PILOT SPIN
Spin Zone => Spin Zone => Topic started by: Rush on October 27, 2022, 09:02:28 AM
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That's the phrase I was looking for to describe this phenomenon. Back before all the Made in China, you'd buy a pair of shoes and size was consistent, at least within a brand. Nowadays you can buy the exact same item twice and the fit is completely different.
Unintended consequences are HELL. We never should have shipped manufacturing overseas.
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A few years ago I bought two pairs of Levi jeans that fit identically.
A month later I bought another pair of the same make size and color. They were both too small in the waist.
On examination I noticed the first two were made in Vietnam, the second two in El Salvador.
I suspect the difference was due to differences in the fabric cutting equipment or its calibration and perhaps the source of the fabric. I would not think the difference was due to cultural differences between El Salvador and Vietnam for a global company like Levi.
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That's the phrase I was looking for to describe this phenomenon. Back before all the Made in China, you'd buy a pair of shoes and size was consistent, at least within a brand. Nowadays you can buy the exact same item twice and the fit is completely different.
Unintended consequences are HELL. We never should have shipped manufacturing overseas.
Last time I bought sneaks I must have went to 5 or 6 stores to find a pair. Nothing standard anymore.
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It’s a complex problem. I just completed my 40th tax season as a CPA, so I have some insight into US manufacturing.
To some extent, some manufacturing is transitory. The globe’s largest textile producer was once England. It then moved to New England, because labor was cheaper and it was closer to the source of cotton. Eventually the industry moved to the Carolinas for the same reason. And when I
Moved to Charlotte, the Carolinas were still suffering from the movement of the textile industry from the US to cheaper locations around the globe. Many industries have moved globally in this way.
The problem started when US manufacturers began moving production to our potential enemies. Moving to Guatemala or the Philippines is way, way different than moving production to China, for example. I blame globalists like Nixon, Jimmy Carter, GHWB, GWB, and Bill Clinton for allowing this to happen or to continue.
I was supporting of the Maquiladora movement a couple decades ago. Mexico was in our hemisphere, a rising tide lifts all boats, etc. However I am many manufacturers were burned by the corruption, crime, and infiltration of the cartels into these businesses.
We still make things. Our firm has over 6,000 manufacturers as clients. But we need to make more shit here. Now.
Trump was so right in trying to bring manufacturing home to the US.
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Bizarre. At the shoe store the other day I asked if they used those foot measuring things anymore. They said no, because standard sizes really don’t exist anymore. Everything has to be tried on in a range of approximate sizes.
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A few years ago I bought two pairs of Levi jeans that fit identically.
A month later I bought another pair of the same make size and color. They were both too small in the waist.
On examination I noticed the first two were made in Vietnam, the second two in El Salvador.
I suspect the difference was due to differences in the fabric cutting equipment or its calibration and perhaps the source of the fabric. I would not think the difference was due to cultural differences between El Salvador and Vietnam for a global company like Levi.
When I buy clothing and it seems good quality, I look at the tag and it says Pakistan or Vietnam. Much of what says China is only passable quality.
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Almost all new clothing sucks ass. Never fits right, and most seem to shrink after a few washes. And way too expensive for the wages they pay the sweat shop workers.
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It’s a complex problem. I just completed my 40th tax season as a CPA, so I have some insight into US manufacturing.
To some extent, some manufacturing is transitory. The globe’s largest textile producer was once England. It then moved to New England, because labor was cheaper and it was closer to the source of cotton. Eventually the industry moved to the Carolinas for the same reason. And when I
Moved to Charlotte, the Carolinas were still suffering from the movement of the textile industry from the US to cheaper locations around the globe. Many industries have moved globally in this way.
The problem started when US manufacturers began moving production to our potential enemies. Moving to Guatemala or the Philippines is way, way different than moving production to China, for example. I blame globalists like Nixon, Jimmy Carter, GHWB, GWB, and Bill Clinton for allowing this to happen or to continue.
I was supporting of the Maquiladora movement a couple decades ago. Mexico was in our hemisphere, a rising tide lifts all boats, etc. However I am many manufacturers were burned by the corruption, crime, and infiltration of the cartels into these businesses.
We still make things. Our firm has over 6,000 manufacturers as clients. But we need to make more shit here. Now.
Trump was so right in trying to bring manufacturing home to the US.
Nice summary Stan. As you know, it's not just labor costs but environmental regs, restrictions, layers of costly government Bureacracy costs businesses huge dollars. Add to that the high cost of labor here and companies go elsewhere or they are uncompetitive.
I also liked Trump's manufacturing policy and tariffs to attempt to get countries to negotiate tariffs lower and have fair and free trade.
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It’s a complex problem. I just completed my 40th tax season as a CPA, so I have some insight into US manufacturing.
To some extent, some manufacturing is transitory. The globe’s largest textile producer was once England. It then moved to New England, because labor was cheaper and it was closer to the source of cotton. Eventually the industry moved to the Carolinas for the same reason. And when I
Moved to Charlotte, the Carolinas were still suffering from the movement of the textile industry from the US to cheaper locations around the globe. Many industries have moved globally in this way.
The problem started when US manufacturers began moving production to our potential enemies. Moving to Guatemala or the Philippines is way, way different than moving production to China, for example. I blame globalists like Nixon, Jimmy Carter, GHWB, GWB, and Bill Clinton for allowing this to happen or to continue.
I was supporting of the Maquiladora movement a couple decades ago. Mexico was in our hemisphere, a rising tide lifts all boats, etc. However I am many manufacturers were burned by the corruption, crime, and infiltration of the cartels into these businesses.
We still make things. Our firm has over 6,000 manufacturers as clients. But we need to make more shit here. Now.
Trump was so right in trying to bring manufacturing home to the US.
Thanks for the interesting history. Agree, sending it to enemies overseas is largely problematic. It is very difficult to manage quality control from the other side of the planet in a culture with a completely different way of doing business. You send the American designer or engineer over to ensure they’re producing it according to spec. They’ll smile to your face, oh yes, yes, and do a run that complies, all is well, then after two weeks the engineer returns home and China drops the compliance and cuts corners. In the meantime you contract with Walmart to buy a million of them and by the time the shipment reaches Walmart and the inferior quality is detected it’s too late. They’re on the shelves and you’re selling them. So you go to another Chinese manufacturer, rinse repeat. We on the consumer end suffer the results clearly and continuously. Items that should last years if not decades have become consumables, you must buy a new one every few months.
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Thanks for the interesting history. Agree, sending it to enemies overseas is largely problematic. It is very difficult to manage quality control from the other side of the planet in a culture with a completely different way of doing business. You send the American designer or engineer over to ensure they’re producing it according to spec. They’ll smile to your face, oh yes, yes, and do a run that complies, all is well, then after two weeks the engineer returns home and China drops the compliance and cuts corners. In the meantime you contract with Walmart to buy a million of them and by the time the shipment reaches Walmart and the inferior quality is detected it’s too late. They’re on the shelves and you’re selling them. So you go to another Chinese manufacturer, rinse repeat. We on the consumer end suffer the results clearly and continuously. Items that should last years if not decades have become consumables, you must buy a new one every few months.
The fault of all of this is not just the politicians or the businessmen. A big part of the fault is us - Americans.
We are so willing to walk past a Main Street business to buy some deodorant at Walmart to save 75 cents, or buy a cheap Chinese socket set at Home Depot or Harbor Freight instead of a Snap-on or Craftsman socket set.
It’s already sometimes impossible to buy American made because WE created the foreign-made products.
I can’t stand when my wife shops at Walmart, but, and I see her point, where else can you get some of this stuff?
Amazon is just a 21st century Walmart, and Amazon will further destroy Main Street USA.
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The fault of all of this is not just the politicians or the businessmen. A big part of the fault is us - Americans.
We are so willing to walk past a Main Street business to buy some deodorant at Walmart to save 75 cents, or buy a cheap Chinese socket set at Home Depot or Harbor Freight instead of a Snap-on or Craftsman socket set.
It’s already sometimes impossible to buy American made because WE created the foreign-made products.
I can’t stand when my wife shops at Walmart, but, and I see her point, where else can you get some of this stuff?
Amazon is just a 21st century Walmart, and Amazon will further destroy Main Street USA.
Agree completely. The consumer colluded in bringing down quality by being cheap.
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The fault of all of this is not just the politicians or the businessmen. A big part of the fault is us - Americans.
We are so willing to walk past a Main Street business to buy some deodorant at Walmart to save 75 cents, or buy a cheap Chinese socket set at Home Depot or Harbor Freight instead of a Snap-on or Craftsman socket set.
It’s already sometimes impossible to buy American made because WE created the foreign-made products.
I can’t stand when my wife shops at Walmart, but, and I see her point, where else can you get some of this stuff?
Amazon is just a 21st century Walmart, and Amazon will further destroy Main Street USA.
It is our fault. We are short term thinkers. We think in quarters or even days now in the business world. They think decades or longer. Same with politics.
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cue Leary's lines from "In The Line of Fire"
Your average American businessman...
looks at a product, a marketing scheme, what haveyou...
and he sees the length and width ofit.
TheJapanese see the depth, the long-term effect.
We look at the next fiscal quarter.
TheJapanese look at the next quarter ofa century.
Try to get our people to understand that,John, huh?
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cue Leary's lines from "In The Line of Fire"
Your average American businessman...
looks at a product, a marketing scheme, what haveyou...
and he sees the length and width ofit.
TheJapanese see the depth, the long-term effect.
We look at the next fiscal quarter.
TheJapanese look at the next quarter ofa century.
Try to get our people to understand that,John, huh?
Oooh. Good one. John Malkovich is such a great actor.