An LED striplight. After 1 month, BANG! A puff of smoke and a hole blown in the side of it. What I think used to be an inductor has exploded with enough force to rupture the casing. Funny thing is, it continued to work for a day, and now works if I tap it.
You buy electical or electronic goods from China and they ask "what stickers do you want on them". "We need CSA" we reply "Can you send us a sample?" they reply.
"No thank you, we'll buy somewhere else" So you find a supplier that knows what CSA is and has the stickers - and find out the same CSA number ia on 5 different products you order from them - - -
I admit, some of the electronics being offered online is quite tempting and at more than reasonable prices. Heck, for a lot of it, Youtubers have reviews, but seldom have follow ups a month or even a week down the road, so still hard to trust. Having an actual UL rating would add quite a bit to the price and the US is so accustomed to these cheaper rates, that most people will skip and look for the same so-called Chinese equivalent.
I had a dryer going bad a couple of weeks ago. I blew my budget on the holidays, however, so decided to opt for a gently used one. Once I found the one I was looking for, I decided to do online research to see whether or not it was made in the USA or elsewhere. In my case, it appears to have been made in the USA... at least I hope so. As time passes, it gets more difficult to tell. The actual parts may be made in China, for example, and then assembled here, but will that difference be mentioned on the tag? Probably not.
"built (or assembled) in the USA of world sourced parts" is one of the "honest" ways of marking product.
China is Fallout 4.
I saw three countries on something I bought, I think it was a CPU. Something like "fabricated in X, built in Y out of parts from Z".
I remember as a kid that everyone used to say 'don't buy that Jap crap', Cheap Japanese plastic goods had awful reputation; now look a the position of Japanese manufacturing.
In the same way Eastern European Car manufacturers used to be a joke ..... VW & Mercedes now made there. I drive a Skoda ..... would never have thought that 20 years ago.
So it is possible in 20 years time you may have a totally different view of Chinese goods .....
In the mean time - its a buyers choice, nobody makes you buy Chinese.
it is not your friends who buy you chink ....
That is down to investment in design. Quality comes from design and quality control of manufacturing processes. Such were never a priority in the old Eastern Block countries.
Yet 20 years, or more, Skoda owners were often polled as being the most happy with their choice of car. They were seen as reliable and the old Skodas won rallies.
I already have a high regard for Chinese goods. With care, they offer very good value.
Quite.
I believe the labeling requirements were removed but I remember seeing a
5 lb package of hamburger at CosCo that claimed the US, Mexico, and Canada as the country of origin. That was one well traveled cow.
Its only a Skoda by label.
Pretty well all electronics will include Chinese made components.
Odd the way people thought Japanese products 'awful' considering it was the reliability of their cars and motorcycles that killed the UK industry.
Skoda is no longer Skoda. Bit the same as Rolls-Royce.
More likely three well-traveled cows mixed together in a vat.
Cindy Hamilton
I have no idea what the Japanese were doing in their home market, but they broke into our market in the fifties and sixties with cheap tat, then innovative cheap tat like transistor radios, and only later did they take over the whole consumer mechanical and electronics market with top grade products.
The classic 'Japanese are crap' industry was motorcycles back in the '50s and '60s, but it turned out they weren't, at least not after a while, they were much, much better than UK or US made 'bikes.
I think they actually learnt very quickly. They got the reliability right pretty early on but the more difficult stuff like handling took a while.
Well, it is and it isn't on both counts.
I know someone who wouldn't buy a Skoda simply because of the name.
Must admit to not knowing how you can 'break into a market' with what you consider vastly inferior product? Unless, of course, there is a demand for 'cheap tat' And how people spend their money is up to them.
It might have some merit in principle if the UK only produced goods of the very highest quality. Sadly, this was anything but true.
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