[drew1]

Did not see this coming. But about 15 years ago I posted on this forum about a decline in Starrett. I mostly preferred the feel of Browne and Sharp. In the 90s the union put Browne and Sharpe out of business and the Swiss company that made their dial calipers bought the name.

The decline in Starrett began with having stuff made in Red China. Can't blame them for wanting to get in the Chinese market, but it was a mistake to sell Chinese made stuff in USA. Their hole saws were marked "Made in China", but not everything else. This may have been a factor in decline of sales in USA. They mostly sold their stuff at 'Made in USA" prices, although some they didn't. A buddy working in the maintenance machine shop at our plant got a real good deal on ebay for some dial calipers. They got a rough place in the rack and would not hold zero. I told him of a boy I knew that had gotten a free repair on some so he looked up the phone number in the Starrett catalog. His model was made in China to Starrett specs and no repair. One of us ended up with 2 scales. Checking for our initials, he noticed mine did not have Athol Masschusetts on it. So I guessed that I paid $20 when a $3 Harbor Freight scale was probably made in the same plant.

The ones it will be sad news for are the ones working in the Massechusetts plant. As seen that Middleground has plants in 21 countries, you can guess what will happen to them.