Made in USA? Does it matter?

chitown35

chitown35

LOSER
A recent thread about axles got me thinking, how much does it matter if something is made in the USA?

Are certain materials better quality? E.g. US steel is generally regarded as the best in the world, anything else matter?

Are there other countries that you also have known to make superior products?

Or do you buy U.S. products just to prop up American workers?
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
I try to support the US worker and local economy to the best of my ability. Yes there are numerous products in my house along with all US households that are manufactured over seas and there is almost no way around it anymore. It's become the way of doing business today. US jobs end up getting outsourced because it's cheaper for companies to do business. Less regulations create lower wages further driven down by people desperate for jobs willing to work for less etc. Are products equal in quality sometimes they are, sometimes they are worse, but sometimes they are better. The big problem with companies over seas is they often steal patents, make cheap copies "knock-offs", under cut the original company and take their business which is rightfully theirs as they did the R&D even potentially putting them out of business. Sound fair to you? So when you ask buy US or not, I day do it to the best of your ability and stay away from the knock offs which support unethical business and often time crime. My two cents.

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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
chitown35 said:
A recent thread about axles got me thinking, how much does it matter if something is made in the USA?

Are certain materials better quality? E.g. US steel is generally regarded as the best in the world, anything else matter?

Are there other countries that you also have known to make superior products?

Or do you buy U.S. products just to prop up American workers?
Click to expand...

It means a lot to me and I try my hardest to buy American whenever possible. I think it's great to support American workers but I also know that I'm more likely to get a better product. Does it guarantee that you'll get a superior product? No. There are plenty of companies that make products here in the USA that I personally wouldn't run. American made product are simply made with higher quality materials and with significantly higher quality control or at least, for the most part.

While there are some countries that also manufacture quality products, a vast majority of what is made for the off road industry is made in China and they are NOT one of them. By and large, China made products use inferior materials and lack quality control. While a lot of what they make might be fine, I have simply seen way too many failures on too many Chinese made products. And, when it comes to my Jeep and the places I go with it, I'd prefer not to find out the hard way that I was the 1 in a hundred that got a bum product.
 
ROCK HARD 4X4

ROCK HARD 4X4

-
chitown35 said:
A recent thread about axles got me thinking, how much does it matter if something is made in the USA?
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It matters greatly, but not everyone sees the daily application. Here's a question you can always ask yourself when you see an for option made in the USA vs overseas: if your (you, reading this) specific job was outsourced to an overseas option, how much would you care? Sometimes you have to put yourself front and center of the question to see if it matters.

chitown35 said:
Are certain materials better quality? E.g. US steel is generally regarded as the best in the world, anything else matter?
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Yes. Years and years and years and years ago (decades), we looked at an overseas option. It was about the time we decided to go from garage to business. It's actually cheaper to have a completed part fully assembled, coated, boxed, and delivered to our door than it is in most cases to just complete a product here in the US. We decided against it and have never looked back. We got a look at the living conditions that those overseas workers must endure. There's a moral aspect to it that we just assume some of our competitors either don't care about or have just overlooked. Many manufacturers in the off road industry have fallen for profit margin gains but willing to suffer the human loss. To us, companies based here but who have their parts made overseas are just as guilty. Would you work those hours, in those conditions, for that pay, if the role was reversed?

chitown35 said:
Are there other countries that you also have known to make superior products?
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Some imported parts are fantastic. LED lights are a great example. Most come from overseas. Some are better than others. It's all about how invested the company is in their people as well as their part. Just like above, if the human factor is part of the equation, there's hope.

chitown35 said:
Or do you buy U.S. products just to prop up American workers?
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We certainly do.
 
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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
catahoula said:
So is every part on a Jeep "Made in America"? Nope.
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Nope, not even close and it's a real disappointment. Hell, the most American made car today is the Toyota Camry and that's because Toyota realized that it would be more cost effective to make their number one selling car here in America rather than to pay steep taxes and tariffs importing them. Again, for me personally, I simply "try my hardest to buy American whenever possible". I want to help support American labor and I personally find American made products to typically be made with a higher standard.
 
RESURECTIONJK

RESURECTIONJK

Hooked
Every chance I get I try to buy USA. It's not 100% possible these days but you can get pretty close. Something that I feel, and I'm going to tread lightly and sort of broad stroke here is that, there are quite a few USA companies hiring Vets coming back from war. So I feel like it's even one more reason to support the American worker.


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Edwrds

Edwrds

Caught the Bug
I'm sorry to say I never gave it much thought, until I joined Wayalife. Reading post from Eddie and others made me change my mind!! Now I try to only buy made in America. Yes you do see a difference in the quality when it's made right here at home [emoji631].


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Simm5

Simm5

New member
Being a union boilermaker I try to buy American made. It's difficult most of the time. What makes me try to buy U.S. made is that my job can very easily be sent overseas.


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trailraider

trailraider

Active Member
I try to buy north American, not much other then oil comes form Canada.
my buddy bought this
here is a picture of a smitybilt cargo box right out of the package. wasn't even assembled correctly. really? how hard is it to insert a drawer?
quality control at its best

Jays iphone 003.jpg .

Jays iphone 002.jpg
 
daddyusmaximus

daddyusmaximus

New member
I'm not blind to the fact that we are part of a global. This can be a good thing if there is a product that another country can offer that we don't have. However, buying American made products (hard as it is these days) is a priority with me. Yes, a big part of that is my having spent so long in this countries uniform, but even so, I just feel that any citizen (or wanna-be leader) should always put the welfare of their own people first. Buying local helps your community. I don't mind helping other countries, in fact that's pretty much all I did as a soldier, but I find it poor taste when an American company gets rich off a product made overseas. I still end up buying a great deal of foreign made products, (like this computer) but I buy American every chance I get. If I was from another country, I'd be proud of that. I see no shame on being proud of who you are. I'm an American.
 
longarmwj

longarmwj

New member
I always try to source american products when I build a rig. To my knowledge everything minus the headlights and tail lights on my WJ are american made.

My WK2 on the other hand....I'm having to go the Australians for that :cheesy:
 
chitown35

chitown35

LOSER
The more I think about this concept, the more offended I think I am by our governments' (state and federal) priorities. If any American is in a job that they fear going overseas, I call that a failure of our education system to not put Americans in a better position, and/or a failure of negotiating fair trade deals that take into account labor conditions and intellectual property enforcement, or else include non-compete clauses.
 
notnalc68

notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
chitown35 said:
The more I think about this concept, the more offended I think I am by our governments' (state and federal) priorities. If any American is in a job that they fear going overseas, I call that a failure of our education system to not put Americans in a better position, and/or a failure of negotiating fair trade deals that take into account labor conditions and intellectual property enforcement, or else include non-compete clauses.
Click to expand...

Or the fact that the public is willing to use what amounts to near slave labor to save a couple of bucks.


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chitown35

chitown35

LOSER
notnalc68 said:
Or the fact that the public is willing to use what amounts to near slave labor to save a couple of bucks.


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Click to expand...
I can't fault the public for that though. If it wasn't cheap labor, it'd be no labor and starvation. And the public / economy in that sense can't be controlled anyway - free markets, even if illegal and immoral will always find a way.
 
sipafz

sipafz

Caught the Bug
This thread brings up some great discussion points. I have been in employed in the manufacturing sector for 28 years. My company was locally owned when I started, sold after 10 years to a Swedish conglomerate which lasted 12 years and then sold again to some local fellas for the last 6 years. The fact is that we live in a shrinking world. I'm the first one to say by American, but like others have mentioned, it can be unrealistic or impossible in some cases. When my company was foreign owned, my friends and family would occasionally challenge me on this point by saying "You work for a foreign owned company" and they were right. I could only follow with, while that's true, they are supporting American manufacturing. I have a bigger problem with American companies that blatantly outsource even more than foreign companies and their imports. It pained me when I bought my first Jeep (Diamler) and fourth and latest Jeep (Fiat) this year. I guess I justified the purchases knowing that "Chrysler" has and continues to be a good customer of my company although I'm not thrilled about how things have progressed with them. At the end of the day, we are fortunate to be free to do what we want with our money, but I will always look for opportunities to support American workers whenever possible!
 
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