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Post by graybeard on Aug 26, 2008 6:30:59 GMT -6
I was in market for a dehumidifier the other day, but with considerable remorse, as I know they are all made by the commies now. Sears site nicely has user reports available. The reports were terrible. Many units failed within two years. You know why.
I gave up on buying a dehumidifier. Will try heat to keep the relative humidity down.
The cheap crap is making our throw away society much worse.
GB
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Post by tim on Aug 26, 2008 9:37:54 GMT -6
I was in market for a dehumidifier the other day, but with considerable remorse, as I know they are all made by the commies now. Sears site nicely has user reports available. The reports were terrible. Many units failed within two years. You know why. I gave up on buying a dehumidifier. Will try heat to keep the relative humidity down. The cheap crap is making our throw away society much worse. GB Yes it is, and it makes the more thoughtful of us feel all that much more helpless. As I said in another post, the supply side craze has driven much of this in the last 30 years. Supply side economics causes over production, and to deal with that, one must increase demand or die. how do you do that? - hyper-irrational advertising
- greater access to credit
- manufacture of crap products that must be purchased over and over
It's all a race to the bottom. And now that the imbecilic free marketers have successfully conflated liberty with the ability to choose (between rasberry or lemon scented bleach, for eg), anyone who criticizes this is seen as an elitist trying to control markets.
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Post by psychecc on Aug 26, 2008 14:35:51 GMT -6
I feel your pain Graybeard. I have a wonderful couch which I bought about 15 years ago. The frame is hanging in fine, but the upholstery is starting to show some wear. I bought a good brand then (before I knew to check where something was made). I think it was probably made in the U.S. though I know furniture outsourcing has gone on for some time. I went shopping for this couch with a friend who also needed one. She bought TWO slightly smaller couches for a lot less than I paid for the one I chose. She gave me plenty of grief about that. I did feel a little bad that she appeared to have gotten so much more for her money. She bought hers at a reputable department store, as I did. So who would figure that BOTH of hers would start falling apart within a couple of years? She has long since scrapped them, and now she has nothing but praise for my much longer lasting sofa. Anyway, I was thinking that when I do go to replace it, I'll never find anything even close to as sturdy. So... I'll probably end up having it recovered, which is sometimes more expensive than buying a new couch! But at least you know you have a quality frame. It's just depressing to realize how few of the things we used to take for granted would last and work, do either, anymore.
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Post by blueneck on Sept 12, 2008 14:50:33 GMT -6
Hand tools and Power tools
US made hand tools used to last generations - passed down from grandfathers to grandsons.
Cheep chinese tools barely make it thru the job. And they don't fit - half inch wrenches don't fit half inch nuts!
Power tools used to last decades - I have some old US made drills and saws that were dad's still going strong. Mexican power tools burn up after only a few uses.
And what bout repairing things - nothing is repariable anymore and if it is its more than buying new - whats up with that!
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Post by xtra on Sept 12, 2008 16:51:13 GMT -6
microwave ovens
my 7 year old one finally bit the dust. I think I paid about 80 bucks for it (I think its the dust that burnt it out, the vent is on the back and was packed with a quarter inch of dust, I never knew, so vacuum out the dust people) It was made of aluminum and hard thick plastic and probably weighed about 12 pounds
The ones at the store ran from 29.99, 49.99, 69.99, 129.99, 149.99.
I chose the 69.99 because it was the same brand my old one was only bigger and more wattage.
wow, was I surprised, I think its made of plastic and wax paper, I think the box was heavier than the microwave. The door is attached by plastic i could snap with my pinky, It sounds like you slam the door even when you just hardly shut it. the whole thing weights less than 5 pounds
Im really glad its still works....but its only been a week ;D
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Post by graybeard on Sept 12, 2008 23:55:48 GMT -6
Our first microwave lasted 25 years. The second Panasonic, made in Commie China, lasted three years. The present one, a Sharp assembled in the US from Chinese crap, is better quality. Time will tell.
GB
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Post by blueneck on Sept 13, 2008 5:25:30 GMT -6
Our first microwave lasted 25 years. The second Panasonic, made in Commie China, lasted three years. The present one, a Sharp assembled in the US from Chinese crap, is better quality. Time will tell. GB Yep. We had a nearly 30 year old Sears unit finally bite the dust this year. My dad bought it for me for college. the thing was rock solid. The new GE one (best we could find) is much like xtra describes - a cheep flimsy feel, the latches and hinges are plastic and its twice as loud as the old one - what a piece of crap. Appliances are a prime example of the slide in quality of outsourced products - Solid US made appliances lasted a decade or more ( We have a Kenmore washer still going thats 20) new hecho in Mejico ones you are lucky to get 5 years out of them - and no one will fix them - and if they do its usually as much or more than a new one. Our appliance repair guy tells us every time to keep the old ones going as long as we can because the new ones just aren't built like they used to
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Post by graybeard on Sept 13, 2008 7:56:10 GMT -6
I got a 10 year old Whirlpool for cheap back in 1964, and learned to fix them. We went through a series of new and used ones over the years, as plastic replaced metal in some of the components, but the gearbox remained the same. It hadn't really improved since before the Korean War. The Kenmore has always been a re-badged Whirlpool.
Then in 2000, I bought a new Maytag for some reason. Our electric bill dropped 20%, due to the new washer with its adaptive spin cycle spinning out more water than the Whirlpool, requiring less work by the electric dryer. The savings paid for the Maytag in two years.
No doubt due to cheap imported steel, the top of the Maytag rusted out, so I removed the top and had it repaired last year, thanks to a neighbor with a powder coating business. That made it almost as good as new. Right after that, I stumbled across a dented washer at Lowes for $73. I couldn't resist the bargain, so the rejuvenated Maytag went to Salvation Army. We've been gone too much to know if that was a dumb move, per the electric bill.
GB
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Sept 13, 2008 21:41:26 GMT -6
Hand tools and Power tools US made hand tools used to last generations - passed down from grandfathers to grandsons. Cheep chinese tools barely make it thru the job. And they don't fit - half inch wrenches don't fit half inch nuts! Power tools used to last decades - I have some old US made drills and saws that were dad's still going strong. Mexican power tools burn up after only a few uses. And what bout repairing things - nothing is repariable anymore and if it is its more than buying new - whats up with that! The lack of durability & repairability of foreign-made crap increases the quantity demanded of them. This makes the long-term cost of foreign-made goods much higher than it initially appears. I tried to describe this in another post on this forum today, and how it relates to the trade deficit, loss of American jobs, and loss in the real buying power of American workers & consumers. I'll restate it here: If our Trade Deficit is -$711 billion p. 6, it means we're losing $711 billion in aggregate production demand per year to foreign exports. That's $711 billion more flowing out of our country to create jobs in foreign countries. If wages were 70% of the cost of production when those goods were produced in the US, that would mean that -$498 billion in worker compensation is lost per year to imports. And that's $498 billion in aggregate demand for US produced goods that's lost. And, unless there is an aggregate decline in import prices of $498 billion, it's a net loss to American worker-consumers. But if an import lasts only ¼ as long as the American-made equivalent, then 4X as many imports would need to be purchased to be the equivalent of 1 American product. If, on the average, all imports lasted only ¼ as long as American products, then the aggregate import price decline would need to be 4X as much as the wage loss, or 4 X $498 billion, or almost $2 trillion per year. In summary, it would take 4 import items to replace 1 American-produced item. Thus, the aggregate price decline would have to be 4 times as much as the American wages lost for each item, just to break even. The aggregate price decline needs to be 4 X $498 billion, or ~$2 trillion, to offset lost American worker income. Do Americans actually save a sum total of $2 trillion/year on prices from purchasing foreign imports?
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Post by graybeard on Sept 15, 2008 5:42:03 GMT -6
The only time I justify buying cheap Communist Chinese tools, for example, is for something I plan to use once or rarely. If it doesn't last the job, I take it back for another. Then I buy at Harbor Fright, at a considerable discount from the other stores.
(The main reason for this post is to get Xtra's ugly title off the main page.) GB
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Post by whoswho on Oct 2, 2008 12:13:39 GMT -6
I am spitting mad today.
I don't know if my eyeglasses were China made or not, but I am going to find out who made them and write them a letter.
Bought them at Lens Crafters and they were NOT cheap. I thought the new styles looked fragile, but I thought, perhaps not, maybe they have new and stronger materials so they can make the frames lighter nowadays.
Well, I've had them around six months now.
I've treated them more tenderly than any pair of glasses I've ever owned. Only wore them to work. As soon as I got home, I put them in their little box and put on a pair of old glasses. I never even wore them on weekends, and certainly never to do yard work or anything where they would get any kind of wear and tear at all.
This morning, one of the lenses fell out of the frames into the bathroom sink. Don't know whether they are scratched, but if they are, it is too late anyway.
The part of the frame that goes under the bottom part of the lense is screwed onto the top portion. Is this not the most idiotic design imaginable??
Guess I could just stop at Walmart and let them fix them, but no. I'm going clear back to the stupid mall, an hour away, to get them fixed. I want them to know what I think.
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Post by Cactus Jack on Nov 24, 2008 8:37:06 GMT -6
Being among the first generation of Baby Boomers (YOB: 1946), many of my peers (me included) wouldn't buy "JapCrap" anything made in Japan for decades (b/c of their dasterdly attack on Pearl Harbor), and it wasn't until it became the source for what is now the best (typically only) electronics gadgets and cameras available that I did begin buying from the Japanese. The way I felt about Japan, is the way I have felt about the ChiComs since I encountered their products in Southeast Asia (40+ years ago). I avoid Chinese commie goods wherever possible, which these days makes shopping for anything more difficult -- since so much sold in U.S comes from there. To assist me, I use guidelines to avoid ChiCom products + products made in other countries (foe 'n friend alike), which you may find useful too, including: www.powerofpeace.com/nmic/index.php www.usstuff.com/prodlist.htmwww.howtobuyamerican.com/www.americansworking.com/But sometimes, the prudent method is to send a message to those American companies who have gotten too big for their britches or who feel the American taxpayers owe them something, by buying foreign rather than American. I'm doing that as soon as I return ashore; sending a message to the Big Three 'n the union thugs of the UAW (after 44 years loyalty to American made autos). I'm trading in my Detroit-made vehicle for a Japanese model, made in America by non-union workers. For too long U.S unions have been in bed with the Donkeycrats (we see where that's gotten us). The most liberal, progressive, marxist-socialist Donkeycrat that's ever come along is about to take over and with him, the push to bail that industry out (disguised as a union payoff) has now become my second Pearl Harbor. My message to the Donkeycrats 'n their union thugs is plain: Never again will I buy a Detroit-made car/truck!!!
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 24, 2008 10:25:13 GMT -6
TX,
Thanks for the links. I avoid Chinese products like the plague myself.
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