reminds me of a conversation i had on a date with a mckinsey consultant 20 years ago. she got that gig straight out of harvard business school with no real world experience. she was bragging about how she told the ceo of at&t that he should look for more opportunities to sell commodity products bought from outside suppliers because that would give him the most flexibility and the best margins. i replied that my father had taught me while running the family drugstore that you needed to differentiate your product and never compete solely on price, because if you do, there is always some bastard who will undercut your price. the blank look on her face was priceless. as you can imagine, i never got another date.
We got some McKinsey consultants "helping" the company I work at this month. Nothing has changed in 20 years. Kids straight out of school with ZERO real world experience. When you try to explain to them how their new re-imagination of the capital project process simply won't work, you get a blank stare.
The fact that any company actually listens to MBB and their zero-experience Harvard/Wharton/Stanford grads is further proof that bullshit makes the world go 'round.
Then there's all the studies and HBR articles those clowns author which get regurgitated as the curriculum for the second- and third-rate MBA programs like the one I attended. So the same stupid ideas and lack of critical thinking end up everywhere.
Sep 21, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022Liked by Jack Baruth
When you think of made-in-the-by-God-USA you may think of Boeing airliners. And while Boeing has an enormous manufacturing presence here in America, they, too, went the MBA route with design, certification, and manufacturing. Perhaps you’ve heard.
While the 737 MAX gets the headlines, the ball started rolling downhill far earlier. The 787 was a worldwide program with design offices seemingly everywhere across the globe. Partners and subcontractors had concept-to-delivery responsibility for major components and systems, unlike all prior Boeing commercial programs. It turned out like the proverbial horse designed by a committee of blind people – first flight over 3 years late, first delivery over 3 ½ years late, and a grounding about 2 years into revenue service due to an in-flight fire risk. While most Boeing jetliner programs required the delivery of about 300 airframes to “pay for” the development and certification, Boeing themselves admit that over 1,000 787s will need to be delivered before the program cash flows. Incredible.
The 757, 767 and 777 all were well-received both by the money-grubbing, monetize-everything managements of the airlines, and by the crews who operated the aircraft in revenue service. (The far-away, gleam-in-the-eyes, God-I’ll-never-forget-her perspective of 757 crews is a national treasure, at least to me.)
Many have commented that an all-new Boeing design to replace the 757 and 767 would have far better positioned the company for the future. Imagining this never produced airplane entering revenue service in about 2010, development would have started in about 2002. But Boeing shied away, the 787 cost over-runs leading directly to the don’t-spend-any-money 737 MAX program.
There was also an excellent article in the New Yorker on Boeing and what the McDonnell-Douglas merger did to it. That was back when the New Yorker still ran readable articles.
How do you feel about the merits of “fake” midcentury modern furniture? Who really owns those iconic midcentury modern pieces - Knoll and Herman Miller? As we have discussed, the “fake” Noguchi tables are reputed to be sturdier than the “real” ones. My Chicago boss had an office furnished with real stuff, but his decorator recommended substituting a fake Noguchi table.
This is tricky -- and as you know, I am "committed" in this case because I ordered an Eames Lounge Chair from Herman Miller a month ago.
All the designers are long dead, and I am not aware that any of them left children who continue on in the family tradition, so I care very little about who "owns" the copyright. Knoll wants twelve grand for a polished stainless Barcelona chair, which is absurdity beyond even the Eames Lounge price. You can buy a USA-made motorcycle for less than twelve grand.
There's also the fact that both Knoll and Herman Miller are wokestestricians of the first order.
If I could find a USA factory knocking their stuff off, I'd write them a check tomorrow. As it is, if I want the chair I use every day at work to be made by people enjoying a reasonable standard of living in my home country, I don't have any choice.
Floyd Detroit appears to have a decent Knoll sofa knockoff for $2-3k per section as opposed to Knoll's $8k.
There are also many independent furniture makers out there making interesting items, like this maker in Knoxville. https://northcoastmodern.com/
Room & Board from Minnesota also sources almost all of their furniture in the US and will actually tell you who the maker is. They regularly feature their US makers in advertisements.
One of the best ways to buy MCM furniture is to go through a restoration shop to buy restored original items. A family member has had great service and results from this place.
As I was growing up in the 70s and 80s my parents were very into modern furniture and Barcelona Chairs were the holy grail of furniture but they were either horribly expensive or cheaply made knockoffs. Fast forward to around 1997 or so when I saw that the local PBS station had a lot of 3 Knoll Barcelona chairs on their televised auction one night that been donated by a company that had them in their lobby for a number of years. I called my mother and she turned on the auction and bid on them. This was pre-internet bidding so they would briefly update the bids and my mother kept calling and upping her bid. When they did the recap and announced the winners of the lots the hosts said that bidding on the Barcelona chairs was very spirited and announced that my mother was the winning bidder. They still have them and are still in beautiful condition.
I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair, it is the most amazing chair ever made. I can sit it in all day, sometime 12 hours, never feeling achy or tired. After 7 years of sitting in it, it has not aged a day. It is worth every penny - it's a testament of making a product that is not crap, and needs to be replaced every few years. What a concept!
It is the birthright of an investment banker to have an Aeron chair for in-office work. The only downside is that the mesh on the seat will degrade the finish on a fine pair of wool trousers. I once worked for a guy who cultivated a client list in London so that he could attend his fittings on Savile Row. He sat on a towel to protect the ass and thighs of his pants.
It is the same for large-firm lawyers. I have an Aeron in my office that I happen to know was used by a substantially overweight former partner for upward of a decade. It is none the worse for wear and it is exceedingly comfortable.
But I don't live in a city where anyone worries about wool trousers. In fact, the last time I showed up for a meeting in a (quite ordinary) navy suit, I was roundly mocked for it.
I bought a few “real” pieces 5-6 years ago. Barcelona Chair and Ottoman, Noguchi Table, Eileen Gray Side Table.
As anyone who has read From Bauhaus to Our House will know, you really need TWO Barcelona Chairs … which verges on $20K even with the current “sale” they are running.
I'd love to have an Eames chair in my living room. I've seen knockoffs for 20% of what Herman Miller charges, which means you're still paying at least a grand for something of questionable-at-best quality. Might as well either buy the real thing or just forget it.
Especially since I'm an unemployed apartment dweller at the moment, the 15 year old Ikea "Poang" chair (with a shockingly durable leather cushion) currently sitting in the intended spot is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
Some of the Chinese knockoffs are pretty good. Check Craigslist and marketplace as well.
I paid $100 for a used display model knockoff Saarinen table. The fake marble surface has some small scuffs, and not sure if I'd have paid the $1000 original price for it, but it's hard to imagine paying knoll 8k for a table.
I don't have an entirely firm grasp on it but it seems to me that the patent system which was once a great strength to the US now prevents the knock offs from being done in house as competition to the overseas versions because the BRAND will absolutely prosecute anyone here and win.
If you haven't heard of them, you have now. Literally everything from the materials, prints, designs, and production is all US made. The man is a one man wrecking crew in pursuit of an all american made company.
Just released their new hunting line too. Had no idea that NO ONE makes camo in the USA anymore. All the major brands are all printed overseas. Well, not anymore!
That said, I fear that I am the enemy. We outsourced a few years ago when our owner sold the factories. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
Sep 21, 2022·edited Sep 21, 2022Liked by Jack Baruth
THANK YOU for posting this. Had never heard of them. My 12-year-old is a grappler, and I am pleasantly surprised to learn that Origin makes a Gi that'll be great for him!
Edit: just read that Jocko Willink is a founder. That explains both the MIUSA and the Jiu-Jitsu gear!
I have that same floor jack, bought it recently because my very expensive Sears floor jack shattered a couple of years ago (bad casting) and I was in the process of moving, so I held off.
The truth is damn near Everything at Harbor Freight, can be bought for MORE money in one of the box stores. They're all made in the EXACT SAME PLANT - just the ones with the American labels have some added gizmos, paint colors AND WORSE QUALITY.
I'm serious about the quality being worse. I've SEEN it! I bought a band saw from Lowes, it had issues, I returned it, got one exactly like it from harbor freight for half the price and it was of superior quality. Not to say it's perfect, because it isn't - but it's better than what Lowes is selling for twice the price.
You seen this in a LOT of stuff. Harbor Freight does try to sell a 'decent' product - I have a motorcycle lift that's 20 years old from them and it still works like a champ. We used to have a list of HF products that were like 'these are fine as they come', 'these need some work and will be better than anything else on the market' and 'these you use until they break - then throw away and replace'.
Yeah, it sucks that we got these morons who off-shored everything because of their belief in the 'free trade' myth. Now we make nothing, wages have been stale for DECADES and China can (and has in the past) shut us down on multiple products. They also have Zero problems with putting poison in our foodstuffs and killing our pets or our children (both of these events HAVE happened and MORE than once - yet our government won't do anything to stop it).
It won't last of course, eventually when the famine hits and the country collapses we'll all just starve to death in the cold because we won't have the money to buy any of what we need, regardless of where it comes from. I do wonder if we're the first country in history that will be destroyed because the populace repeatedly voted people who hated them and wanted them dead into office.
Years ago, my dad went out to a battery factory as part of his job as a career counselor. He was one of those guys the company hired to teach the laid-off how to write resumes and ace job interviews. They gave him a tour of the factory floor, and the same identical batteries rolled down the assembly line to a guy who slapped "DieHard," "Exide," etc. stickers on them.
The tendency in any industry is always toward monopoly, largely because of a desire to cut costs. It's quite disgusting, the lengths to which large corporations will go to save five cents a ton on raw materials.
This is an interesting way to think of things and I agree that if we’re just going to be buying disposable crap anyway, there is little appeal to spending more for a brand name.
There are a few bright spots in American manufacturing and I feel like the troubles of the past 2-3 years have shown a few companies that there are benefits to keeping things closer to home. The company I work for (in the aerospace industry) had a plant in Mexico up till mid 2020 when a massive fire in the plant next door caused considerable damage to our plant. The company decided that rather than rebuilding in Mexico, it was easier to build more capacity here in Utah. There had been problems with managing that plant in the past I guess, and there were some problems with the Mexican government trying to shut the plant down during the batflu lockdowns which required a call from the US state dept to fix (they had to explain that the plant was producing parts for critical military hardware). I’m addition to moving all the production that was in Mexico to Utah, there have been so many supply-chain disruptions that we have been insourcing every part and process we possibly can, even if it means making tiny bolts or mixing epoxy in house. If there’s any good to come out of the batflu it may be showing people how fragile supply chains are.
My eyes turn misty and my legs shaky when I remember the assault on our sacred democracy.
Yet my heart is glad knowing our brave Congress turned the tide with a light cavalry charge from the very halls that form the heart of the country to disperse the rabble.
I pray that when you receive this I am still alive. When the Red Hats invaded the holiest of holies, our democracy's (TM) Capitol, I feared that I would never see your smiling face again, but for the moment the forces of good have prevailed against the sons of darkness.
They were parts that are shared in common between military applications and commercial applications so there wasn’t much security risk and Mexico is technically an “ally” but yeah, not real smart. The real problem is the logistics of making parts in Utah and sending them to Mexico to be built into assemblies and then sending them back to Utah to be assembled into finished products. Just a lot of extra steps that, in the long run, probably didn’t save any money.
If Mexico were truly an ally, it wouldn't be using our country as a dumping ground for its rural poor, poor who were made that way by longstanding defects in Mexico's society they inhereted from Spain.
The world would be an immeasurably better place today if the entirety of the Americas had been colonized solely by England.
Good Lord, why is the US military fielding small arms from HK and SIG? Why were we even considering an Airbus tanker? Or Chinese pharmaceuticals?
The quality of said things, while top-notch, doesn't matter. Everything that our military uses, from toothpaste to aircraft carriers, should be made here by American companies.
This is quite literally a matter of national security.
I'll bite. With few exceptions the firearms used by the US military that are SIG or HK, or for that matter Beretta are all manufactured in the USA, by SIG, USA and so forth. In the case of SIG, and perhaps others I don't keep up on this very carefully, a non trivial amount of product design and development for the US market occurs here as well. The US subsidiaries allow these companies to compete without handicap as foreign companies and avoid import restrictions. It isn't so bad.
Have any of you here seen the "Project Farm" YouTube videos? I highly recommend his channel, where he tests the capabilities and the destructibility of everything from rubber gloves to right angle power wrenches, comparing the cheapest Chinese junk to the most expensive Europe, US (and yes, China) has to offer.
Sep 20, 2022·edited Sep 20, 2022Liked by Jack Baruth
I absolutely agree that people who lower standards in a profession don't have any right to whine when someone else does it to them and undercuts them. I see it all too often in the engineering business as well.
I've never understood your obsession with the MUST BE MADE IN AMERICA AT ANY COST (I completely agree with the human cost of not doing so), but you lay out a pretty good sequence of events of how things came to be today. For me, the answer is bluntly economics - wage arbitration, and MOST importantly (and I'm not a climate nut) environmental arbitration. That Iphone STILL produces tremendous environmental damage, it just happens to those little people over in China, so out of mind!!!
The future will be some mix of quality stuff re-shored and what you predict here. I for one am always on the lookout for someone in some niche (belts are an example) who has figured out how to be price competitive locally, and completely switch my shopping accordingly. For the rest of the 'stuff' I tend to be agnostic, with a particular contempt for Amazon.
EDIT: I am thoroughly fascinated with Sears and that era, and wouldn't mind returning to it, in some form. I'm also astonished how that good and diverse a company (GE is another that comes to mind) was destroyed.
My new affordable re-shored item are blue jeans from All American Clothing. $65 a pair, nice heavy denim from US cotton, sewn in the US. The looms unfortunately moved overseas after the last NC based operation closed up shop some time around 2017(?). I'll admit these things do seem to wear somewhat quickly but I guess I made my peace with that. They do some nice cheap nicely fitting t-shirts as well.
I’ve been buying Dearborn Denim since Jack highlighted them a few years ago. The owner was trying to set up a denim mill in the US, but I think the last couple of years has screwed up those plans.
NC? F EM. It was just fine and dandy when the New England mills closed down putting New Englanders out of work and moved south. Happened to my mom twice in the 40s and 50s. Welcome to the club NC. I doubt and 'necks gave a frig about that.
Partially right, anyway. Example: Malden Mills shut down in New England because the union and the owner could not agree to wages that allowed the mill to stay in business. The owner was motivated to keep the business and employees in New England and literally begged the union leadership to work with him. (Malden Mills was the originator of Polar Fleece.)
Sears invented online marketing more than a century before it became practical, only instead of the internet it used the U.S. mail service. If any company should have been positioned to succeed in the internet age, it was Sears. They could have had online ordering with store pickups 20 years ago.
*30 years ago. Sears shut down the catalog operation in......1993. All they had to do was come up with some kind of secure payment system and they would have beaten Amazon to the punch by at least 5 years.
Not that Sears hadn't been already trying to put itself out of business since at least the 1980s, but if we were truly a "just" society, what Eddie Lampert did to that company (and Kmart) would be a capital offense.
I would LOVE to be able to order a house kit like they used to sell, especially with today's tech. Those kit houses were also QUALITY, from what I hear.
Frankly, for some things, only Harbor Freight has them. Mostly automotive specific big-job tools like engine hoists and transmission jacks. You're simply not going to find them on a shelf anywhere else, even auto parts stores.
BTW, the ICON electronic torque wrenches are nearly the exact same as the Lowe's Kobalt tools for a significant discount. It doesn't have the socket release button, but it's identical otherwise.
I get the point Jack, but you're a bulwark. I was so ashamed to say on this site that the dress shirts I purchased were made in China, precisely because I believe in your all-or-nothing policy. I have been attempting to do the same thing on a much smaller budget, but more important to me is the mindset behind it. I was speaking to a woman today in my office, and we were discussing tax policy. She kept looking for financial reasons to explain decisions, when very obviously there was no business case. It was all about pushing the agenda of policy makers. At this point, institutions like IRS, Apple and China are well beyond any concern about money. It's about changing the way we live so that we're under control. It seems the purpose of a brand could at this point very easily revert to the previous intention with a signature on a piece of legislation.
Good piece, Jack. I routinely purchase Made-In-USA products and always tell checkout clerks that I was pleased to find said product. Despite the higher prices required in the trickle down economics of it all, I like my middle class neighbors to keep up with the Jones'. Life hack: I rarely have to repair or replace US-built items. Am I "crazy" for paying that much? You tell me.
My hierarchy of purchase origins are similar to yours, but the pinnacle of my pyramid is held by vintage American products. I take great pride in scouring estate sales, eBay, or even garage sales for these gems. I recently scored a vintage three-hole punch and paper cutter which were both made prior to the Hencho en Mexico-era. While this method seldom works when in a pinch, I try to find these old beauties below Harbor Freight prices. The next goal is to source a couple of vintage breaker bars crafted prior to the '69 Mets. Who am I kidding...I'd settle for the '86 Mets.
I'm quite fond of my expanding collection of Griswold cast iron. I enjoy finding saveable pieces and bringing them back to life. They're lighter and their glass smooth surface is so much nicer to cook on than the current day sandpaper finish. Same for antique American axes. The refinishing, rehandling and sharpening of an old axe is a nice way to spend a Saturday. And don't get me started on my current Wilton bullet vise obsession.
I'll finish the rest of this piece, but thanks for putting into words the essence of Bradley Brownell:
"Isn’t this about as hypocritical as “Fat Brad” Brownell, the “founder” of Sadwood Radwood, spending a decade whining about capitalists on a more-or-less daily basis then using an unearned windfall to IMMEDIATELY become a fourth-rate wanna-be Cleveland slum lord, with no more shame in the process than a dog displays while licking its own rectum?" I always found it hilarious that such an obvious status seeker would put in his byline on Jalopnik something like "Lover of all things janky and eclectic" at the end of another piece on a Koenigsegg transmission. His personality suits his current endeavor, I pray for the tenants.
Some years ago I found myself sitting in a chair in a Red Wing shoe store. My attention was focused on the lovely young girl with a Basque accent who was bringing out lineman’s boots for me to try on. I already knew I was a size 10, but she was really lovely.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather older gentleman on his knees by the front door with a razor scraper. He was removing the decals from the door that said “Made in USA.” I said that I hoped he was putting a bigger sticker on. Ruefully, he admitted that Red Wing would no longer make enough boots here for the sticker to be displayed.
He assured me that they would continue to make lineman’s boots both here and in China.
I bought a pair of composite toe Thorogoods two years ago (on company dime) specifically because they were both American AND Union made in Wisconsin, and as it turns out, were also fantastically comfortable right out the box, durable, waterproof, and looked good with a little American flag lapel held in on the lower laces. A year later (2021) I needed a new pair and I tried to get the exact same model number, same size same color. Price was up a bit, and what showed up, while still decent, was nowhere as nice looking, or as comfortable. Still made in USA, but now a smaller little American flag tag on the side of the boot. The old pair was so immensely comfortable and lightweight that I actually did three day backpacking trips in them. More recently, I used them to kick my asshole neighbor's German Shepard in the ribs when it ran out of his yard, to great result.
From what I've heard, gtem is underselling the situation a bit here. It wasn't about the line, it was about the vulnerability of who was on the other side of that line.
Sep 20, 2022·edited Sep 20, 2022Liked by Jack Baruth
I think how you imagine that story ending without the kick is dependant on what you think in general of your neighbors throughout your life.
For example where I am, that story, without the kick, ends with "and it wouldn't stop licking the ice cream off my kids face" or something. But that is because we got a bunch of friendly people, who have raised friendly dogs, and it isn't unheard of to find someone else's dog laying in your kitchen if you forget to close the screen door.
I have also lived around assholes. They have asshole dogs who are there because they want to look tough, and just like the assholes, aren't well adjusted and sociable. Then the story ends with animal control disposing of the dog, and whatever bad thing made that happen.
My take is no matter how well mannered and sociable a dog might be (with how this one ran in at full speed and knocked my dog over, I suspect not well), IMO you can't just have a large dog roaming around with small children out and about. I'm the owner of two larger dogs who are great with my boy, friendly with strangers, etc, but if one of mine ran up to a stranger and the stranger booted them, I would totally understand. That's my biggest issue with fellow dog owners. They have a rather warped perception of "oh haha don't worry he's friendly" when a big dog runs up and starts sniffing a toddler's face. That's simply a BIG liability. One that I'm not going to expose my family to.
My late father was a veterinarian. He routinely muzzled dogs during examinations. Clients would say, "Oh, you don't have to muzzle him, he never bites." My dad would reply, "There's no such thing as a dog that doesn't bite. I'm poking and proding and possibly causing it pain and dogs have only one response to that."
The one time he didn't muzzle a patient, the German shepard opened up his hand.
I have two GSDs and I would absolutely understand if someone shot or otherwise harmed one of them charging at full speed.
One is a hair north of 100lb and he looks the business even though he is a coward at heart. The other is right sized and, while blind and old, still looks intimidating if the hackles go up and the ears flat.
The nice thing to do would have been to kick the owner in the ribs instead.
I think it's a sign of how badly our society has broken down that people think their untrained, non-working companion animals are entitled to impede the rights of others to not be mauled/molested in public or not have their property pissed on.
I saw kicking a 90lb german shepard that had bolted at full speed and knocked my old Airedale with a torn ACL to the ground as the most expedient resolution in the split second I had to react. But forget dogs, I have a 3yr old son, our other neighbors likewise have a 4 year old boy. The old fart and his dog have been a known issue for some years now (and his dogs before that one had actually bitten a kid in the neighborhood some years prior). After his dog ran whimpering away I walked over and told the guy that if it ever ran at my son that he'd be picking that german shepherd up off the street.
Damn, posted that by accident, here’s the rest. The American made boots that I was trying on were something like 249.00. The Chinese version they also had in stock were around 225.00. Just imagine the margin on those Chinese boots.
They killed their brand for me that day though. They didn’t get any margin at all on the 10 pairs of boots I’d have bought from them over the last 20 years.
I could not possibly care less about where the senior management of a company breaks bread. I care about quality, serviceability, price, and customer service, which may come down to replacing your crappy product for the upteenth time but not being a jerk about it. But all those are insignificant compared to where it is made. If you (the royal you, not our host) don't see the benefit of your local military age male having an option for gainful employment then I imagine the look on your face when the guillotine comes down will be one of surprise.
Another good read, I think I am getting sensory overload.
Don't really have the time but there is so much to comment on.
Branding- Just like Milwaukee and Baur may be made at the same factory in China (don't know for sure just an example) there are still products made in the U.S. in one factory that come out the door with different "names" on them. I see this in the hard product industries that still exist but now more so in the food processing business. One facility does it all but varies the product based on the customer requirements.
Baur, when I first saw it at Harbor Freight I thought of Hockey Equipment. I attempted to play hockey for a short time so the name was familiar to me as one of the better brands. At first I thought when did Baur start making tools. Then I thought wait a minute did some company buy the name like they did with Chicago Pneumatic and so many others. Well at least they have name recognition with hockey players.
What was I doing in Harbor Freight when I have also always tried to be a made in the USA guy?
Convenience! There is no Snap On store near me and my son and I needed a special tool to get the control arms off his Volvo last Sunday.
Made is the USA on the box, or should I say assembled in the USA with components sourced from who knows where. I paid extra money for a DeWalt right angle drill "assembled in the USA only to have the chuck fail on it's second outing. At least my Keen "assembled in the USA with global components" boots have kept the water out as promised.
Finally, now that you have moved out to the country you might want to pick up a vintage Bradley walk behind garden tractor. I only recently learned about them because I saw a big old building that said Bradley Implement on one side and Sears on the other. Looked up the history and thought, would they have been better off not selling the company to Sears?
The Milwaukee name (along with DeWalt and Craftsman) is a subsidiary of Stanley-Black&Decker. You really are paying for a name buying between any of those brands.
It would be lovely if this essay were assigned in economics classes throughout the land; both to educate the students and infuriate the teachers.
reminds me of a conversation i had on a date with a mckinsey consultant 20 years ago. she got that gig straight out of harvard business school with no real world experience. she was bragging about how she told the ceo of at&t that he should look for more opportunities to sell commodity products bought from outside suppliers because that would give him the most flexibility and the best margins. i replied that my father had taught me while running the family drugstore that you needed to differentiate your product and never compete solely on price, because if you do, there is always some bastard who will undercut your price. the blank look on her face was priceless. as you can imagine, i never got another date.
We got some McKinsey consultants "helping" the company I work at this month. Nothing has changed in 20 years. Kids straight out of school with ZERO real world experience. When you try to explain to them how their new re-imagination of the capital project process simply won't work, you get a blank stare.
The fact that any company actually listens to MBB and their zero-experience Harvard/Wharton/Stanford grads is further proof that bullshit makes the world go 'round.
Then there's all the studies and HBR articles those clowns author which get regurgitated as the curriculum for the second- and third-rate MBA programs like the one I attended. So the same stupid ideas and lack of critical thinking end up everywhere.
Are you saying the young and highly credentialed don't know what they're talking about?!
Why, who are you to dare question an Expert?!
I love all the youngsters on the financial news channels saying how great the market and economy are. “Transitory”, you know.
I just smile an nod at stupid stuff people say these days. It was doubly important back when I was still in the dating game.
When you think of made-in-the-by-God-USA you may think of Boeing airliners. And while Boeing has an enormous manufacturing presence here in America, they, too, went the MBA route with design, certification, and manufacturing. Perhaps you’ve heard.
While the 737 MAX gets the headlines, the ball started rolling downhill far earlier. The 787 was a worldwide program with design offices seemingly everywhere across the globe. Partners and subcontractors had concept-to-delivery responsibility for major components and systems, unlike all prior Boeing commercial programs. It turned out like the proverbial horse designed by a committee of blind people – first flight over 3 years late, first delivery over 3 ½ years late, and a grounding about 2 years into revenue service due to an in-flight fire risk. While most Boeing jetliner programs required the delivery of about 300 airframes to “pay for” the development and certification, Boeing themselves admit that over 1,000 787s will need to be delivered before the program cash flows. Incredible.
The 757, 767 and 777 all were well-received both by the money-grubbing, monetize-everything managements of the airlines, and by the crews who operated the aircraft in revenue service. (The far-away, gleam-in-the-eyes, God-I’ll-never-forget-her perspective of 757 crews is a national treasure, at least to me.)
Many have commented that an all-new Boeing design to replace the 757 and 767 would have far better positioned the company for the future. Imagining this never produced airplane entering revenue service in about 2010, development would have started in about 2002. But Boeing shied away, the 787 cost over-runs leading directly to the don’t-spend-any-money 737 MAX program.
But look at the stock price!
Crichton murdered the company with words in "Airframe", and rightfully so.
There was also an excellent article in the New Yorker on Boeing and what the McDonnell-Douglas merger did to it. That was back when the New Yorker still ran readable articles.
from The Atlantic... https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/how-boeing-lost-its-bearings/602188/
Patrick Smith - a B757/B767 FO of long tenure - also has some excellent perspective on all of this at www. askthepilot.com.
You know, it may have been The Atlantic. Well, my error allowed me to vent about The New Yorker.
A far more knowledgeable voice than mine weighs in here... https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardaboulafia/2022/11/08/boeing-airbus-calhoun-new-jet-delay/?sh=766d3d7739cb
Do you think Ford hiring away Alan Mulally hurt Boeing?
Hard to say. I don't think it helped out in Seattle. But... we'll never know.
Boom Supersonic chose Greensboro NC for their manufacturing plant.
https://boomsupersonic.com/news/post/boom-supersonic-first-supersonic-airliner-manufacturing-facility
Jack,
How do you feel about the merits of “fake” midcentury modern furniture? Who really owns those iconic midcentury modern pieces - Knoll and Herman Miller? As we have discussed, the “fake” Noguchi tables are reputed to be sturdier than the “real” ones. My Chicago boss had an office furnished with real stuff, but his decorator recommended substituting a fake Noguchi table.
Also this: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Curve-of-Value-Added-Stages-in-the-Apparel-Global-Value-Chain_fig2_281845193
This is tricky -- and as you know, I am "committed" in this case because I ordered an Eames Lounge Chair from Herman Miller a month ago.
All the designers are long dead, and I am not aware that any of them left children who continue on in the family tradition, so I care very little about who "owns" the copyright. Knoll wants twelve grand for a polished stainless Barcelona chair, which is absurdity beyond even the Eames Lounge price. You can buy a USA-made motorcycle for less than twelve grand.
There's also the fact that both Knoll and Herman Miller are wokestestricians of the first order.
If I could find a USA factory knocking their stuff off, I'd write them a check tomorrow. As it is, if I want the chair I use every day at work to be made by people enjoying a reasonable standard of living in my home country, I don't have any choice.
Floyd Detroit appears to have a decent Knoll sofa knockoff for $2-3k per section as opposed to Knoll's $8k.
Here is a US furniture maker with some great looking MCM knock-offs. https://westcoastmodernla.com/
There are also many independent furniture makers out there making interesting items, like this maker in Knoxville. https://northcoastmodern.com/
Room & Board from Minnesota also sources almost all of their furniture in the US and will actually tell you who the maker is. They regularly feature their US makers in advertisements.
One of the best ways to buy MCM furniture is to go through a restoration shop to buy restored original items. A family member has had great service and results from this place.
https://midcenturywarehouse.com/
Second Room & Board; I have furniture from them and would purchase again.
As I was growing up in the 70s and 80s my parents were very into modern furniture and Barcelona Chairs were the holy grail of furniture but they were either horribly expensive or cheaply made knockoffs. Fast forward to around 1997 or so when I saw that the local PBS station had a lot of 3 Knoll Barcelona chairs on their televised auction one night that been donated by a company that had them in their lobby for a number of years. I called my mother and she turned on the auction and bid on them. This was pre-internet bidding so they would briefly update the bids and my mother kept calling and upping her bid. When they did the recap and announced the winners of the lots the hosts said that bidding on the Barcelona chairs was very spirited and announced that my mother was the winning bidder. They still have them and are still in beautiful condition.
I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair, it is the most amazing chair ever made. I can sit it in all day, sometime 12 hours, never feeling achy or tired. After 7 years of sitting in it, it has not aged a day. It is worth every penny - it's a testament of making a product that is not crap, and needs to be replaced every few years. What a concept!
It is the birthright of an investment banker to have an Aeron chair for in-office work. The only downside is that the mesh on the seat will degrade the finish on a fine pair of wool trousers. I once worked for a guy who cultivated a client list in London so that he could attend his fittings on Savile Row. He sat on a towel to protect the ass and thighs of his pants.
It is the same for large-firm lawyers. I have an Aeron in my office that I happen to know was used by a substantially overweight former partner for upward of a decade. It is none the worse for wear and it is exceedingly comfortable.
But I don't live in a city where anyone worries about wool trousers. In fact, the last time I showed up for a meeting in a (quite ordinary) navy suit, I was roundly mocked for it.
I bought a few “real” pieces 5-6 years ago. Barcelona Chair and Ottoman, Noguchi Table, Eileen Gray Side Table.
As anyone who has read From Bauhaus to Our House will know, you really need TWO Barcelona Chairs … which verges on $20K even with the current “sale” they are running.
I'd love to have an Eames chair in my living room. I've seen knockoffs for 20% of what Herman Miller charges, which means you're still paying at least a grand for something of questionable-at-best quality. Might as well either buy the real thing or just forget it.
Especially since I'm an unemployed apartment dweller at the moment, the 15 year old Ikea "Poang" chair (with a shockingly durable leather cushion) currently sitting in the intended spot is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
I wish I had purchased an Eames instead. I don’t have room for both.
Some of the Chinese knockoffs are pretty good. Check Craigslist and marketplace as well.
I paid $100 for a used display model knockoff Saarinen table. The fake marble surface has some small scuffs, and not sure if I'd have paid the $1000 original price for it, but it's hard to imagine paying knoll 8k for a table.
I don't have an entirely firm grasp on it but it seems to me that the patent system which was once a great strength to the US now prevents the knock offs from being done in house as competition to the overseas versions because the BRAND will absolutely prosecute anyone here and win.
Two words:
Origin Maine
If you haven't heard of them, you have now. Literally everything from the materials, prints, designs, and production is all US made. The man is a one man wrecking crew in pursuit of an all american made company.
Just released their new hunting line too. Had no idea that NO ONE makes camo in the USA anymore. All the major brands are all printed overseas. Well, not anymore!
That said, I fear that I am the enemy. We outsourced a few years ago when our owner sold the factories. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
Oh well. Hopefully it comes sooner than later.
THANK YOU for posting this. Had never heard of them. My 12-year-old is a grappler, and I am pleasantly surprised to learn that Origin makes a Gi that'll be great for him!
Edit: just read that Jocko Willink is a founder. That explains both the MIUSA and the Jiu-Jitsu gear!
I was going to mention origin....
Have shorts and jeans from them. They are ridiculously nice.
I have that same floor jack, bought it recently because my very expensive Sears floor jack shattered a couple of years ago (bad casting) and I was in the process of moving, so I held off.
The truth is damn near Everything at Harbor Freight, can be bought for MORE money in one of the box stores. They're all made in the EXACT SAME PLANT - just the ones with the American labels have some added gizmos, paint colors AND WORSE QUALITY.
I'm serious about the quality being worse. I've SEEN it! I bought a band saw from Lowes, it had issues, I returned it, got one exactly like it from harbor freight for half the price and it was of superior quality. Not to say it's perfect, because it isn't - but it's better than what Lowes is selling for twice the price.
You seen this in a LOT of stuff. Harbor Freight does try to sell a 'decent' product - I have a motorcycle lift that's 20 years old from them and it still works like a champ. We used to have a list of HF products that were like 'these are fine as they come', 'these need some work and will be better than anything else on the market' and 'these you use until they break - then throw away and replace'.
Yeah, it sucks that we got these morons who off-shored everything because of their belief in the 'free trade' myth. Now we make nothing, wages have been stale for DECADES and China can (and has in the past) shut us down on multiple products. They also have Zero problems with putting poison in our foodstuffs and killing our pets or our children (both of these events HAVE happened and MORE than once - yet our government won't do anything to stop it).
It won't last of course, eventually when the famine hits and the country collapses we'll all just starve to death in the cold because we won't have the money to buy any of what we need, regardless of where it comes from. I do wonder if we're the first country in history that will be destroyed because the populace repeatedly voted people who hated them and wanted them dead into office.
Years ago, my dad went out to a battery factory as part of his job as a career counselor. He was one of those guys the company hired to teach the laid-off how to write resumes and ace job interviews. They gave him a tour of the factory floor, and the same identical batteries rolled down the assembly line to a guy who slapped "DieHard," "Exide," etc. stickers on them.
Supposedly there are only two factories that make high temp brake fluid, so whether your can says Willwood or Hawk or Stoptech it's all the same.
The tendency in any industry is always toward monopoly, largely because of a desire to cut costs. It's quite disgusting, the lengths to which large corporations will go to save five cents a ton on raw materials.
I’ve also been told of only two major battery producers...another item heading towards triplicate pricing as of late...ugh.
This is an interesting way to think of things and I agree that if we’re just going to be buying disposable crap anyway, there is little appeal to spending more for a brand name.
There are a few bright spots in American manufacturing and I feel like the troubles of the past 2-3 years have shown a few companies that there are benefits to keeping things closer to home. The company I work for (in the aerospace industry) had a plant in Mexico up till mid 2020 when a massive fire in the plant next door caused considerable damage to our plant. The company decided that rather than rebuilding in Mexico, it was easier to build more capacity here in Utah. There had been problems with managing that plant in the past I guess, and there were some problems with the Mexican government trying to shut the plant down during the batflu lockdowns which required a call from the US state dept to fix (they had to explain that the plant was producing parts for critical military hardware). I’m addition to moving all the production that was in Mexico to Utah, there have been so many supply-chain disruptions that we have been insourcing every part and process we possibly can, even if it means making tiny bolts or mixing epoxy in house. If there’s any good to come out of the batflu it may be showing people how fragile supply chains are.
Building parts for critical military hardware offshore is laugh out loud stupid.
How about making life critical pharmaceuticals in China?
We do an amazing amount of laugh out loud stupid in this country. Called clown world for a reason.
Building them in an enemy's territory is doubly so.
Sir, the only enemy this country has is Jan 6 denialism.
My eyes turn misty and my legs shaky when I remember the assault on our sacred democracy.
Yet my heart is glad knowing our brave Congress turned the tide with a light cavalry charge from the very halls that form the heart of the country to disperse the rabble.
(Cue mandolin playing Ashoken Farewell)
Dearest Penelope,
I pray that when you receive this I am still alive. When the Red Hats invaded the holiest of holies, our democracy's (TM) Capitol, I feared that I would never see your smiling face again, but for the moment the forces of good have prevailed against the sons of darkness.
With best wishes, your fiance,
Edgar
They were parts that are shared in common between military applications and commercial applications so there wasn’t much security risk and Mexico is technically an “ally” but yeah, not real smart. The real problem is the logistics of making parts in Utah and sending them to Mexico to be built into assemblies and then sending them back to Utah to be assembled into finished products. Just a lot of extra steps that, in the long run, probably didn’t save any money.
If Mexico were truly an ally, it wouldn't be using our country as a dumping ground for its rural poor, poor who were made that way by longstanding defects in Mexico's society they inhereted from Spain.
The world would be an immeasurably better place today if the entirety of the Americas had been colonized solely by England.
If Mexican elites allowed the growth of a middle class that might alleviate both our border issue and their drug cartel issue.
Good Lord, why is the US military fielding small arms from HK and SIG? Why were we even considering an Airbus tanker? Or Chinese pharmaceuticals?
The quality of said things, while top-notch, doesn't matter. Everything that our military uses, from toothpaste to aircraft carriers, should be made here by American companies.
This is quite literally a matter of national security.
I'll bite. With few exceptions the firearms used by the US military that are SIG or HK, or for that matter Beretta are all manufactured in the USA, by SIG, USA and so forth. In the case of SIG, and perhaps others I don't keep up on this very carefully, a non trivial amount of product design and development for the US market occurs here as well. The US subsidiaries allow these companies to compete without handicap as foreign companies and avoid import restrictions. It isn't so bad.
It doesn't matter if the guns are MADE here, they're not being made here by OUR companies.
I know at least one electronics company that has reshored PCB assembly to local firms.
Have any of you here seen the "Project Farm" YouTube videos? I highly recommend his channel, where he tests the capabilities and the destructibility of everything from rubber gloves to right angle power wrenches, comparing the cheapest Chinese junk to the most expensive Europe, US (and yes, China) has to offer.
https://youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm
Those are very informative videos but that guy's cadence and delivery really grate on me. To the point that I don't even watch any more.
That's is what I love about him. He has a ton to say and doesn't waste time
I absolutely agree that people who lower standards in a profession don't have any right to whine when someone else does it to them and undercuts them. I see it all too often in the engineering business as well.
I've never understood your obsession with the MUST BE MADE IN AMERICA AT ANY COST (I completely agree with the human cost of not doing so), but you lay out a pretty good sequence of events of how things came to be today. For me, the answer is bluntly economics - wage arbitration, and MOST importantly (and I'm not a climate nut) environmental arbitration. That Iphone STILL produces tremendous environmental damage, it just happens to those little people over in China, so out of mind!!!
The future will be some mix of quality stuff re-shored and what you predict here. I for one am always on the lookout for someone in some niche (belts are an example) who has figured out how to be price competitive locally, and completely switch my shopping accordingly. For the rest of the 'stuff' I tend to be agnostic, with a particular contempt for Amazon.
EDIT: I am thoroughly fascinated with Sears and that era, and wouldn't mind returning to it, in some form. I'm also astonished how that good and diverse a company (GE is another that comes to mind) was destroyed.
My new affordable re-shored item are blue jeans from All American Clothing. $65 a pair, nice heavy denim from US cotton, sewn in the US. The looms unfortunately moved overseas after the last NC based operation closed up shop some time around 2017(?). I'll admit these things do seem to wear somewhat quickly but I guess I made my peace with that. They do some nice cheap nicely fitting t-shirts as well.
I’ve been buying Dearborn Denim since Jack highlighted them a few years ago. The owner was trying to set up a denim mill in the US, but I think the last couple of years has screwed up those plans.
NC? F EM. It was just fine and dandy when the New England mills closed down putting New Englanders out of work and moved south. Happened to my mom twice in the 40s and 50s. Welcome to the club NC. I doubt and 'necks gave a frig about that.
You know I never thought of it that way but you're right.
Partially right, anyway. Example: Malden Mills shut down in New England because the union and the owner could not agree to wages that allowed the mill to stay in business. The owner was motivated to keep the business and employees in New England and literally begged the union leadership to work with him. (Malden Mills was the originator of Polar Fleece.)
Sears invented online marketing more than a century before it became practical, only instead of the internet it used the U.S. mail service. If any company should have been positioned to succeed in the internet age, it was Sears. They could have had online ordering with store pickups 20 years ago.
*30 years ago. Sears shut down the catalog operation in......1993. All they had to do was come up with some kind of secure payment system and they would have beaten Amazon to the punch by at least 5 years.
And they even owned Discover that could have handled that part.
Before they started Discover, the Sears Card was one way Americans established credit.
Heck....Sears had it's own Prodigy dialup network before the Internet was a thing for us 8-bit home computer types.
It was all there. Everything was in place. Sears turned everything they owned into poo. Land's End, Caldwell Banker, Discover card....
Not that Sears hadn't been already trying to put itself out of business since at least the 1980s, but if we were truly a "just" society, what Eddie Lampert did to that company (and Kmart) would be a capital offense.
I would LOVE to be able to order a house kit like they used to sell, especially with today's tech. Those kit houses were also QUALITY, from what I hear.
my friends step mom has lived in one for decades. great house.
Frankly, for some things, only Harbor Freight has them. Mostly automotive specific big-job tools like engine hoists and transmission jacks. You're simply not going to find them on a shelf anywhere else, even auto parts stores.
BTW, the ICON electronic torque wrenches are nearly the exact same as the Lowe's Kobalt tools for a significant discount. It doesn't have the socket release button, but it's identical otherwise.
I bought the 24k Icon ratchet because I understand it has ironic cachet in certain circles...
+5 wordplay points
I'm saving my pennies and marking up the kids' app store purchases for a Nepros 90 tooth 3/8" drive ratchet. https://toolguyd.com/nepros-gold-ratchets/
Since that article was written six months ago, the cost of their ratchets have gone up at least 20%.
I meant Quinn torque wrenches.
Not that it matters that much.
I get the point Jack, but you're a bulwark. I was so ashamed to say on this site that the dress shirts I purchased were made in China, precisely because I believe in your all-or-nothing policy. I have been attempting to do the same thing on a much smaller budget, but more important to me is the mindset behind it. I was speaking to a woman today in my office, and we were discussing tax policy. She kept looking for financial reasons to explain decisions, when very obviously there was no business case. It was all about pushing the agenda of policy makers. At this point, institutions like IRS, Apple and China are well beyond any concern about money. It's about changing the way we live so that we're under control. It seems the purpose of a brand could at this point very easily revert to the previous intention with a signature on a piece of legislation.
Good piece, Jack. I routinely purchase Made-In-USA products and always tell checkout clerks that I was pleased to find said product. Despite the higher prices required in the trickle down economics of it all, I like my middle class neighbors to keep up with the Jones'. Life hack: I rarely have to repair or replace US-built items. Am I "crazy" for paying that much? You tell me.
My hierarchy of purchase origins are similar to yours, but the pinnacle of my pyramid is held by vintage American products. I take great pride in scouring estate sales, eBay, or even garage sales for these gems. I recently scored a vintage three-hole punch and paper cutter which were both made prior to the Hencho en Mexico-era. While this method seldom works when in a pinch, I try to find these old beauties below Harbor Freight prices. The next goal is to source a couple of vintage breaker bars crafted prior to the '69 Mets. Who am I kidding...I'd settle for the '86 Mets.
I'm quite fond of my expanding collection of Griswold cast iron. I enjoy finding saveable pieces and bringing them back to life. They're lighter and their glass smooth surface is so much nicer to cook on than the current day sandpaper finish. Same for antique American axes. The refinishing, rehandling and sharpening of an old axe is a nice way to spend a Saturday. And don't get me started on my current Wilton bullet vise obsession.
I'll finish the rest of this piece, but thanks for putting into words the essence of Bradley Brownell:
"Isn’t this about as hypocritical as “Fat Brad” Brownell, the “founder” of Sadwood Radwood, spending a decade whining about capitalists on a more-or-less daily basis then using an unearned windfall to IMMEDIATELY become a fourth-rate wanna-be Cleveland slum lord, with no more shame in the process than a dog displays while licking its own rectum?" I always found it hilarious that such an obvious status seeker would put in his byline on Jalopnik something like "Lover of all things janky and eclectic" at the end of another piece on a Koenigsegg transmission. His personality suits his current endeavor, I pray for the tenants.
The most succinct thing to say about that fellow is, "imagine the smell."
Some years ago I found myself sitting in a chair in a Red Wing shoe store. My attention was focused on the lovely young girl with a Basque accent who was bringing out lineman’s boots for me to try on. I already knew I was a size 10, but she was really lovely.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather older gentleman on his knees by the front door with a razor scraper. He was removing the decals from the door that said “Made in USA.” I said that I hoped he was putting a bigger sticker on. Ruefully, he admitted that Red Wing would no longer make enough boots here for the sticker to be displayed.
He assured me that they would continue to make lineman’s boots both here and in China.
I bought a pair of composite toe Thorogoods two years ago (on company dime) specifically because they were both American AND Union made in Wisconsin, and as it turns out, were also fantastically comfortable right out the box, durable, waterproof, and looked good with a little American flag lapel held in on the lower laces. A year later (2021) I needed a new pair and I tried to get the exact same model number, same size same color. Price was up a bit, and what showed up, while still decent, was nowhere as nice looking, or as comfortable. Still made in USA, but now a smaller little American flag tag on the side of the boot. The old pair was so immensely comfortable and lightweight that I actually did three day backpacking trips in them. More recently, I used them to kick my asshole neighbor's German Shepard in the ribs when it ran out of his yard, to great result.
I've owned 3 pairs of thorogoods as work and personal boots an I'm still on the fence. I might step up to the next level.
I don't think kicking a dog that ran across an imaginary line is a very nice thing to do.
From what I've heard, gtem is underselling the situation a bit here. It wasn't about the line, it was about the vulnerability of who was on the other side of that line.
Gtem is a hero for saving lost & confused Joe Biden from Major.
i hope gtem's neighbor is more understanding than john mcafee.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/belize-murder-victim-confronted-john-mcafee-dogs/story?id=17717178
I think how you imagine that story ending without the kick is dependant on what you think in general of your neighbors throughout your life.
For example where I am, that story, without the kick, ends with "and it wouldn't stop licking the ice cream off my kids face" or something. But that is because we got a bunch of friendly people, who have raised friendly dogs, and it isn't unheard of to find someone else's dog laying in your kitchen if you forget to close the screen door.
I have also lived around assholes. They have asshole dogs who are there because they want to look tough, and just like the assholes, aren't well adjusted and sociable. Then the story ends with animal control disposing of the dog, and whatever bad thing made that happen.
My take is no matter how well mannered and sociable a dog might be (with how this one ran in at full speed and knocked my dog over, I suspect not well), IMO you can't just have a large dog roaming around with small children out and about. I'm the owner of two larger dogs who are great with my boy, friendly with strangers, etc, but if one of mine ran up to a stranger and the stranger booted them, I would totally understand. That's my biggest issue with fellow dog owners. They have a rather warped perception of "oh haha don't worry he's friendly" when a big dog runs up and starts sniffing a toddler's face. That's simply a BIG liability. One that I'm not going to expose my family to.
My late father was a veterinarian. He routinely muzzled dogs during examinations. Clients would say, "Oh, you don't have to muzzle him, he never bites." My dad would reply, "There's no such thing as a dog that doesn't bite. I'm poking and proding and possibly causing it pain and dogs have only one response to that."
The one time he didn't muzzle a patient, the German shepard opened up his hand.
I have two GSDs and I would absolutely understand if someone shot or otherwise harmed one of them charging at full speed.
One is a hair north of 100lb and he looks the business even though he is a coward at heart. The other is right sized and, while blind and old, still looks intimidating if the hackles go up and the ears flat.
The nice thing to do would have been to kick the owner in the ribs instead.
I think it's a sign of how badly our society has broken down that people think their untrained, non-working companion animals are entitled to impede the rights of others to not be mauled/molested in public or not have their property pissed on.
I saw kicking a 90lb german shepard that had bolted at full speed and knocked my old Airedale with a torn ACL to the ground as the most expedient resolution in the split second I had to react. But forget dogs, I have a 3yr old son, our other neighbors likewise have a 4 year old boy. The old fart and his dog have been a known issue for some years now (and his dogs before that one had actually bitten a kid in the neighborhood some years prior). After his dog ran whimpering away I walked over and told the guy that if it ever ran at my son that he'd be picking that german shepherd up off the street.
Damn, posted that by accident, here’s the rest. The American made boots that I was trying on were something like 249.00. The Chinese version they also had in stock were around 225.00. Just imagine the margin on those Chinese boots.
They killed their brand for me that day though. They didn’t get any margin at all on the 10 pairs of boots I’d have bought from them over the last 20 years.
I could not possibly care less about where the senior management of a company breaks bread. I care about quality, serviceability, price, and customer service, which may come down to replacing your crappy product for the upteenth time but not being a jerk about it. But all those are insignificant compared to where it is made. If you (the royal you, not our host) don't see the benefit of your local military age male having an option for gainful employment then I imagine the look on your face when the guillotine comes down will be one of surprise.
Another good read, I think I am getting sensory overload.
Don't really have the time but there is so much to comment on.
Branding- Just like Milwaukee and Baur may be made at the same factory in China (don't know for sure just an example) there are still products made in the U.S. in one factory that come out the door with different "names" on them. I see this in the hard product industries that still exist but now more so in the food processing business. One facility does it all but varies the product based on the customer requirements.
Baur, when I first saw it at Harbor Freight I thought of Hockey Equipment. I attempted to play hockey for a short time so the name was familiar to me as one of the better brands. At first I thought when did Baur start making tools. Then I thought wait a minute did some company buy the name like they did with Chicago Pneumatic and so many others. Well at least they have name recognition with hockey players.
What was I doing in Harbor Freight when I have also always tried to be a made in the USA guy?
Convenience! There is no Snap On store near me and my son and I needed a special tool to get the control arms off his Volvo last Sunday.
Made is the USA on the box, or should I say assembled in the USA with components sourced from who knows where. I paid extra money for a DeWalt right angle drill "assembled in the USA only to have the chuck fail on it's second outing. At least my Keen "assembled in the USA with global components" boots have kept the water out as promised.
Finally, now that you have moved out to the country you might want to pick up a vintage Bradley walk behind garden tractor. I only recently learned about them because I saw a big old building that said Bradley Implement on one side and Sears on the other. Looked up the history and thought, would they have been better off not selling the company to Sears?
The Milwaukee name (along with DeWalt and Craftsman) is a subsidiary of Stanley-Black&Decker. You really are paying for a name buying between any of those brands.