Trying to be a good american........

[ssiredfish]

Well I am fortunate enough to be a 3rd gen. hardware guy. It helps that I can get anything you see in a hardware store for cost. BUT, here is the problem.....

A customer comes in and says I need a sprinkler head. I tell him this one is good, this is better and this is the best. Of course the better and best are U.S. made. "So I gotta get ripped off to get a descent sprinkler head???" NO!!!! You f'n moron!!! I gotta get ripped off because you buy cheap crap and support foreign markets which naturally makes ours go up!!! I make 26pts profit on my best sprinkler head. I make close to 70pts on the crappy one but which one was I tryin to get you to buy?!?!?!?!

I guess its like the whole recycling thing, 25% do it, 75% talk about how good it is for the world......

You guys think I need a break from retail?!?!?!?!

BTW, ACE Hardware TRIES very hard to keep American made products in our stores. You may pay a little more for it than Lowes and Home Depot but you'll get an educated response on install and upkeep and unmatched service at most all stores you visit. Thanks for your support.....

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by ssiredfish

BTW, ACE Hardware TRIES very hard to keep American made products in our stores. You may pay a little more for it than Lowes and Home Depot but you'll get an educated response on install and upkeep and unmatched service at most all stores you visit. Thanks for your support.....

I buy from ACE for exactly those reasons.. Never from Home Despot and rarely from Lowes. I like it when I walk in and I see someone I know behind the counter and I'm greeted with a friendly "Hi Paul". That, in itself, is enough to keep me coming back.. Besides, I don't like the business model that Home Despot uses... they come into a neighborhood with great prices on really good merchandise.... and a few years later, after they have driven out all the local hardware stores, they raise their prices and lower the quality of the stuff they sell... So I stopped buying from them years ago. And truthfully, a lot of times the prices @ Ace are BETTER than those at Home Despot... and the merchandise is a much higher quality. I use a ton of nuts and bolts both at work and at home... the Chinese crap isn't worth the metal it's made from...and Aces prices are usually better and the quality is always better.

Reel.... Well said.. I wish I had the intellect to form thoughts like that.

[phatdaddy]

i guess it's not quite as bad now here, we never had any real manufactoring jobs, mostly service & tourism. we have a very large military presence locally and a lot of jobs connected with that. as far as buying american, we all try, but price is the largest factor. i try to support locally owned merchants and commercial supply houses. not always the best price, but like destroyer said, they know my name. as far as the future, i can't see it getting any better. my wife is in education(30 yrs) and will be retiring soon & my daughter graduated last year with a bs in history(to teach). jobs so scarce, she went back to get masters, graduates in dec and will probably be subbing until something breaks.

i'd still rather be poor in the south,(warmer)

[randlemanboater]

When my wife and I started having kids, she stayed home with them until the youngest went to school, so for about 10 years we were POOR! I wouldn't have had it any other way, but it was very tough and extremely stressful...but since she is back teaching, we get along ok, not loaded by any means, but get to do a lot of fun things and my kids have more than they need.

Earlier I was cleaning up my email and ran accross this, it a guide to barcodes so you can tell what is from where when shopping.

The whole world is concerned about China-made "black hearted goods".
Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ?

If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .
This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the
public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA", so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode - remember if the first 3 digits are:

690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09 ... USA & CANADA
30 - 37 FRANCE
40 - 44GERMANY
471 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ...UK

BUY USA & CANADIAN MADE by watching for "0" at the beginning of the number.
We need every boost we can get! Pass this on to everybody on your E-Mail Contact List!!


If the government won't help us, we MUST help ourselves.

[ssiredfish]

Originally Posted by randlemanboater

When my wife and I started having kids, she stayed home with them until the youngest went to school, so for about 10 years we were POOR! I wouldn't have had it any other way, but it was very tough and extremely stressful...but since she is back teaching, we get along ok, not loaded by any means, but get to do a lot of fun things and my kids have more than they need.

Earlier I was cleaning up my email and ran accross this, it a guide to barcodes so you can tell what is from where when shopping.

The whole world is concerned about China-made "black hearted goods".
Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ?

If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.
471 is Made in Taiwan .


This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the
public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA", so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you may now refer to the barcode - remember if the first 3 digits are:

690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09 ... USA & CANADA
30 - 37 FRANCE
40 - 44GERMANY
471 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ...UK

BUY USA & CANADIAN MADE by watching for "0" at the beginning of the number.
We need every boost we can get! Pass this on to everybody on your E-Mail Contact List!!


If the government won't help us, we MUST help ourselves.

Yea its called the crap-o-meter. The lower the number the better the product. Except for france......should be somewhere in the 6's.......

That reminds me, i have an old french rifle for sale. Never fired, only dropped once.........

[charlie_the_tuna]

i can appreciate everybody's points. all are well thought out and expressed. BUT...... there are certain things that dont exist with the usa on the back. stupid little crap like the travel cases i had to buy for my kids video games. the headphones they use for their ipods. just the crap we all use in our everyday lives. watches. shoes. t-shirts. televisions. the computer you're all sitting behind. my underwear. we just cant escape it. i have made it my business to attempt to "look for the union label" but in many, many cases the union label just cant be found.
i'll start christmas shopping for my kids over the next few weeks and i'll just bet i wont be able to find one dam thing that was made in america. it's really depressing.

[step up here]

hey marc
just think of this, PUT A SIGN IN YOUR TRAIN !!!!!!!!!!
THIS CAR FOR AMERICANS ONLY

[cfelton]

I'm with yall, I try to buy American made when possible, but I buy Toyota vehicles because they are so reliable ( and are assembled in USA). When Walmart started they went on and on about" MADE in USA" products, you don't hear that anymore. I use to work for Union Camp Corp.( an American owned and operated paper and wood products company) which merged with (bought out by) International Paper Co. I was told that the new plant built in Brazil would'nt affect us, but a year later they shut the whole plant in Franklin Va. down sending 1500 people home. I was lucky to find another job with Nucor Steel to which I'm very proud and thankful to have! Nucor won't buy or use any Chinese made products! I really feel sorry for anybody struggling to find a good job in these times. But I hear alot of people complaining about not being able to find a job when there are jobs out there. It may not pay what you're use to, or be as clean or nice as you're last job but it is work and it does pay the bills. We at work just went through a shutdown for a week to repair some things we couldnt fix while running and the contractor co we use came in with almost 100% hispanic workers to help us do the work. It is dirty, hard but rewarding work. When I asked about why they hired all hispanic workers I was told they couldnt get Americans to do the work. I guess if they're getting money ta sit on their *** and do nothing, they're ok with it. I think anybody getting a FREE check should be drug and alcohol tested and cut off if they dont pass it. When I was out of work I cut grass, cut wood and worked at a local body shop to try and make ends meet. My family depended on me to provide for them and I didnt want to let them down. I would have shoveled $hit or done anything to make the needed money to keep my family going. I think some Americans have lost this feeling!! Just my two cents!!

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by cfelton

I'm with yall, I try to buy American made when possible, but I buy Toyota vehicles because they are so reliable ( and are assembled in USA).

This statement always bothers me as Toyota hasn't had that great of quality for the last 10 years or so. They've been turning out subpar work since the late 90's and using there rreputation that the ybuilt in the 70's and 80's to sell them. GM has been making great vehicles since the mid 90's, but to many people are still hung up on the 70's and 80's and some of the complete SH!T they turned out then. I work on cars out of my house, and TOZYOTA's are one I will not normally touch. Not because of morals, but because they end up costing me more to work on than I will make it in warranty repairs later on. Most all of teh imports are becoming this way for me at least. DODGE still needs to bring up there interior quality, but otherwise are also pretty good now as well. It just burns me when I hear peopel say how great the imports are, and then they continue to say how great they are even when they need thousands of dollars worth the repoairs when there are domestic vehicles running longer with less than half the repairs in many cases. As for the imports being assembled here and the domestic vehicles beig assembled elsewhere, we have nobody to blame but ourselves and the unions for this.

[cfelton]

I'm with yall, I try to buy American made when possible, but I buy Toyota vehicles because they are so reliable ( and are assembled in USA). When Walmart started they went on and on about" MADE in USA" products, you don't hear that anymore. I use to work for Union Camp Corp.( an American owned and operated paper and wood products company) which merged with (bought out by) International Paper Co. I was told that the new plant built in Brazil would'nt affect us, but a year later they shut the whole plant in Franklin Va. down sending 1500 people home. I was lucky to find another job with Nucor Steel to which I'm very proud and thankful to have! Nucor won't buy or use any Chinese made products! I really feel sorry for anybody struggling to find a good job in these times. But I hear alot of people complaining about not being able to find a job when there are jobs out there. It may not pay what you're use to, or be as clean or nice as you're last job but it is work and it does pay the bills. We at work just went through a shutdown for a week to repair some things we couldnt fix while running and the contractor co we use came in with almost 100% hispanic workers to help us do the work. It is dirty, hard but rewarding work. When I asked about why they hired all hispanic workers I was told they couldnt get Americans to do the work. I guess if they're getting money ta sit on their *** and do nothing, they're ok with it. I think anybody getting a FREE check should be drug and alcohol tested and cut off if they dont pass it. When I was out of work I cut grass, cut wood and worked at a local body shop to try and make ends meet. My family depended on me to provide for them and I didnt want to let them down. I would have shoveled $hit or done anything to make the needed money to keep my family going. I think some Americans have lost this feeling!! Just my two cents!!