Camping World Quality
I am a big fan of Good Sams and Camping World. I shop their often, and it is not close to me.... Lately I have been having issues with the quality of the products they are selling. Has anyone ...
Forum Discussion
luckyscroller788 wrote:
I may be offtopic here, but one thing that really confuses me is :
Sears sold Craftsman tools for way longer than I've been alive. They were very high quality, and were made in the USA. They were not low price, but compared to others like snap-on, they were priced affordable I feel, making them a good value. Now, the majority, if not all the Craftsman wrenches and such are made in China. I do not know how their quality compares to the US made ones, but what I do know is their price has not gone down in the stores.So, by outsourcing the production to China,I can only assume the manufacturing costs went down substantially, the quality may have went down as well, and the profit margin for Sears went way up on the craftsman tools,and a******load of American workers are now unemployed because of it, and still, Sears is struggling to make a profit.
I understand your point and see why you draw that conclusion but I think there is more to the story.
First of all you assume that Sears was making a profit in the first place on Craftsman... It was not it was in the Red. That means by sending the MFG overseas it has only started making a profit not increased it. But My Craftsman tools (the Wrenches and Sockets)I think still say "Made in America". Some of the other Craftsman tools like the electronics and saws and things I think are made overseas.
Secondly Sears didnt manufacture them. They spec'ed them out to conglomerate tool manufacturers...It was those factories that went overseas out of economic necessity. Sears really had no choice but to go along.
If I was going to do manufacturing in this country I would bring back the Big stuff...Locomotives, Ships, Aircraft (here already), wind turbines etc. where the skills and wages are higher and leave the small stuff like tools, stereos and TV's to overseas.
America is great at innovation, invention, finance and Software Design. our challenge is to make good middle class jobs in those industries where we excel. I think that is the real challenge facing us, not whether tools or car parts are made overseas.
