Cheap Skate, Buy American, or Pure Quality Freak?

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: ramechanic4

Cheap Skate -

Buy American -

Pure Quality Freak -


As consumers it is unusual if we're given that many choices.

I recently was trying to buy a new iron for my dad to use at his "assisted living" home. I could find Chinese irons available everywhere, for as little as $9. Nothing was made in USA. And if there was an obvious "top quality" option - regardless of origin - it was not obvious to me.

 

[eljefino]

I'm a 4) tree hugging hippie.

Wife used to rent vehicles all the time for work, and we'd get 4% back on our gas credit card. (She got reimbursed for the fuel.) She often got Suburbans and that bugged me, even though we were making more money. (This was from Enterprise who had Burbans and Avengers, not much choice.)

I heat my house mostly with wood, bought from a local guy: in country, in state. Cheaper, better for the trade deficit, "natural" smoke biodegrades, etc.

If I see a tool made in USA it often has all these flags added to the packaging and many middlemen jacking up the price. I'm patriotic but of the extra $30 for the tool the worker on the line probably sees 50 cents.

I get a lot of stuff used and rebuild it. This counts as value added in the US... but angers industrialists who hope stuff will break faster so we'll buy new again. In the musical chairs of the economy, money trickles into my household then stagnates there.

 

[Spazdog]

I would say a little bit of all 3.

Yeah, I'm cheap. I accept that. But if the American made product is a reasonable amount more, I'll get that. (not 3X more like the price difference between my Chinese generator and a "US made of US and foreign components" generator....probably, "OK we bolt the Chinese engine to the Chinese generator and package it up for you....made in USA!")

Then there's the quality issue: A lot of people are going to look down and see a Mazda and a Chrysler. "Oh, he doesn't care about quality at all with those cars...." But I do. I didn't choose the Chrysler but I got good service lives out of my previous Chrysler products....certainly as good as any Ford or GM, (better than my GMs if I'm being honest) and the Mazda just plain drives better than everything in it's class. (drive quality)

 

[CivicFan]

I'm a Value Seeker.

I do not really care about the country of origin of a product. Sometime the value is in the cheapest product available, sometimes it's the highest. It's a trade-off based on the application requirements and the available budget. The application requirements include the length of use, the environmental and health impact, etc.

 

[Stewart Fan]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
I'm a blend of all 3 which I'd call "Value Minded". I buy American when I can but I'm not going to pay more for an inferior product. I buy local when I can but I'm not going to pay a super inflated amount more or severely limit my options to only buy local. I also evaluate the usage to figure out if I need "cheap" or "quality" i.e. use it all day everyday or use it once a year.


This pretty much summed up my feelings.

 

[benjamming]

Originally Posted By: ramechanic4

Buy American - Your the kind who looks at the label and complains when there's not an American alternative you can buy, even if it costs you a couple extra bucks, you'd like to support your fellow work'n man when possible. At the very least your gonna shop local at the little man stores for as long as they can fulfill your needs as a consumer.


This.

 

[Trav]

This question is more and more thought provoking the more i think of my buying habits and how i came to the decision to buy what i bought.
Great question!

My knee jerk response was i buy quality but i had to rethink that answer. Do i really buy quality or only what i perceive to be quality based on advertising hype and biased reviews.
On the other side of the coin, do i avoid products that maybe real quality because of some sort of stigma or perceptions about the country of origin of the product.
I have no answer at this point, i need to think a little more.

 

[OVERKILL]

Quality Freak. I buy what I feel is the best. Often, that is American stuff, but not always. I have plenty of German stuff as well.

 

[TurboLuver]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
Buy American AND Quality Freak
I'll steal a line from MacNeil: if my neighbor doesn't have a job, pretty soon I wont either. Outsourcing production is short-sighted and look where it got us.
There is nothing as annoying as: a cheap tool, an inferior product, poor customer service. And aren't we all proud of purchasing quality?



+1 on the entire post..

 

[needsducktape]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'm a 4) tree hugging hippie.



I get a lot of stuff used and rebuild it. This counts as value added in the US... but angers industrialists who hope stuff will break faster so we'll buy new again. In the musical chairs of the economy, money trickles into my household then stagnates there.

Bingo ! The The best environmental practice of all. Forget the cash for clunkers types of TRICKS & GIMMICKS...

rant off

 

[andrewg]

All three with value being the overall goal. Of course some items I feel a need to insist on pure quality above most other purchasing concerns. Last year, after taking some 'advice' from others regarding where to grocery shop.....I caved and decided to ignore the freakish Walmart shoppers and give them a try. HUGE mistake! While prices are indeed low, quality of Walmart products (especially store brand foods) really was AWFUL. I'd much rather pay a little more and get much better quality products (made in the USA or not). I still find myself going to Walmart though (yuck) but it's only for oil and such.

 

[JOD]

To me, the real answer is 'it depends'. My first choice for most hard goods: used stuff. This goes for tools, bike parts, cars--most durable goods. Stuff I buy new, I try to get local first, US-made second, countries paying a living wage next.

But I have my limits, and those limits are situational. I needed some hog ring pliers, quickly--and the options I found close to me were $5.00 Chinese pliers and $40.00 US pliers. I needed them that day, and I'll probably use them for one project and then never again. I bought the cheap ones. I'd have paid double the price for the US-item, but not 4 times as much. OTOH, I paid $50.00 for a Swiss-made spoke wrench, when I have several I've gotten for free--because it was worth it to me.

So, I guess I fall into the 'it depends' category. I'm guessing that's the case for a lot of folks.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

I'd fall into "value-minded". I try to buy the best product for the $. I don't like doing "repeat" work. Not picking on Fram in particular, but they're a great example.
I do buy American if it's not twice the price(like Fram) and actually a better product(unlike Fram). I would buy a 2-3 dollar oil filter from China/Korea over a 6 dollar Fram. If the Fram were priced around 3-4 tops, then I would buy the Fram. That's for single-use items. On long term items like mechanical parts, I buy the best possible priced within reason.

 

[rjundi]

I definitely do not go out of my way for #2 with the exception of furniture and food.

However I use #1 and #3 as criteria and fall into the middle.

 

[ramechanic4]

So who'd be interested in a store that you could walk into, and know that every single item you picked up was going to be American made, by an American owned company, and EXCEED all expectations for quality and material. The kind of products you put your hands on and feel the pride that went into designing and manufacturing it. Anyone?

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: ramechanic4
So who'd be interested in a store that you could walk into, and know that every single item you picked up was going to be American made, by an American owned company, and EXCEED all expectations for quality and material. The kind of products you put your hands on and feel the pride that went into designing and manufacturing it. Anyone?

Not if being American made was an automatic price hike because of labor unions. If I could find quality American made products at a reasonably competitive price....you bet. Being employed at a company where virtually all of my fellow coworkers are union members....I honestly don't equate pride and quality with American made.

 

[benjamming]

Originally Posted By: ramechanic4
So who'd be interested in a store that you could walk into, and know that every single item you picked up was going to be American made, by an American owned company, and EXCEED all expectations for quality and material. The kind of products you put your hands on and feel the pride that went into designing and manufacturing it. Anyone?


Of course I would. There is one store in Illinois I believe that claims this. I've sorta gotten accustomed to simply shopping for it all online though.

 

[callbay]

I buy American whenever I can but I also buy the highest quality I can find for most things. I try not to buy from China as I have had a lot of bad products over the years from there.

The hardest thing is buying cars. How do you find an American car anymore?

 

[NJC]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
There is nothing as annoying as: a cheap tool, an inferior product, poor customer service.

+10,000

 

[NJC]

As a Canadian, I am getting tired of being hosed/taxed on many items that I have little patriotic yearnings - so #2 is more of a nicety. A combo of #1 and #3 is where I fall ... I end up buying good quality items, and try to buy them used where possible and practical.