Ariens Sno-Tek sticker Original Message Dec 17, 2009 11:52 am
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..
This message was modified Dec 17, 2009 by sscotsman
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.
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?
I was gonig to buy the sno-tek with the chinise lct engine but where will i get parts for it if it breaks?
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.......
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,
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
This message was modified Dec 17, 2009 by sscotsman
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
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 $#%*?
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 $#%*?
oh good! I was a bit confused, having read some of your comments from the last week or so.. I guess I havent been here long enough to pick up on the sarcasm! ;)
I agree with you 100%..
My wife worked for a big international company.. production went to Mexico and China.. her and 60,000 of her coworkers are out of a job.. those jobs will never come back.. she has found some temp work, but at half her previous salary.. our family income is down by 40%..and it will never go back to where it was.. my own job hangs by a thread..for these same reasons..
I refuse to buy anything at Walmart..I cant stand the place.
well..I dont want to get into a big debate..I was just confused by your post! ;) thanks for clearing it up.. glad to see you havent slipped into complacency yet..
yeah. Every once in a while, I have to vent. I've been commenting on "Chinese content" for years. Approx. twelve years ago, while opening Christmas presents, it became abundantly clear that even then, China had produced 80% of the gifts under our tree. I've been relentless in bringing this to light since then. It would appear however, most people do not share this concern, or if they do, they're pretty good at concealing it. Now, twelve years later, our manufacturing sector is even more at risk because with the flood of North American/Japanese/European "know-how" being supplied to China, be it legitimate or stolen, has elevated their productivity and quality to a level that is very difficult to ignore. Two years ago, I would go out of my way to avoid buying a Chinese built OPE engine because the build quality was inconsistent . Now, I have no qualms whatsoever. Their engines quality has improved that much. Being that some components in B&S engines are built in China, we have virtually no choice but to buy a foreign small engine, like it or not. You are correct in pointing out Walmart as being the catalyst that began the exodus of blue collar jobs out of our countries. They completely changed the way business had been conducted between manufacturing and retail. I like to refer to Walmart as the "Great Wall Mart".
Hello to all, I am the original poster. In a way it was a bit of a slam to Ariens, after all just what does "Made in America mean these days"?, The tag caught my eye first thing! Leave the that tag off and all would be well. I realize it is a world market, just dont try and pull the wool over anyones eyes with a shiny tag.. Is that fair enough? The engine may be great. How many laid off workers will it take for this country to realize this. SAD Situation. I'm a young 60 yrs old and cant believe what is going on here. There will always be some politician to say ..."dont worry it will work out in the end." Sorry to get a bit political but that is our future...SNOW or NOT. MADE IN THE USA
The Made in the USA is misleading. Be careful about thinking that Made in USA means quality. However, there's something else that is not. "Made in China" means that the people who put these engines together are proudly displaying for the public to see. 60 and 15 years ago, we thunb down our noses at products made overseas from Japan and Korea. Look at where they are now. Let's not make the same mistake the third time.
US has to get competitive or all we can provide are weapons and services. If a pair of jeans already costs $60 and are made over there, who's going to pay for $200 jeans made in the US of A.
Re: Ariens Sno-Tek sticker Reply #16 Dec 20, 2009 1:28 am
Your reference to jeans caught my attention. A while back my wife and daughter were shopping for dresses at JC Penny's. I was bored and spent about 40 minutes walking through the store looking at everything and anything to see where it was made. The ONLY items I found that carried a "made in USA" label were blue jeans.
Lenin once said (paraphrasing) that a capitalist will sell a rope to someone for a profit even though he knows the buyer intends to use the rope to hang him with.
That's because the capitalists' greatest value is profit. All other values are secondary and dispensable as long as the first value is obtained. Any social reality is acceptable as long that first value is materialized.
The "rope" that China used was cheap labor. China went to American business leaders and offered to build products cheaper for them. American businessmen knew that outsourcing their manufacturing to China would produce quick and easy profits, so they went for it...even though they also knew that it would ultimately lead to their demise. They just could pass up the quick profit.
Re: Ariens Sno-Tek sticker Reply #17 Dec 20, 2009 10:11 am
Paul7 wrote:
Your reference to jeans caught my attention. A while back my wife and daughter were shopping for dresses at JC Penny's. I was bored and spent about 40 minutes walking through the store looking at everything and anything to see where it was made. The ONLY items I found that carried a "made in USA" label were blue jeans.
Lenin once said (paraphrasing) that a capitalist will sell a rope to someone for a profit even though he knows the buyer intends to use the rope to hang him with.
That's because the capitalists' greatest value is profit. All other values are secondary and dispensable as long as the first value is obtained. Any social reality is acceptable as long that first value is materialized.
The "rope" that China used was cheap labor. China went to American business leaders and offered to build products cheaper for them. American businessmen knew that outsourcing their manufacturing to China would produce quick and easy profits, so they went for it...even though they also knew that it would ultimately lead to their demise. They just could pass up the quick profit.
Ahhh, you left out one very important fact. Domestic manufacturers did not voluntarily close down their plants and rush off to China because they wanted to. WALMART caused the exodus many years ago when they became the dominant retailer in North America. A couple of years ago, PBS produced an excellent documentary on how Walmart forced American manufacturing to move to China. If you have a chance to see it, you should. It's a real eye opener.
Ahhh, you left out one very important fact. Domestic manufacturers did not voluntarily close down their plants and rush off to China because they wanted to. WALMART caused the exodus many years ago when they became the dominant retailer in North America. A couple of years ago, PBS produced an excellent documentary on how Walmart forced American manufacturing to move to China. If you have a chance to see it, you should. It's a real eye opener.
I'll look for it. Walmart just entered our local markets a few years ago so I don't know a lot about any historical influence they had.
quit bashing walmart. thet have what the public wants at a good price.i work for a family owned supermarket, who proudly displays a sign, american owned.but what do i see in the backroom, is cases of product coming from china and everywhere else in the world. why is that? money, money ,money , means profit's, profit's , profit's.i'm sorry to say this this but get used to it.i go to walmart when i want price and selection. the super stores are unbelievable. everything you want under one roof.every business is out for themselfs and that's the bottom line
quit bashing walmart. thet have what the public wants at a good price.i work for a family owned supermarket, who proudly displays a sign, american owned.but what do i see in the backroom, is cases of product coming from china and everywhere else in the world. why is that? money, money ,money , means profit's, profit's , profit's.i'm sorry to say this this but get used to it.i go to walmart when i want price and selection. the super stores are unbelievable. everything you want under one roof.every business is out for themselfs and that's the bottom line
you are entitled to your opinion.. I am entitled to disagree with you..
I have the same right to continue to bash walmart that you have to say "quit bashing walmart" ..
just because you hold a certain opinion, doesnt mean people who hold the opposite opinion have to shut up..
When Walmart puts your family-owned supermarket out of business, and you are out of a job, you will feel differently.. and make no mistake..it is Walmarts goal to put your family-owned supermarket out of business.. every business is out for themselfs and that's the bottom line ..and you cant win against Walmart.
Observing reality and recognizing responsibility is hardly "bashing". I suggest you watch the documentary and give yourself a mini lesson in recent changes in North American economics, manufacturing and retail. Scotsman's prediction is not in jest. What he's say is true. Mark his words, Walmart will be coming to a neighbourhood near you too. When it does, you had better get over there and fill out an application for employment because your present employer will be forced out of business.
Re: Ariens Sno-Tek sticker Reply #24 Dec 23, 2009 2:04 am
As others have mentioned, I would suggest Jack view the documentary if he hasn't done so already. There are ramifications that affect businesses and peoples lives. It will affect you and your family, eventually.
This is hardly bashing. It's an eye opener. Just because you vote with your pocketbook, ie bottom line, and "get used" to the situation doesn't mean there isn't something you can do NOW to change the future.
When and if you are old enough to care and vote for issues that are important to you, it is already too late. You are only putting in effort so that future generation can benefit.
let me know how we can change things.i'm just saying right NOW people want lower prices with no frills. and all you guys are entitled to your own opinions. but just go to a walmart super store and see how packed it is day after day. my company will not budge on it's mission so we are feeling the heat. not from just walmart but every drugstore and discount store selling food and general merchandise.competition is real hot and american owned company's have to react.
Well the US government has the power to enforce anti-monopoly and anti-trust statues...like they've done in the past. Ask ATT, Microsoft, etc. In fact if it wasn't for these statutes being enforced at the turn of the last century there would only be one US oil company today.
let me know how we can change things.i'm just saying right NOW people want lower prices with no frills. and all you guys are entitled to your own opinions. but just go to a walmart super store and see how packed it is day after day. my company will not budge on it's mission so we are feeling the heat. not from just walmart but every drugstore and discount store selling food and general merchandise.competition is real hot and american owned company's have to react.
You can start by not shopping at Walmart, or at least think about each dollar that you save there's a person job that's lost. If the flock of sheep is heading towards a cliff, there's no reason why you should too.
