At 10:40 PM 7/2/2008 -0700, old dirtbeard wrote:
>Once a year or so, I have the need to jump in on a thread with the plaintive
>plea of "please don't buy cheap tools." Order your stuff from McMaster-Carr,
>buy Milwaukee electric, Starrett gauges, Simpsom meters, Wilton vices, etc.
>You will never regret it.
While I agree with your sentiment, I have to stop and wonder what's going
on here. As you point out..
>I know the non-shop talk folks will buy HF detritus, but if the shop talk
>folks buy the same detritus, who will buy the quality tools and assure that
>quality tool providers exist?
We the buying public are to a good extent to blame for the offshoring of
so many of the jobs in our country. We want everything cheap! So to
cut costs, the manufactures went to places where they could get unskilled
labor and facilaties cheap! Consiquently, the products we get back are
cheap and less expensive than items made in country.
Advertisers and manufactures are also to blame. The have dropped the ball
by not pushing the fact that their products are made in our country or that
it helps keep jobs here.
That said, I think they are also to blame. My personal belief is that they
got complacent and greedy. How much does to cost to make and sell
something? I needed a set of impact sockets back in about 88. I went
to Sears to purchase a Craftsman set. They wanted $56. At that time
NorthernTools was in the area, and they only wanted about $10 for a
set. I'd have gladly paid $15 to $20, but 5 times the price of the cheap
junk? I've had the same impact socket set, and several other cheap
sets for about 20 yrs and haven't had a problem with them.
I remember the 1st socket set I purchases, an Industro 3/8" drive set
back in about 1967. It cost me $20 and took me a month to save that
much money out of my pay check. I was working part time (while still in
high school) and making $1.15/hr. I still have every piece of that set, and
it has always been the 1st tool I go for in my tool box.
>Buy tools that you enjoy using. Tonight I needed to pull out my 30 year-old
>Simpson 260 meter for some measurements -- what a joy to use this precision
>instrument.
Yes, some tools do have a feel. I could never justify the $260 for a Simpson
260 meter. I purchased a $35 Radio Shack meter on sale for $20 back
years ago. It has served me well. When I worked for Radio Shack back
in the mid 70s, we had a meter that was to compete with the Simpson, but
not quite as good. The Simpson case was a lot better the ours. We sold our
meter for $80. Our store paid $17 to purchase the meter. Again, I think
that
much markup is a little steep. I must admitt that we didn't sell that many
so
they sat on the shelfs for quite a while. Consiquently, we had to charge a
lot
for them. But what if we'd dropped the price to say $50, and sold more?
I guess I'd better get off my soap box now. Thanks for listening.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair1948@cox.net
Va. Beach, Va
Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 48 #4 Midget 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V (B1106)
75 Bricklin SV1 (#0887) 77 Spitfire 71 Saab Sonett III
65 Rambler Classic
Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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