got fordf159-maybe part of it made in us,honda car maybe part of it assmbled in us, a toyota that is 14 years old,doubt if any of it was made in us,a kioti tractor,3 echo saws and two echo trimmers,made in canada I think,toshiba and sony tv,etc etc,guess you could say for me its not important.
How Important is Made in the USA?
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mjncad
Super Member
YES get it made in USA. I'll pay 10% more, especially if you include the shiny foil USA flag label on a nice paint job!!!!
Just make sure the foil flag wasn't made in China.
Well put.
If the tractors are able to be shipped in a container, then shipping becomes negligible. I was watching a show on one of the cable networks about container shipping. It is so efficient that on average container shipping adds 1/2 of 1% to the cost of an item. If they are not able to be container shipped, then I don't know what the shipping costs are; but cars are shipped all over the world in car-carrier ships that lowers the cost significantly.
The reason for lighter weight is to save on materials, which becomes an easily controlled cost saver to manufacturers. Before modern CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) software, engineers over-engineered an item to be safe. Now the computer allows them to get closer to the fine line of safe and unsafe.
Well put.
schmism
Super Member
In a world were walmart rules as king.... i highly doubt your increase price in order to put 100% made in USA on the side will fly.
If i can get 80% the quality for 80% the price.... thats what im going with. 9 times out of 10 im never useing that last 20% in quality anyway.
But take my input with a grain of salt as i *NEVER buy brand new implements anyway...
If i can get 80% the quality for 80% the price.... thats what im going with. 9 times out of 10 im never useing that last 20% in quality anyway.
But take my input with a grain of salt as i *NEVER buy brand new implements anyway...
Builder
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LOL
Disagree. When a company holds board meetings, they discuss any/all options for cutting costs. I remember when either Dodge or Ford opted to put a small plastic check valve ball in their automatic transmissions that saved them about $1 per transmission over a steel check valve ball. However, they sold over 1 million of them per year. That converts to a 1 million/yr cost savings. Therefore the plastic ball was used. If a tractor company saves 1% on a 30K tractor in shipping, that's $300/unit. If they're a company like Kubota that sells tens of thousands, thats' $3 million dollars saved. So yes, i would believe they would lighten them to save on shipping. It's also the reason tractors are shipped without wheels, tires, loaders, etc and then prepped here. It saves on shipping weight and size, too!
I like the old "over-engineered" way better.
BeeferMan
Gold Member
When I watch a old NH hay baler run I am in awe of the quality in construction and design that have that piece of machinery cranking out bale, bale, bale - after 30, 40, 50 years and who knows how many 10's or 100's of thousands of bales.
On the other hand some of the biggest junk I've ever bought was "Made in the USA" by people who quite obviously really didn't give a crap about what they were building.
I can remember lots of times looking a something I bought and saying to myself "I should have paid some more and got the better one", but I can't ever remember saying "I wish I had spent less, I really don't need anything this good..."
So within reason, my priorities are - quality, parts availability, price - in that order.
On the other hand some of the biggest junk I've ever bought was "Made in the USA" by people who quite obviously really didn't give a crap about what they were building.
I can remember lots of times looking a something I bought and saying to myself "I should have paid some more and got the better one", but I can't ever remember saying "I wish I had spent less, I really don't need anything this good..."
So within reason, my priorities are - quality, parts availability, price - in that order.
merrickvilleguy
Gold Member
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ultimately comes to ROI for me ... if the lost work/repair cost/hassle/etc from a lower cost item outweighs the difference in price, I'll pay the extra. That being said, if the price is negligible, I'll buy local over imports any day, given my customers are also my vendors, and keeping them employed means I can sell them stuff. (Not saying I am keeping them employed on my own, but, if everyone else does the same thing it adds up)
dcyrilc
Elite Member
I'll pay more for a superior product...not necessilarily American. Same price, same quality...I'll take American/Canadian over forein. But then, I've never found much use for low quality tools either.
I buy what's best for my dollar. I don't care where it's made. I work for a Swiss company, I'm not about to quit becuse they're foreigners. Do what's best for your business, build a good product at a price point where you can sell, and take care of your customers.
Builder
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I see the same thing. IH, Deere, NH, etc. old, heavy farm machinery actually run longer than cheaper pieces bought more recently that went belly up and the old machinery is STILL running, the newer pieces are scrapped or sold.
I still do that, too. Many times I have bought an inferior product only to save a mere 10-20%. I wish I didn't do that, but still do sometimes.
i'd be happy with a completely: "made in north america" product. aside from putting mayonnaise on french fries, our neighbors to the north of the border are pretty similar to us, and i'd hate to make any decisions that would cut them out, since they are such close neighbors.
i worked in steel fabrication for many years, and a large portion of small hot rolled shapes (the sizes used in small farm equipment, trailers, etc.) used to be rolled in canadian mini-mills. i'm not sure if that is still the case. i remember working jobs where we required domestic material only, so we were unable to use the canadian product, even though it was completely up to our standards.
i'm not one to want to place blame or complain about quality, but most people will agree that the quality of inexpensive metal products being imported from asia is not as good as we'd like to see. that's really not the case with canadian products. they're a nation very similar to ours. same language for the most part, similar lifestyles, industry, standard of living, etc. i live in a border state so i see a lot of people coming in to shop here, so i'd like to think that while we want to keep things closer to home, canada is close enough to be included. i have also worked in mexico in the past, and i can't say the same. crossing that border does put you in a different world.
i worked in steel fabrication for many years, and a large portion of small hot rolled shapes (the sizes used in small farm equipment, trailers, etc.) used to be rolled in canadian mini-mills. i'm not sure if that is still the case. i remember working jobs where we required domestic material only, so we were unable to use the canadian product, even though it was completely up to our standards.
i'm not one to want to place blame or complain about quality, but most people will agree that the quality of inexpensive metal products being imported from asia is not as good as we'd like to see. that's really not the case with canadian products. they're a nation very similar to ours. same language for the most part, similar lifestyles, industry, standard of living, etc. i live in a border state so i see a lot of people coming in to shop here, so i'd like to think that while we want to keep things closer to home, canada is close enough to be included. i have also worked in mexico in the past, and i can't say the same. crossing that border does put you in a different world.
