- Now, first let me say I have nothing against the Chinese
people. They are industrious as a whole and very clever. This is about
the manufacturing industry and product mentality/quality, or a lack thereof.
And this is also about FREE SPEECH, so don't bother sending me any hatemail.
I've already heard it all before.
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- Today, go into most any store and hardly anything is
made in America anymore. Last I heard, sweat-shop-mart stated 68% of their
products are made in China. I'll bet it's higher than that.
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- Lets look at some of the common problems we see today:
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- * Clothes with dangling threads. You get a shirt home,
and soon you find you have to do the finish tailoring work on it. Don't
yank that dangling thread too hard, or a button will loosen. I seem to
recall a rule in sewing to KNOT the end after the sewing is done. Apparently
there isn't time for such details.
-
- * Ever have a pants pocket, that suddenly "let
go" inside, and you find your change dropping down the inside of your
pant leg into your shoe ? Or your keys dropping down and landing on the
ground ? More bad sewing, or perhaps it was a shift change ?
-
- * DVD/VCR PLAYERS that drop dead early. I've know several
people who have been through several of these. We've all seen these in
Wal-Mart in a big pile in the middle of the floor, in your face with a
giant price sign and that idiot smiling yellow face, now synonymous with
"buy this junk."
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- They always build these piles of merchandise in the wrong
place. They should have made the pile, all neatly stacked, inside their
compactor. Then on their way out, "accidentally" push the start
button. This is already taking place across America elsewhere. It happens
to these products one by one, in the back of your trash truck.
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- I tell people, stop wasting money on these. When the
DVD recorders come down into the realm of sane pricing, go buy a quality
one. By the time you keep buying a player-only DVD over and over, you could
have spent enough money to buy a DVD recorder !
-
- *TV SETS - When they quit, you're told "it's not
worth repairing." What the heck, this is the land of plenty, right
? So, what's another $300 to most people ? After all, many are bought on
credit cards by the unemployed. Like a line from the movie Airplane! -
"But that's not important right now."
-
- * KITCHEN APPLIANCES - the Chinese should be barred from
making ANY form of appliance. Plastic gears in mixers ? Give us a break
here.
-
- * UTENSILS - The knife handles are made from cheap plastic-
like the kind that toys are made of. Last Christmas, I bought my wife a
set of Faberware. Boy, that looks nice ! A shiny stainless-steel cylindrical
holder, with a turntable on the bottom. Really rugged and well made. But
then... they stocked it with Made in China knives. First time I used a
steak knife, the handle cracked and the blade tilted.
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- And the worst thing about it was, that at the time I
bought two of these, and gave one to my mother down in Virginia...how embarrasing.
And that was because Farberware WAS a good product line. Not anymore. But
they have proudly printed their name, on the metal blade of every knife.
And we found out they rust. Go figure.
-
- * TOOLS - STAY AWAY from any screwdriver set that has
"Made In China" written on the handle or case found in a discount
store.
-
- These tools should have this warning sign on them:
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- "Warning - Using this tool WILL be dangerous to
your sanity and project completion."
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- I don't even think there is an ounce of real vanadium
steel in most of these tools. ESPECIALLY those you'll find in the dollar
store. Just loosen or tighten one screw, and the tip of the tool twists
and it's worthless. Junk metal. Perhaps using soft steel, allows the stamping
press tooling to last forever...
-
- One can imagine a Chinese factory worker, covered in
sweat and not wearing a shirt telling his boss: "Heat treating will
improve the product." The boss barks back, "no heat-treat, no
heat-treat...costs-too-much...costs-too-much." And why not, the worthless
tools help increase the amount of non-biodegradable material we have in
the US, while computer manufacturers are out there trying to recycle the
scrap machines. Makes sense, right ?
-
- * DRILL BITS - Forget that. Most are not rated to drill
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WOOD. If you try to use them even on aluminum, the
bit will just round off and its worthless. I haven't yet figured out how
they build things out of metal in China. Perhaps they import REAL drill
bits, from other countries...like America.
-
- * HARDWARE - Nothing worse than a cheap screw - just
when it is tightened enough to be secure, the head twists off. With wood
screws, this can be a terrible pain to fix. Especially if you're attaching
two parts together and a new hole can't be drilled.
-
- * BATTERIES FOR REMOTE CONTROLS - Zinc carbon batteries
went out of style in America, with 8 track players. Yet they keep making
these and shipping these with remote controls for televisions, VCRs, stereos,
air conditioners, fans and much more. By the time the product makes it
here from the factory, through shipping and warehousing, the batteries
are already half-dead when you take them out of the box.
-
- * OAK TV TABLES - We were given a set of these about
two years ago. What happened with these ? The wood finish was good. But
the screws were TOO SHORT and they began falling out, a month after we
had the tables. Ever step on a wood screw with your bare foot ? Its far
from painless. So I went out and bought a box of screws, got out my drill
and tools, and began to replace ALL the screws. Re-drilled pilot holes
about a quarter inch deeper, and put in new longer screws. Sure enough,
the screw heads sheared off with only moderate force. Back to the hardware
store for some REAL hardware, not the "other stuff."
-
- * SHOES - Nothing like sweat-shop factory shoes...that
haven't found their way into the trash yet. And they are made from materials
that can make the cleanest feet smell like they haven't had a bath in a
week, in a matter of a few hours. And that's because these shoes are all
synthetic- with no air holes for your feet to breathe. We've all seen those
commercials on TV about the inside of your mouth - clever computer graphics
fly-bys over the inside of your mouth, with a plethora of bacteria of all
kinds growing and moving. So why wouldn't the inside of a hot, damp shoe
look any different ? Someone should invent a mouth-wash-equivalent for
shoes. But alas, the shoe would probably fall apart. And I'll swear that
today, more non-athletes have athlete's foot disease, than athletes do.
-
- * TIRE JACKS - The cheap steel and iron they are made
from, might cause you to lose an arm or leg.
-
- So what isn't YET made in China ? Cars. But that is
about to change, and China has announced they are going to enter that business.
What would a Chinese car be like ? I've taken the liberty here to assemble
the highlights of it:
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- 1. CAR RADIO - It will work backwards. In reality, in
China volume controls are turned to the RIGHT to lower the volume. A system
sent to China back in 1979, was returned to the factory a year later for
modifications. Unfortunately, the test engineer had headphones on, and
with an audio generator connected he said "turn it down, it's too
loud !" The test engineer almost lost his hearing.
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- That's when we learned about reversed audio controls.
The Chinese technicians had rewired them all backwards. It has been that
way for many years in some parts of China, and may still be unless the
westernization has changed that. But even if the Chinese buy an "American"
radio like a Zenith or RCA- these are ALL still made in China anyway !
Don't believe that ? Look closer at the label.
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- 2. BRAKES - Won't last because they are not designed
to.
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- 3. GAS - You'll have to find rice wine to put in the
fuel tank.
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- 4. OIL - The oil filler and dipstick will be somewhere
you'd never expect to look. Start by looking in the trunk. DO NOT BEND
the dipstick, because it will stay that way. Treat it with the utmost care.
I'm sure the manual will say "use a damp, soft cloth..."
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- 5. TIRES - You can't change any tires because these will
be riveted or pressed on. You'll have to buy a new car when the tires wear
out. And because you can't remove the tires - you won't be able to replace
the brake pads or shoes, either. More landfill material.
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- 6. WINDSHIELD - Probably plastic...need I say any more
?
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- 7. INTERIOR - Made of recycled green pop bottle plastic
just like a park bench. UPHOLSTERY - Where, and what is it ?
-
- 8. VEHICLE BODY - Made of the recycled WTC steel. That
steel WAS SHIPPED TO CHINA on barges as it was removed. Yes, soon you can
be driving around in well...I won't say the rest here. But then, since
they won't tell you, how would you know ?
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- 9. HEADLIGHTS - Throw-aways, because they will be paper
lanterns.
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- 10. ENGINE - You've used a string trimmer, right ?
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- 11. BODY COLOR - You can have it in any color, as long
as you want red.
-
- I can recall as a child, taking Japanese toys apart.
It was compulsive and I just had to know what was inside. After a few years
of this, I was becoming an expert in toy motors although at age 6 they
rarely worked after putting them back together.
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- Japanese toys were often made of metal, and sometimes
revealed printing on the inside. Apparently they were made from scrap materials.
-
- There was a time in America, when people used the expression
"cheap Japanese junk." No one says that anymore, because the
quality of products that come from Japan is now quite good. But it looks
China has already picked up the inferior products torch and ran with it.
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- Call me old-fashioned, but I've more than stated enough
for the argument that:
-
- * Start employing AMERICAN workers. No illegals or overseas
workers.
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- * PROHIBIT foreign nationals working in America from
sending their money BACK OVERSEAS.
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- * Products should be made in America again
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- * Products designed to LAST as things were in the past.
-
- * RUB OUT "Free Trade Agreements" and other
back doors that created the monster.
-
- * TAX THEM the exact same way, they tax (tariff, same
thing) OUR products that attempt to enter China.
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