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There's a great YouTube channel, Project Farm (https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm/videos), that features a singl

There's a great YouTube channel, Project Farm (https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm/videos), that features a single guy testing, grading, and comparing all kinds of things you might find in your garage. He's not sponsored and tries to be objective throughout the process. It isn't perfect but he puts a ton of effort in and for backyard science it's pretty good. Anyway, he mentions country of origin for a lot of tools and there's a clear trend towards better results for items made in the USA. Obviously China is perfectly capable of producing high quality products, but regardless of the details of the causes, the end result is that "made in the USA" is a reliable signal for higher quality products.

nostromo 4y ago
China has a “caveat emptor” culture that I suspect plays a role in this. In most western countries and other countries, like Japan, selling counterfeit or barely functional products is seen as somewhat shameful. But in China it’s often seen as being clever or cunning. Chinese consumers are used to this and are very cautious about what they buy and from whom, and of course negotiating a reasonable cost for the goods being sold. In the US and most of the west, consumers feel entitled to a basic standard of quality, even at the lowest prices. This leads to consumers being confused in the west when they buy very cheap goods from China and the quality is crap. Well, yeah, you got what you paid for.
- collegeburner 4y ago
  yea i've seen the attitude extend to college here, we generally have some idea that cheating is wrong but most of the chinese students i met seemed to think it was fine if they could get away with it.
  - VectorLock 4y ago
    My SO is a professor at a university with a lot of foreign students and she mostly only has to deal with cheating with this cohort of students.
- Teever 4y ago
  It's not that it's seen as merely shameful in other countries, it's that it's seen as fraudulent and illegal. Trying to play fraud off as a cultural difference and misunderstanding is frankly bullshit victim blaming.
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    Whether you're angry about this depends on which culture you subscribe to.
    - wyclif 4y ago
      I dunno, I think just about any person would be angry if the Chinese-made electric clippers they just plugged into a wall outlet exploded in their hand.
  - londons_explore 4y ago
    'barely functional' isn't fraud. And in most cases the cheapest made in china product is barely functional. It's only deliberately selling nonfunctional products that would meet the definition of fraud.
    - Teever 4y ago
      There are whole industries where it's unacceptable to ship 'barely functional' products -- aeronautics for instance. We should be striving to expand this to more industries not the other way around.
      - eru 4y ago
        Different standards for different contexts. Not everyone shares your preferences.
    - granshaw 4y ago
      Plus selling barely functional products under a DONGJOY etc brand isn’t fraud, only trying to sell a counterfeit Prada bag under the Prada brand is (and only in Western countries at that)
- eru 4y ago
  This discrepancy is not necessarily a bad thing. It's basically how western companies why manufacture in China can add value, by doing that kind of quality control and building a reputation. (Of course, Chinese companies can do the same when they sell to foreigners.)
WheatM 4y ago
Aperocky 4y ago
I would be interested at the price points of these comparisons. If the ones he bought from China is 1/4 the price it seems a bit unfair to expect the same quality. If the average of the product he reviewed from China is cheaper than the ones from US, then they should be inferior in quality as well - it's a (mostly) free market and you get what you paid for.
bityard 4y ago
For hand tools, the highest rated brands tend to be German or Japanese, with US made tools coming in second or third. Just my observation, anyway.
- voxadam 4y ago
  Some the the best power tools come from Liechtenstein. Hilti makes a solid tool but they're far from cheap.

nostromo 4y ago

China has a “caveat emptor” culture that I suspect plays a role in this. In most western countries and other countries, like Japan, selling counterfeit or barely functional products is seen as somewhat shameful. But in China it’s often seen as being clever or cunning. Chinese consumers are used to this and are very cautious about what they buy and from whom, and of course negotiating a reasonable cost for the goods being sold. In the US and most of the west, consumers feel entitled to a basic standard of quality, even at the lowest prices. This leads to consumers being confused in the west when they buy very cheap goods from China and the quality is crap. Well, yeah, you got what you paid for.

collegeburner 4y ago
yea i've seen the attitude extend to college here, we generally have some idea that cheating is wrong but most of the chinese students i met seemed to think it was fine if they could get away with it.
- VectorLock 4y ago
  My SO is a professor at a university with a lot of foreign students and she mostly only has to deal with cheating with this cohort of students.
Teever 4y ago
It's not that it's seen as merely shameful in other countries, it's that it's seen as fraudulent and illegal. Trying to play fraud off as a cultural difference and misunderstanding is frankly bullshit victim blaming.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  Whether you're angry about this depends on which culture you subscribe to.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    I dunno, I think just about any person would be angry if the Chinese-made electric clippers they just plugged into a wall outlet exploded in their hand.
- londons_explore 4y ago
  'barely functional' isn't fraud. And in most cases the cheapest made in china product is barely functional. It's only deliberately selling nonfunctional products that would meet the definition of fraud.
  - Teever 4y ago
    There are whole industries where it's unacceptable to ship 'barely functional' products -- aeronautics for instance. We should be striving to expand this to more industries not the other way around.
    - eru 4y ago
      Different standards for different contexts. Not everyone shares your preferences.
  - granshaw 4y ago
    Plus selling barely functional products under a DONGJOY etc brand isn’t fraud, only trying to sell a counterfeit Prada bag under the Prada brand is (and only in Western countries at that)
eru 4y ago
This discrepancy is not necessarily a bad thing. It's basically how western companies why manufacture in China can add value, by doing that kind of quality control and building a reputation. (Of course, Chinese companies can do the same when they sell to foreigners.)

WheatM 4y ago

Aperocky 4y ago

I would be interested at the price points of these comparisons. If the ones he bought from China is 1/4 the price it seems a bit unfair to expect the same quality. If the average of the product he reviewed from China is cheaper than the ones from US, then they should be inferior in quality as well - it's a (mostly) free market and you get what you paid for.

bityard 4y ago

For hand tools, the highest rated brands tend to be German or Japanese, with US made tools coming in second or third. Just my observation, anyway.

voxadam 4y ago
Some the the best power tools come from Liechtenstein. Hilti makes a solid tool but they're far from cheap.