Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I was just in a Home Depot store and looked at the Sno-Tek's.  It is amazing they put a nice big sticker on the bucket that says "Made in the USA".  I guess the "Made in China engine" doesnt apply.  Good old marketing tricks.

No, the made in China engine doesn't apply.  Final assembly is in the US.  Actually if you considered a made in China engine excluding OPE from being "made in the USA" that would exclude 90% of all power equipment since even most of Briggs engines are made in China now.  So before you try to start a flaming thread maybe you should research a little bit so as to not sound so stupid.

He doesnt "sound stupid" at all..makes perfect sense..

He is simply saying that we know the engine is made in China..but the snowblower body is made in the USA..so Ariens put a "Made in the USA" sticker on the front of the machine..

which yes, I would also consider a bit of a "marketing trick" because its not completely honest..the machine is not 100% "Made in the USA"..but you might think so just by looking at the sticker.

"final assembly" is irrelevant..the sticker doesnt say "Assembled in the USA"..it says "MADE in the USA"..

in that respect, yes,  the sticker is a bit misleading..

Basically every American made product today from a Chevy Tahoe down to a Harley Davidson motor cycle has parts made in China nowadays.  It is just the reality in todays global manufacturing environment.  If he wouldn't have singled out one manufacturer as doing "marketing tricks" to call something American Made I wouldn't have jumped on his post, but its obvious from the tone of his post that he is just trying to slam one manufacturer for doing the same "marketing tricks" that nearly every manufacturer from cars to golf clubs in the US is doing.

I was gonig to buy the sno-tek with the chinise lct engine but where will i get parts for it if it breaks?

The original poster sounds neutral, no flaming tone was detected.  Did anyone else notice a flaming tone?  He also didn't sound "stupid", maybe a little vague in his intentions of the thread which can lead to a meaningful discussion, or something else.

I've seen the Sno-Tek at Home Depot.  They are priced low and built for economy.  To most people, buying a piece of machinery above a $1000 that is used 3 months out of the year is a serious consideration.  I don't think Ariens put these machines on the sales floor to piss off "snowblower aficionados and elitist."  There's money to be made from "average Joe" consumers. 

Fewer and fewer things are made in the USA.  Consumers in the USA wants it bigger, more powerful, better, and cheaper.  At the same time, they want to be paid more, receive more benefits, and more time off.  What a dichotomy.  How is this possible?

Adamj wrote:
Buy parts from the same store you bought the snowblower in the first place.  It will be already assembled to the snowblower.  No need to diagnose the problem and replacing part after the part.

Seriously, I don't know if there are parts distribution set up for these engines.  It may costs more to buy parts and pay somebody labor than to get a whole new engine.

I do think there is a flaming/trolling tone.  I don't think they sounded necessarily stupid though.

The point is the stickers that say "made in usa" don't mean that much.  I forgot the actual rule, but it depends on the a certain percentage of the invested cost in a final product.  In other words, a great deal of the product can be made somewhere else and still be labeled as made in the U.S.A. , as long as the final assembly or whatever is valued at the greatest percentage compared to the other components of the product.

B&S engines are made in China too. 

What matters is that Ariens put their name on the unit.  This means that they have at least some confidence in its success.

Ariens fan boys will see the original post as flaming. It's only normal for those who have an affection for a product (be it misguided or not) to resent anything that might possibly be construed as negative toward it. I'm certain that we all feel a little that way for brands of our preference. Nonetheless, I don't think the OP was outwardly bashing Ariens. On the other hand, if he/she are genuinely offended by the Chinese engine on an American built product, they're living a sheltered life. There are not too many things a person can buy these days without Chinese content. I'd be surprised if the LCT engine even has a "country of origin" sticker on it. I know that my Mitsubishi pressure washer engine doesn't and it's supposed to be from Japan. Yeah right! Japan via China. Same thing with my Champion engine on the generator. No mention of country of origin on it either. Although, the generator itself has a "Made in China" sticker on it. Not too long ago, I was ringing the alarm bell about the excessive amount of Chinese content in everything we buy. I was actually concerned about the well being of our manufacturing base. Considering how North American manufacturing in general have embraced Chinese productivity and cheap labour, I must conclude that my fears are unfounded.......

borat wrote:

Borat,

im curious what you mean by "my fears are unfounded"...

how is "North American manufacturing in general have embraced Chinese productivity and cheap labour" a *good* thing?

how is that good for the "well-being of our manufacturing base", when our manufacturing base is leaving..for China..

your comments seem to to contradict..

just curious..not trying to flame..just wondering what you mean..

thanks,

Scot

sscotsman wrote:

Tongue in cheek comment sscotsman. I do not condone the handing over of our manufacturing capabilities to a foreign country whatsoever. The point that I'm trying to make is that despite my outspoken disagreement with our country's dependence on a foreign country making all of our stuff, our manufacturers don't seem to mind it at all! One after the other they are sliding down the slippery slope to China. What's even more disconcerting, is that we're not even wise enough to spread the work around. We've pretty much handed the egg basket over to China. How many more years before they have us completely by the $#%*?