Text 23048, 62 rader
Skriven 2011-11-23 07:44:12 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 23039 av Nicholas Boel (2395.fidonews)
Ärende: Price and durability (was: See what I mean...read the bottom line)
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Nicholas Boel wrote to Ross Cassell on Tuesday November 22 2011 at 21:05:

RC>> I cant find many things made in the USA any more, although I am not
RC>> saying thats entirely the fault of unions, a fair number of the
RC>> reasons are..

NB> Though the stuff the USA *DID* make before outsourcing to other
NB> countries was a hell of a lot more durable, too. Take Tonka for
NB> example...

What's "Tonka", just for those of us who don't live in the States and don't
have small children? Sounds Polynesian, but doesn't ring any bell with me.

NB> I wouldn't buy a new one of those toys for my kids nowadays. They're
NB> junk. When they were made here, they were virtuall indestructable.
NB> Could that have been a reason it was more expensive as well? Sure.
NB> Would the sheep here in the USofA rather buy crap that will fall apart
NB> in less than a year because it's 5 bucks cheaper? You're damned right
NB> they would!

In the case of toys, I would tend to share that attitude. My experience with
such stuff, when my son was young, was that they were interesting for max. 2-3
weeks (mostly less), after which they were ignored and at some point were
thrown or given away.

NB> I would much rather buy something that's more durable but cost a
NB> little bit more. A lot of people don't think that way, unfortunately.

All depends on what you need, want and expect. For example, some people want a
car to last forever (I do - my Mazda station wagen was built in 1992 and still
runs perfectly), whereas others are desperately unhappy if they don't buy a new
car every two years.

Some people buy a computer every couple of years, just to keep up with the
technology. Others keep using old hardware forever (in computerese, that means
maybe 5 years <g>), again like me - my fido server is age-old, with a 500 MHz
AMD CPU and a 2GB SCSI hard drive. My "work" (main) computer, however, is only
around 3 years old.

It takes all kinds, and durability isn't necessarily an end to itself -
unnecessary durability that most people don't want or need is just a waste of
money. But it's always a trade-off: pay more and you often (but not always) get
better quality and more durability.

As for the reasons why American goods manufacture has declined so much over the
years, there are surely dozens of reasons and not one of them is the _sole_
one. Note that much innovation still comes from the USA, even when goods are
manufactured overseas. Nations as well as people tend to specialize.

Cheers, Bob

P.S. The German unions are at least as powerful as the American ones, but are
so intermeshed with politics that it's sometimes hard to tell the difference
between them and the government. They also negotiate industry-wide contracts
here (often with escape clauses for smaller, less profitable companies), which
makes for fewer strikes than when contracts are negotiated for individual
companies. The legal requirement for a strike (2/3 of the union members must
vote in favor before any strikle action, but only a majority must vote to
return to work) also tends to limit their duration.

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