factory new trash

[bookwormom]

you all have this experience? Is there no quality left? We bought a pull behind sprayer from Northern, used it twice, made sure to clean and flush it out good after each use, needed it yesterday, it does not work anymore. does not hold airpressure, no spraying possible. Amish guy has problems with his chainsaw that are not covered by guaranty. We bought an electric meat grinder and sent it back without even trying it. I think we are better off buying something old that was made when things were still made to last. we gave away an old wringer washer, worked like a charm, wish I had kept it. Beware of who you give things to. They may not even appreciate it and think you owe it to them. No thank you, no offer to do a favor in return like we would have done.

[Mom5farmboys]

I agree most new stuff made today is junk. I also agree about being careful about who you give things to. Usually when its somebody we don't know very well we test the waters and give some little things. Extra garden produce, kids outgrown clothes, etc. You figure out pretty quick who reciprocates and who appreciates the offering and who doesn't.

While we usually don't officially barter "item for item" we have built up quite a circle of people who "pass things along" to us and if we can't use it we pass it along to someone else, or if someone in the "circle" hears of a need and can help they just will. You kind of have to be particular about who you depend on.

I also know what you mean about regretting giving some of the older better made stuff away. I gave a few things away and now could kick myself because they are hard to replace. Live and learn I guess.

[Mikee Loxxer]

It is sad. We live in a world where products are made to be sold not used. Product testing and sufficient quality control are seen as expensive and wasteful by many manufacturers. Additionally people buy products based on price, and a lot of the time you get what you pay for.

[NCLee]

bookwormom, you've hit on one of my favorite rants! :mad: No doubt about it.

Quality at a decent price has almost disappeared. For example, plastic gears have replaced metal ones and sometimes in surprising places. A tool that should last a lifetime with a reasonable degree of maintenance, will now fail 2 weeks after the warranty expires.

Used to be normal for household appliances to be relatively trouble free for 20 years or more. Now, we're being told to expect to replace them in about 10 years.

Along the line of this rant..... I HATE PLASTIC! Sure it has appropriate uses, but it's taken over in areas where it shouldn't be used. The bar oil resevoir on my chain saw is plastic and has cracked. Now I have to keep the saw sitting over something to catch the oil that leaks out between uses.

Another aspect is the thinning of things. Classic example, IMHO. Heavy duty aluminum foil used to be heavy duty. Now it's equal to what regular foil used to be. An regular foil isn't worth the cardboard roll it wrapped on. I made the mistake of buying some regular foil, last year. That stuff is so thin that it's almost useless.

Plywood is no longer 3/4", 1/2", etc. Now special sized cutters have to be bought to replace the traditonal 3/4" (for example) in order for joints to fit. Just like leaving out another ounce of beans in a can, cutting down on the thickness of materials used in manufacturing of products is the stealth method of increasing profits.

I have some really old sheet protectors to go in notebooks. Amazing how flimsy the ones are today compared to the old ones.

In the 1960's Lodge changed their casting process for cookware. Even though they're still the best to buy, there's no comparison to the quality of the product when compared to what came out of their plant in the 1940's and 50's. The CI coming in from China is JUNK!! Castings so rough they'll never be of decent cooking quality, even after countless seasoning sessions. And, using methods that should never be used on good quality CI.

Ditto on dealing with people who think they are "entitled" and never even offer to try to return a favor. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Then, later, "I don't have time." or a similar excuse. When it's a family member.... grrrrr. Easier to put a stop to it, when the person isn't family.

Well, you turned my rant mode on, this morning. :shout: Time to turn it off or I'll be in a foul mood for the rest of the day. Too much to today do for that. :)

Lee

[bookwormom]

an ounce less beans in a can? I think you got a point there. I noticed that ALDI beans and corn contain more water now and less produce. I just bought a new pair of Croks, no, they are not as good as my old ones, which I am still wearing. I wish there was someone around here who made sandals out of car tires. something that will last.

[sbemt456]

Rosie, sadly even tires dont last like they used to. Society has moved to a disposable world you dont buy things that last. Companies are in business to make money and repeat customers are the best and easiest way to do that.
My biggest thing that dont last very long is cotton tee-shirts. And they are so thin ya can read the paper through them. After a few washings you can find tiny holes in the shirts. I makes me so mad. So they become work shirts and I just wear em anyway. :yes4:

Have a great day!

stella

[Not2L8]

Stella, I totally agree on the t-shirts. I have the same problem with jeans. There used to be a time when I could get 2 or 3 yrs out of a good pair of levis, now they are reduced to rags in 6 to 8 months. I have stuck with levis because they still make'em in my hard to find size (tall/slim) but I'm going to try some 100% American made in Tennessee, Diamond gusset jeans next time.http://www.gussetclothing.com/

If anyone has tried them already, I would love to hear your thoughts on them.

[bookwormom]

aint it the truth. I hate to spend my hardearned money on junk. aren't we all supposed to learn to think "green"? they can start by producing quality again and keeping stuff out of landfills. In the meantime we have to find someone who can possibly figure out how to fix this sprayer. It cost big bucks, but we figured on this worn out, tobaccoed out place we need to do something and got a barrel of fish fertilzer from the Amish to spray on the pastures, give the plants a leg up.

[NCLee]

Mom, is it still under warranty? Is there a link at Northern that shows the type sprayer that you have. Maybe if we put our collective heads together, we can come up with a solution.

You said it wouldn't hold pressure. Have you determined where it's losing pressure? If you can't hear it escaping, use soapy water so it will blow bubbles. You may have a cracked seal/gasket somewhere that needs replacing. Or, is it that you can't build pressure in the first place? Since I don't have any idea, yet, about the type sprayer you have, can't speculate on that aspect.

Lee

[Prairie]

I have noticed a lot of junk in clothing these days. I absolutely refuse to buy Levis, and they used to be the best there was. Their Made in Bangledesh jeans are absolutely crap. And not just Levis. Last week, I bought a nice shirt by Burnside. I never heard of them, but I likes the shirt and the price was right. When I saw the tag "Made in Bangledesh", I joked with the shopkeeper, "This had better not be Levi's crap! I wore it one day. Next day, I looked at and a huge assed rip right down the front!

Best pants I bought were heavy denim made domestically by Mustangs, and slacks made in a local factory by Canadays. Best T-shirts I have are a cotton/hemp blend Comfortable as hell, and I can't see them wearing out any time soon. You gotta pay for quality, though. Just make sure you're paying for quality and not a name.

[leera]

We live in a very much disposable world....

When I was volunteering at the church,we would get in mountains and mountains of clothing every week.....as one person once said,with as much as comes in,there shouldn't be anyone living in the area going without clothes to wear. It was like that every week,you'd think some people would wanna actually wear thier clothes,we would get hundreds of dollars worth of clothing in that still had the price tags on it.

Our world isn't about quality or care,it's about how many things they can make as cheap as possible,and as fast as possible.In order for that to continue to work,there must be a constant and ever increasing demand for whatever product it is,without demand and growth,there is no economy......in order to keep demand high enough to meet production standards,you get less in a package,you get something that only last 1/2 to 1/4 the time of something made in previous years....companies could make things to last,but if they did that,there wouldn't be a demand for more.....it's all in order to keep them making money,plain and simple.

[flatblack]

I'm on board with this one. I used to just think that I was especially hard on tools and such, but once I started buying top quality tools from Klein, Stihl, etc I saw that it wasn't me breaking them all, it was just poor quality pieces of junk that were made to be used UP, not just plain old used.

Now I try to only buy the best I can afford, or buy an oldie but a goodie, and that has so far served me well.

I do love Harbor Freight Tools though...they have all kinds of good stuff, and a lot of junk too. But cheap junk, oh my...

[NCLee]

I like Harbor Freight, too. :)

Just have to be selective in what's bought there.

Lee

[Mom5farmboys]

I'm on board with this one. I used to just think that I was especially hard on tools and such, but once I started buying top quality tools from Klein, Stihl, etc I saw that it wasn't me breaking them all, it was just poor quality pieces of junk that were made to be used UP, not just plain old used.

Now I try to only buy the best I can afford, or buy an oldie but a goodie, and that has so far served me well.

I do love Harbor Freight Tools though...they have all kinds of good stuff, and a lot of junk too. But cheap junk, oh my...

I like Harbor Freight too, its a great place to go whenn I put together tool sets for my little boys.

Usually at around age 7 I make them one, and its theirs to use as they will, they are responsible for it. The stuff is cheap enough that anything lost or broken is considered experience for them.

My oldest is 14 and now has some pretty decent tools that are his own, but he takes good care of them.

My husband also will get cheap wrenchs and socket sets there to keep on the tractor for use in the field and if (when) they fall off and get lost we're not out too much.

[Travis]

Companies are engineering products that will only last so long. We discussed this in class that companies are making products at a low price that llast a certain amount of time. What happens is when it fails most people feel that it was worth it. I am in my mid 30's and I will say in todays world most products are massed produced and sell cheaply. If you want quality you must be careful as many products are not quality even at the higher price.

For example things like chainsaws. Even the top makers are selling "off brands". When I worked for Sears there saw where made by Husqvarna. They where made to differnt specs. Even a saw with a Husqvarna name on it is not the same. They make 2 saws, 1 for home owners and 1 for the pro's. If you didn't know this you may be in for a rude awakening.

[NCLee]

Can't even trust "brand" names anymore, period, IMHO.

Ten to 15 years ago when buying shop tools, Porta Cable, Delta, and DeWalt were the brands to buy. General opinion was that Black and Decker were much lower end tools. Buy them at Walmart.

Today, guess who owns those "brand" names. Black and Decker Corp. And to make it more confusing read this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_&_Decker

Craftsman tools, from Sears, used to be well respected in terms of quality. Some carried a life-time warranty. If it broke, they'd replace, no questions asked. I have a few older Craftman branded power tools. They are still going strong after many, many years. Inherited a few from my FIL.

KMart sold products had/have the reputation for being low-end quality discounted merchandise.

Today, who owns who? Who's making the decisions as to what is being produced, in terms of quality, for those well respected brands? Another reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Holdings_Corporation

Getting away from shop tools, for a moment. For a while, I was following backyard BBQ smoking equipment. Fortunately I bought one brand, before it was purchased by another company. Unfortunately, I didn't buy another larger, more functional one, before that brand was also sold. It was on my wish-list. In each case, reports of the brand name quality went down hill rapidly, when the new owners of the brands, began supplying smokers carrying the original brand name.

In closing, "brand names" don't mean what they did, even a short few years ago.

Lee

[JeffColorado]

Rosie, sadly even tires dont last like they used to.. :yes4:

Have a great day!

stella

I agree with everything listed in this thread, but not the tires - I always get 70,000 mi or more on a set of tires, about 8X to 10X more than when I was a teenager or in my early 20's (1970ish) - and no, I didn't burn them off - I had to pay for them and I tried to make them last as long as possible. With the advent of synthetic rubber the tires last far longer than they ever did back then.

[dkemple1]

One of the biggest reasons everything is junk anymore is because most of it is not made in the US, and if it is, the powers that be are always trying to increase their bottom line at the cost of quality. I know this because several years ago the place where I work laid off half the plant in order to start making it in Mexico, and now it is stating to come back to our plant because everything they are making is junk, but unfortunately that gives the entire brand name a bad reputation.

[MNMOM]

One of the biggest reasons everything is junk anymore is because most of it is not made in the US, and if it is, the powers that be are always trying to increase their bottom line at the cost of quality. I know this because several years ago the place where I work laid off half the plant in order to start making it in Mexico, and now it is stating to come back to our plant because everything they are making is junk, but unfortunately that gives the entire brand name a bad reputation.

You are so right! The list can go on and on with everything in your household. Appliances use to last a long time when they were made here, now you're lucky to get five years out of them without a breakdown.

[cinok]

If you want quality you need to pay for it. Northern equip is a rip off on most stuff its the same stuff you find at Harbor Freight i buy some stuff there but I always get the warranty for a few extra bucks. Most of my power tolls are craftsman along with most of my hand tools. I still have some snap on and mac stuff but that never leaves the work area. I have a bunch of cheap tools in the truck, trailer, tractor do I expect them work the same as a snap on tool nope its gonna break or strip if I push it. Most of those Dewalt and other name brand tools you see may all look alike but there are different quality levels depending on the place selling it.
As per clothes Wrangler 936 or the 13MZW are the only ones that hold up for work shirts by Carhart they are heavy wash well and don't tear on a twig. They are a bit more expensive but they are worth their weight. We rotate clothes when we buy new we rotate a pair to work cycle and if we have a real ratty pair we cut them up for rags and then burn them when they get to greasy.

[NCLee]

If you want quality you need to pay for it.

First, I agree with you. Up to a point, that is. :)

In many cases the quality isn't there anymore, regardless of the brand or origin. Case in point. Castiron cookware.

The best quality cookware (not talking about the huge dollar French enameled import) is no longer available from any source. Lodge is the best on the market today, in terms of quality. From what I understand, they are the last USA foundry still in operation.

However, back in the 60's they changed their casting procedures. The very best that they produce today doesn't begin to compare to what they were producing back in the 40's and 50's. So, it doesn't matter how many dollars they charge, the same quality just isn't there, anymore.

But to get back to your point, the higher dollar Lodge has far more quality than the cheap Made-In-China imports. IMHO, that stuff is barely worth bringing home, if it were free.

On another note, many of us can't afford to pay the prices of the quality that we need. Can't speak for others, so I'll use my own circumstances. We're trying to live on a fixed income without constantly raiding what little we built up for our retirement. Our retirement money is for emergencies and to pay the property taxes on this place.

Sometimes it's making hard choices. Can we really afford the best quality in xyz. Often, it depends on the nature of xyz. IMHO, I have the best dehydrator on the market - an Excalibur. Over the long haul, it will pay for itself. Learned the hard-way that a low end dehydrator wasted more food than what it saved.

OTOH, I still buy jeans at WalMart. Sure $100 jeans will last longer than $20 ones. However, from my experience it's just as hard to get black grease out of one, as it is the other. And, spilled Chlorine bleach does equally as good a job of eating holes in them. As does lye, if I drop a piece of CI going in or coming out of a lye bath.

I'd need head to foot covering to keep the carbonized "crud" off my clothes when wire brushing castiron or anything else that also uses a solvent and a wire brush.

Thus, I'll buy jeans at WalMart. Keep a couple of pair for "Sunday". Then, they'll get recycled into work clothes. Maybe at a faster rate than the $100 ones, but that's OK. Especially when I can have 5 pair for the price of one.

For any given item, it all depends on the intended use and the budget. A cheap 1/4" $25 Skil drill works fine for drilling pilot holes. If I need to drive 3" deck screws, I'll pull out the 1/2" Hatachi (not the best, but it does the job) drill. The savings resulting from buying the $25 drill are still in our retirement funds.

Just 2-cents this morning.

Lee