Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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Silv, I used to like our Johnson Carper couch. That was thirty some years ago, and really I was not aware that much of the it is now imported.
What gets me is that they can afford to ship the goods overseas and still under cut US prices. I do agree though that alot of the problem is with management. As US companies got rich they seemed to adopt a "take it or leave it" attitude.
I read an article a long time ago when it was the Japanese doing it. There was a statement that I will never forget "America companies use cost driven pricing while Japanese companies use price driven costing". Seems a bit cryptic, but I understand. At US firms the final drawings come off the board and everything is added up, and then the price is set. At a Japanese company the engineers are told "We are going to sell this product for X, make it happen". At least that's how it used to be.
I will speak from my industry now. When you buy new electronic goods, they are almost unservicable. Almost, and that is where I am, in that gray area. Whose fault is this ? First of all for the manufacturer there is no fault, it is their job to build it. The main thing is to make it outlast the warranty and that is it. Literally, when you buy a new TV for example, literally divide the cost by how many months of warranty and consider that your monthly cost. If you get any more longevity on it than that, consider yourself lucky, and when it breaks down out of warranty and you actually find someone who CAN fix it, consider yourself even luckier.
I know enough about engineering to know they are built that way for the most part because they have to be built that way. If you want a 42" TV that is only 4" thick, it would be ludicrous to think something like that would be easy to service. It is simply not possible to make it so. I realize that but sometimes it seems they go out of their way to make it more difficult. I will not officially lodge that charge against all manufacturers, but there are some cases when I am sure they do.
What they actually do deliberately is a crime, to make parts unavailable. Buddy of mine bought a new HDTV, a DLP last April. It broke down around Thanksgiving. I am not warranty authorized so of course I won't touch it, that's their job. He calls factory service and they come out, only to find that the part is not available. He is not the only one and the Ohio attorney general is on it, although what they can do to a company in China is unknown. Likely very little.
If you pay three grand for a TV I don't think it is unreasonable to get say five years out of it. In the case of a DLP you might have to clean the air filters and change the bulb every year but that is maintainence. Those bulbs I might add, cost about $200 each. Add that to the monthly figure when you figure cost of ownership, but in this case it is still under factory warranty and parts are simply not available, even after he took $200 out of pocket for a new bulb.
There used to be laws about making parts available for seven years or something like that, but those days are over. There also used to be laws keeping comglomerates from buying up all the media outlets and those days are over as well. You won't be hearing about how many people got screwed on the local news, the retailer that sells these things advertises there.
As a result, rampant consumerism in the US is not only filling the banks in China, but our own landfills. Three thousand dollars, three years old, throw it in the garbage.
I refuse to buy this crap, and if everybody else did this situation could be corrected. Remember commercials for TVs that used to tout reliability and servicability ? Now it is all about performance, no matter how short lived that might be. Consumers have been taught to only think in the here and now.
I remember another saying "A business grows too fast, falls too hard". Indeed, US manufacturers would resist growth. Not completely refuse to expand their scale of operation, but to think carefully before pouring money into more plants and machinery and whatever. As they thought about it, the demand for their product was sustained quite well. Years ago I worked for a Sony "Signature" dealer and we had waiting lists for certain models. Now people have to have everything RIGHT NOW and the Chinese are happy to oblige, wouldn't you ?
The way they did it in the old days resulted in a sustained, yet continuous growth. It meant job security for everyone involved. Now, just as the consumer wants everything right now, the manufacturers want every penny they can get right now. This is the root problem and it is pretty much world wide.
If a company needs to outsource, or even build a factory offshore to remain competitive, that's what they must do, for themselves, and for the stockholders. It is their job. In reality it is the government that created the problem with their free trade agreements. When they make it a viable, attractive option to outsource, that is what the company must do. Period. You are not CEO to think about urban strife, poverty or any other crap like that, your job is to make as much money as possible by any legal means, unless it is something that would significantly harm the company's image.
Do respond, or mail me about this post, because I want to see how others see it. I see things differently than most, and I know why. I am self and family educated, I try to see the big picture, and look at all sides of an issue, and if it seems that I am placing part of the blame on the US consumer, that's because I am, I intended to. People must take part of the blame on this issue, as well as the political mess we're in. We get crappy politicians because none of us can go out and find someone who would make a viable candidate who would be loyal to us, go through the long term plan, keep their nose to the grindstone as we elect them dog catcher, councilman, mayor, congressman, senator and eventually President.
We don't think long term, and people have lost sight of one logical fact. Say the door is open, go up to someone who walked through the door and say "You left the door open". They will deny it of course, but the fact is that EVERYBODY who walked through the door left it open because otherwise it would be closed.
This type of logic, that I might even call a "quality" is lacking in people these days. Like at work, I say where is X ? Guy replies "nobody took it". What is he saying, that it sprouted wings and flew away ? We are not talking about a screwdriver here, this was a big mirror.
It seems the logic is gone. Common sense was right with it when it left it seems.
T
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RE: The China Price - 
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