've missed this before. Or it's becoming increasingly common.

For anything I buy, I try to look for a USA brand and/or made in USA or at least some respectable 1st world country (European, Australian, Canada, Japan, maybe even Korea). Explicitly, I try to avoid / minimize buying stuff made in prc, and especially for a prc company.

I bought some Bandaids. They were made in Brazil last time, now latest batch made in prc. So, I moved to 3M Nexcare. Sounded like they were made in USA. But when I get the box, it's says made in USA from globally sourced materials. WTF does that mean? When in doubt, these obfuscations to me generally mean prc. So, the 3M nexcare bandages are made from materials sourced from prc just assembled here? That's made in USA now?

Same thing for extension cords and power strips. I can't find one made in USA or at least not made in prc. I'll just make my own - 14 gauge wiring and some plugs on the end. I'm going to be searching for made in USA stuff in garage sales from now on - I figure I can always re-wire power strips to make the power cord longer but the strip itself is generally robust.


I don't wish for war. But at least one silver lining would exist - no more shit from prc.




"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
 
Posts: 12683 | Location: In the gilded cage | Registered: December 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
Picture of RogueJSK
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quote:
it's says made in USA from globally sourced materials. WTF does that mean?


Just like it says. The finished product is made in the US, using parts and materials that were produced overseas.

As opposed to being made in the US from parts and materials produced in the US. Or being made in China from parts and materials produced in China.


For example, with these band-aids, let's say that the company imports giant rolls of adhesive sheeting made in Vietnam, and giant rolls of cotton padding made in Peru, and pallets of paper band-aid packaging printed in Bangladesh. They then load these imported materials into their factory in Nevada, and using those imported materials, the workers at the Nevada factory crank out finished band-aids and ship them out for distribution.

Therefore, the band-aids would be made in the US by US workers in a US factory, using materials sourced from elsewhere around the globe.


Or let's say Sig were to set up a slide milling factory in Switzerland, and a magazine factory in Italy, then shipped these slides and magazines over to the US, and used these parts in their production of complete P320s at their New Hampshire factory. Those P320s would be made in the US by US workers in a US factory, using some globally sourced materials. (The Swiss-made slides and Italian-made magazines.)
 
Posts: 32421 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
Picture of Rey HRH
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It's not like you're just realizing doesn't make much of anything now, do you?

From cheap labor, regulations, and environmental laws, manufacturing has moved away from the US.

About 10 years ago, the office workers saw their jobs moving offshore especially helped by the Internet. Accountants, IT, call centers, etc.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19582 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Prefontaine
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Many years ago, I tried to do the same thing, and ultimately gave up. Everything is made over there and there is nothing I can honestly do about it. I’ve had several things come up where I could get made in Japan. My preference for electronics, engines, vehicles. Everything else is Chinese made. It sucks. I call it China Depot instead of Home Depot.



What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
 
Posts: 12568 | Location: Down South | Registered: January 16, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of konata88
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
quote:
it's says made in USA from globally sourced materials. WTF does that mean?

Just like it says. The finished product is made in the US, using parts and materials that were produced overseas.


Ummmm, yea. I know what it means. It's just a bullshit way of saying made in usa from prc materials.




"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
 
Posts: 12683 | Location: In the gilded cage | Registered: December 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of konata88
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Rey HRH:
From cheap labor, regulations, and environmental laws, manufacturing has moved away from the US.


I know production has been moved off shores. Painfully aware of that. What I'm complaining about is that these companies are being further disingenuous. They are trying to leverage the made in usa brand and hide that they are using prc materials. It's still largely a prc product.

"Distributed by," "globally sourced" and other similar wording - trying make us believe the product is more american than it really is. I'd respect them a little more if they were just honest and said "assembled in usa using materials from prc" instead of trying to lie to my face.




"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
 
Posts: 12683 | Location: In the gilded cage | Registered: December 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
Picture of Rey HRH
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by konata88:

I know production has been moved off shores. Painfully aware of that. What I'm complaining about is that these companies are being further disingenuous. They are trying to leverage the made in usa brand and hide that they are using prc materials. It's still largely a prc product.

"Distributed by," "globally sourced" and other similar wording - trying make us believe the product is more american than it really is. I'd respect them a little more if they were just honest and said "assembled in usa using materials from prc" instead of trying to lie to my face.


I think the globally sourced is because they're not getting most of their materials from PRC. As China has been moving up with its economy, other countries are getting the crumbs that China used to grab - Vietnam, Thailand, etc. This way, they can buy the material from which country has the lowest price at the time.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19582 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have a 2019 Ford Fiesta ST with 33,500 miles on it. So far this year the Drivers side mirror has failed, the actuator broke and guess where that was made. Took 3 hours of labor to do that warranty repair, so figure it cost Ford roughly 300 dollare so they could save about 1 dollar over purchasing it from Magna, Canada. Next up was the slave cylinder for the clutch, mine jammed and they have a reputation for jamming in the ST's and the manual transmission Mustangs. For my car the cost to remove and replace the transmission is 1546.56. I know that because I had to authorize proceeding in the event my stuck clutch pedal was due to a worn out clutch. Yeah, Service Writers don't know squat about anything mechanical. So, 1546 for the transmission R&R plus 155 for the slave cylinder assembly because Ford thought it was cheaper to purchase these items from PRC. Basically every time one fails Ford gets to spend about 1700 bucks for the 3 dollars they saved getting that slave cylinder for the PRC. Next up last Saturday I had no Boost from the turbocharger. Also don't hear any boost noise from the Symposer which pipes boost noise into the cabin to make people feel all hot roddery. On the plus side that boost noise does aid in saving on gas by not triggering it with too much throttle. The cause for that is either a jammed Wastegate or the Boost Pressure Relief valve has broken. BTW, the BPR Valve is of composite construction (plastic) with a reputation for cracking and it's mounted to the Turbocharger Assembly. The Turbo Assembly has a heat shield next to it to protect the paint on the firewall from the heat the Turbo can produce. That BPR Valve is also a product of the PRC. So, another item that will probably cost Ford about 700 dollars for the 5 dollars or so they saved by getting it from china. BTW, I would really prefer to replace this particular item with an all steel Turbosmart Blow Off Valve but doing that would void the powertrain warranty. I don't want to do that because they way things are going I expect that they'll be replacing the engine in another 500 miles or so. Note nothing wrong with the engine at present but it's just a brief glitch away from a PRC mad Cam Phaser going haywire and blowing up the engine. Note the engine is a 12,800 dollar item. I expect that R&R for the engine will likely be about 2000 dollars.

So it's looking good for about 17,000 dollars of warranty costs for a car that I only paid 19,500 dollars for. Sad thing is that I own stock in Ford. Next stockholders meeting I plan on attending and asking a few questions about their Engineering Management, which IMO should all be fired. I will also be asking how they will cope with 5000 to 8000 batteries purchased from the PRC catching fire and burning the assembly plant to the ground. Yeah, that will probably happen, and turn the City of Dearborn into the 2nd largest HAZMAT site in the world.


I've stopped counting.
 
Posts: 5621 | Location: Michigan | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Scooter123:
I have a 2019 Ford Fiesta ST with 33,500 miles on it. So far this year the Drivers side mirror has failed, the actuator broke and guess where that was made. Took 3 hours of labor to do that warranty repair, so figure it cost Ford roughly 300 dollare so they could save about 1 dollar over purchasing it from Magna, Canada. Next up was the slave cylinder for the clutch, mine jammed and they have a reputation for jamming in the ST's and the manual transmission Mustangs. For my car the cost to remove and replace the transmission is 1546.56. I know that because I had to authorize proceeding in the event my stuck clutch pedal was due to a worn out clutch. Yeah, Service Writers don't know squat about anything mechanical. So, 1546 for the transmission R&R plus 155 for the slave cylinder assembly because Ford thought it was cheaper to purchase these items from PRC. Basically every time one fails Ford gets to spend about 1700 bucks for the 3 dollars they saved getting that slave cylinder for the PRC. Next up last Saturday I had no Boost from the turbocharger. Also don't hear any boost noise from the Symposer which pipes boost noise into the cabin to make people feel all hot roddery. On the plus side that boost noise does aid in saving on gas by not triggering it with too much throttle. The cause for that is either a jammed Wastegate or the Boost Pressure Relief valve has broken. BTW, the BPR Valve is of composite construction (plastic) with a reputation for cracking and it's mounted to the Turbocharger Assembly. The Turbo Assembly has a heat shield next to it to protect the paint on the firewall from the heat the Turbo can produce. That BPR Valve is also a product of the PRC. So, another item that will probably cost Ford about 700 dollars for the 5 dollars or so they saved by getting it from china. BTW, I would really prefer to replace this particular item with an all steel Turbosmart Blow Off Valve but doing that would void the powertrain warranty. I don't want to do that because they way things are going I expect that they'll be replacing the engine in another 500 miles or so. Note nothing wrong with the engine at present but it's just a brief glitch away from a PRC made Cam Phaser going haywire and blowing up the engine. Note the engine is a 12,800 dollar item. I expect that R&R for the engine will likely be about 2000 dollars.

So it's looking good for about 17,000 dollars of warranty costs for a car that I only paid 19,500 dollars for. Sad thing is that I own stock in Ford. Next stockholders meeting I plan on attending and asking a few questions about their Engineering Management, which IMO should all be fired. I will also be asking how they will cope with 5000 to 8000 batteries purchased from the PRC catching fire and burning the assembly plant to the ground. Yeah, that will probably happen, and turn the City of Dearborn into the 2nd largest HAZMAT site in the world.


I've stopped counting.
 
Posts: 5621 | Location: Michigan | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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