Is anything made in the US anymore ?

[rfuerst911sc]

I went to NAPA to buy front rotors and pads for my GMC pickup. I could have gone to Discount or Autozone or others but decided on NAPA because I thought they sold better quality parts. I was quite surprised to find out the rotors and pads were made in China !!! WTF . To be honest I wouldn't have been surprised if they were made in Canada or maybe Mexico ( that would not have been better ) but China really pisses me off ! This country is competitive on a global scale we need to get back to being a producer of goods !!!! End of rant.

[island911]

Actually the US is still the largest manufacture of goods.

A whole lot of product falls in the category of being too expensive to produce here - often for regulatory or liability reasons. For all that, China (among others) will do the job.

[MRM]

And manufacturing is the fastest expanding industry in the country. To the extent that there is a recovery in the US, it is a manufacuring recovery.

[masraum]

Napa (and lots of other folks) rebrands and sells lots of other folks products. Some of their brake pads are Axxis/Metalmaster. These days, you just never know where things are made based on where you buy or what label is on the box.

[BeyGon]

I saw a blurb that someone is going to start building real lightbulbs in Texas, anyone know of that?

[jcommin]

Is anything made in the US anymore ?

Stuff we are good at:

Garage sales
Baseball
Beer
Hookers

[Tervuren]

I ordered these on Pelican

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=944-511-351-01-M24&catalog_description=Front%20Hood%20Shock%2C%20924S %2F944%20All

Then when I got them, found they where made just a few miles away from me in Gastonia N.C.

My 944 is pretty international, parts I've replaced have been from the UK, China, Germany, Czeck, Japan, Mexico, and USA that I recall, I might be missing something.

[island911]

could have just said "944 gas spring struts"

anyway, anyone think the US legal /regulatory cultures would be okay with this? ...

[ronster]

Harley Davidson, Jack Daniels, GM, Ford to name a few. A lot of parts are produced in America and shipped to China and India to be assembled and are marked Made In China or India. It's supposed to be more economical (read more profitable) for corporations to do it that way due to higher labor costs in the US.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by jcommin

Is anything made in the US anymore ?

Stuff we are good at:


Beer

Fixed it for you.

[masraum]

Really? Beer? So, the best beers in the world come from the US? You guys must be talking about microbrews or something.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by island911

could have just said "944 gas spring struts"

anyway, anyone think the US legal /regulatory cultures would be okay with this? ...

We are proud to announce that we are #1 in on the job safety in China.

[RWebb]

The US makes some kick ass jet turbines.

[artplumber]

We are good at printing money we don't actually have

[red-beard]

I buy hundreds of thousands of pounds of special structural aluminum made in the USA and I sell it to other countries.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by jcommin

Is anything made in the US anymore ?

Stuff we are good at:

Garage sales
Baseball
Beer
Hookers

Garage sales - check
Baseball - a LOT of "American" baseball players are from the Caribbean.
Beer - we do make some great beers here
Hookers - I would have to do some research on that one. In fact, I'm currently looking for a grant to study comparative international hooker quality and value. If that falls through I'm thinking of something sort of like an Angie's list for hookers. In this economy I don't expect to have a problem finding guys who want to get paid to travel the world testing hookers.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by masraum

Really? Beer? So, the best beers in the world come from the US? You guys must be talking about microbrews or something.

Old Rasputin Ale, followed by a Sierra Nevada porter/stout chaser? Tasty.


One would think the transportation and handling costs of multi-international goods would be self-limiting, but when it comes to pure volume I guess the numbers work.

[PorscheGAL]

Originally Posted by masraum

Really? Beer? So, the best beers in the world come from the US? You guys must be talking about microbrews or something.

Yingling is the oldest brewery in America.

[PorscheGAL]

Read an article in WSJ this week about Blue Jeans. The Designer ones that cost $200 a pair are made in America. The owner of 7 for Mankind Jeans said he could sell their jeans for $40 if he had them manufactured in Asia. I have never bought designer jeans, but it does make me think about it.

[mossguy]

Yuengling