Then you vastly limit your market to those that dont mind paying a higer price for goods.
Been watching the threads on Sears bashing for selling shitty tools?
So you are wearing Outsorced stuff and bragging about it.
Bit hypocritical, ne?
Gunner
I have not seen people bashing Harbor Freight wrenches. They seem to work as advertised.
Aside from that...
With the falling dollar, I now find that a lot of US made stuff is finally acceptably priced. For example, just 2 days ago I bought a USA made convertible hand truck for $100 from McMaster.
A Harbor Freight hand truck of similar construction is $49. I went to HF and compared them. There are many minor differences and the US version of it is much stronger. (material thickness, casters etc)
iI have a question about cost of wrenches. I thought that making wrenches is automated. There is not much labor cost in wrenches. They are stamped, forged, polished etc, and that all seems to be a fully automatable process with no need for much human input. Hence labor cost is not a big consideration. Am I mistaken?
i
Still lots of people needed. Technicians to monitor those machines and adjust tolerances to a specific criteria. Engineers for quality control, to design new products, build or modify the those automatic machines, packagers, shippers, delivery, and dozens of other areas I haven't mentioned. Agreed, automation has eliminated a good deal of the employee roster, but it brings it's own specific need when it comes to human involvement. The biggest difference between now and fifty years ago is that many of the skills have changed, but not all of them.
I look at Harbor Freight stuff as "good for light duty use only." The HF hand truck is fine if you're going to use it as 'raw materials' get out the welder and turn it into a mobile wire dispensing rack. Or use it semi-permanently for moving items at a remote location where it won't be getting hammered daily - cheap enough to leave on site, and it's there when you need it.
(Bought a $15 on sale HF hand truck for making a wire rack. Dad doesn't understand the subtleties - he saw it, grabbed it, and overloaded it with something the other commercial duty trucks we have around the house can take in stride... It now has a nice set of US made wheels that he bought after the plastic hubs broke right out.)
Or for the back of an open truck where if they cut the small chain and steal it you won't shed a tear. The chain cost more...
I would be VERY leery of buying mission-critical safety gear there, like a chain-fall hoist that would be used with personnel near or under the load - or as the load. You suck it up and pay the extra for a CM that is designed and certified for the duty. The right safety gear may be expensive, but it's still far cheaper than a funeral.
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PS: By the way, how did we get here from 'Please check syntax error...'?
"Things are more like they are now than they've ever been before"
-Dwight D. Esenhower
The cost of those automated machines is reflected in the cost of the tool. As others have mentioned there are a lot of poeple still involved in the manufacture of the tools - not everything is automated. Visions of a button pusher reclining in a Lazy-boy reading (looking at) nudie books are right out of a 1950's expo.
Pete
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