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

I am a vet and with an asian background.  Do you still want to call people japs (it is not too cool) and trust that it was not your intention.  There was a guy on eBay using similar language selling Honda shear bolts and hopefully that is not you.  IMHO education is the best way to compete whether you are a vet or not.  Uncle Sam paid for my education and I am glad I studied my ass off I can have a nice job and stable work.

 I am with you Joel.  If you make high quality products people will buy them regardless where they come from.  This is an essence of the free market - I do not buy an inferior product just because it is from a particular company, state or country.  I get to keep my job because I continue to provide quality work, have a passion for work and keep myself updated with unique skills.  I doubt my company will keep me because of my skin color or it feels sorry for me - although I am very good at getting some sympathy votes.  If you make junk, people will not buy them regardless where they come or how cheap they are.

I love made in Japan products.Quality is their highest value, they respect their customers, they respect themselves. They have not flooded our country.We need more.Unfortunately Yen is overvalued now, it is hurting their exports.They are being forced to outsource as a result.

Briggs,Tecumseh etc. were not high quality, reliable engines even when they were built in the US. An inferior quality item can be passed as quality to Americans. GM,Chrysler and Ford have done this for decades.People liked getting burnt over and over again.

As for made in China items, I see them as a waste of resources for the time being.If/when they put quality before quantity I might change my mind.But I do not call them names, I just try not to buy anything made in China as a way of doing my individual part.

If I am able to choose country of origin for an item (not engines only, in general) I look for made in Japan first, if it is not available I look for made in Germany,USA,Canada.I prefer Malaysia,Indonesia,VietNam over made in China. 

I got a BOSE earphones for something like 300 dollars.I was expecting the country of origin to be USA or Japan.But it was made in China.Probably it did not cost more than 20 dollars to make and import it here.The corporation who owns the brand makes the money.Not even the Chinese.

Same goes for Iphone.Workers manufacturing Iphones in China are committing suicides, they can not buy an iphone with a month's salary.Apple pockets the money.

By having things made in China, they are not selling them for cost or cost+a fraction of the cost in profit of course.They are making exorbitant profits.Not paying taxes here, getting bigger and bigger, hiring less and less domestic employees.

I read recently that at a salvage yard in Michigan they discovered a used metal cheese grater from China.It was radioactive.God knows what they made the metal from.Recycling disposed metal from a nuclear plant?

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/43576

A lot of Japan products have only a perceived quality.    Toyota is a good example.      They have had many hidden recalls on their cars and trucks. A friend of mine had his 2011  Camry into the dealer to have an oil and filter change.   He wondered why the service took so long to do.   After waiting for several hours, he decided to go into the garage area of the servive department.  
 He found out that they had his car's engine partially dissassembled and the bottom off the automatic transmission. .  He went to the Service Manager and it was explained to him that there were several recalls that needed to be done on the Camry.   My friend was upset because he had never received a notice about his car being recalled.  The Service Manager finally explained that Toyota has had a lot of recalls but the dealer is told to hide them and to do them when the car is in for regular service.  The reason that these recalls on the Camry were caught  was because when they worked on his car, the correct parts had not been ordered in for this particular recall.

Yes, Toyota owners stand behind their Toyota vehicles,  It is not safe to stand in front of them.

I had a Tecumseh engine on my snowblower, It only ran  reliable  for 23 years.Then I could no longer get parts for it.

Recalls started because American government invented a different standard for Toyota than the standard it applied on GM,Chrysler and Ford. Secretary of Transportation went on record saying not to drive Toyotas.Can you believe that?

Also outsourcing parts production to America and China played a big role in reduction of quality in Toyotas.Most recalled areas have to do with American-made parts.They do it to lower the cost of parts and it lowers the quality also.Proof? Markedly less recalls in Japan since mostly Japan-made parts are used there.

He had to eat it later when it turned out that it was some stupid drivers who could not tell accelerator from brake.