I run a business flipping houses and remodeling rental properties. I was talking to the owner of the electrical supply house in our county yesterday and he told me they sold the last 200 amp meter base they had in stock the day before. They were probably one of the last stores in Tennessee that had any in stock. You can't build a house without one.
He also told me our power company has been removing transformers that are feeding barns or workshops. They don't have any spares to fix broken transformers in residential areas so they are stealing them from places that affect the fewest people. They haven't received any new transformers in several months.
The areas affected by the tornados last week are calling utility companies everywhere trying to find transformers and poles to repair the damage but there are very many spares left. He said if that storm had hit our county, he didn't think we would have the parts to get the power turned back on any time soon.
Crazy times ahead.
I can't see how making cheap shit here isn't a viable alternative. "Cheap" as recent as 30 years ago (for tools at least) meant that you'll get at least 10 years out of it.
The first ratchet I ever broke in my life was a Harbor Freight one ... I impulse bought something there that I thought was well built. It wasn't their bottom of the barrel no-name stuff, but the crap that's slightly better than their "Pittsburgh" line of tools. I went to use it to remove some bolts on a timing chain cover ... it wasn't anything crazy and the ratchet was sold as something that could easily handle that kind of torque. It frigging broke after the third bolt was removed.
They only offered me an exchange or store credit. I no longer buy anything there. It's hot garbage.
The chinese can make solid products. However, their good stuff rarely makes it to the USA ... the only things companies import from China to sell are garbage so that their bottom line looks great. Most of these companies that have their product manufactured in China deal with places that are run by idiots. Since they "save" so much in labor, they can handle yields in the 70% range and profit off them like mad.
You'd think that they'd have things done right the first time, but when you show some cash obsessed piece of shit that labor costs will be lower, they'll sign off on production ... if you use a better company to fabricate something, the cost is higher. Since the bean counter only counts on the bottom line, they'll only sign off on the shitty version since consumers are trained to expect everything to break in a year or two. Some of these companies would have been out of business in the 50s/60s ... people were far less tolerant of garbage products back then.
People here want cheap but also want the workers who make it to be paid top dollar. Can't have it both ways
I agree. There used to be companies in the US who made products that were high quality, medium quality, or low quality, and they were affordable. There is no reason it can't be done again. Tariffs work great to stop the products made with cheap slave labor from flooding and dominating the market. Unfortunately, politicians were asleep at the wheel while the Chynees did just that. It was only when President Trump slapped the tariffs on the imported garbage did some manufacturing start a comeback.