How Interested ?

Al Letellier_9

While it's great to be patriotic and to support our own industry, it's getting harder everyday. The world is a different place and global economy is changing the way we buy and do business. At some point we will run out of options and parts made here and we will only have two choices.....use the foreign made parts, or hang up the wrenches and go home. A sad but true state of affairs. So I can only grin and bear it as I prepare to hang up the wrenches later this year. Good luck in you battle for truth, justice and the American way.

Rich Kontny_4

Made in America

I had a two hour conversation yesterday with a PVF wholsaler who is very old school and has resisted the temptation to bring in foreign pipe, fittings and valves.

He will only do it if long time customers request them for competitive projects. He segegates these orders from his made in the USA inventory.

Otherwise he has pipe,fittings and valves from the good old USA. By next week I will get a list of what they have.
I want to check with Dan first before I disclose their name etc.(don't want to break any house rules)

If you quality contractors are truly interested in USA made pipe, valves and fittings please post and let me know. I hope to be able to hook you up by next weekend.
Stay tuned!

Rich K.

Rich Kontny_5

Confused.

Im Confused!

There was a thread last week about "Made in China" that went into great detail about not being able to find domestic pipe,valves and fittings. I took this as a genuine desire have the option to find made in America components.

Instead it seems that made in China is a catch all phrase for cheaply made products. I took the time to verify that made in America products are still available.
The lengthy thread "Made in China" was obviously just another case of our venting not a serious desire to buy Amerca made components.

I am not venting here yet I am confused since I can direct you to all American made components. However after posting I get but one response!

Kind of like badmouthing Wal-Mart yet shopping there once a week because everyone else does.

I guess I needed to satisfy my curiousity when I spent time researching this.At the end of the day you all obviusly are comfortable with the cheaper products after all.

Enlighten me I have big shoulders and am all ears!

Tony_23

Gees Rich

It's been 36 hours, on a weekend, following the REX, where a lot of guys went. I wish I could've gone....

Anyway, relax. It's summer yet and there is life off the Wall

lchmb

personally

I personally try my best to puchase "made in the USA" for my own use. Unfortunately I do not purchase for the company I work for and worse yet, do not believe they would change. Sad as it may seem, everyone worries over the buck. Worst part is we'll put our self right in the poor house by buying cheap stuff made elsewhere..

Rich Kontny_5

OK

End of summer,week of flooding (long hours) temps in the 90s, aching bones and bruised ego. Sounds like male menopause doesn't it?

Caught in the act, funny how we sometimes are not aware how we come across.

Thanks Tony for the harsh reality check!

Rich the ****

Ken_40

Unfortunately,

The notion that goods made in China are cheap (meaning poorly made - not merely less expensive) is fraught with inconsistencies.

The vast majority of products I see coming from China are very well made. I own a Norinco SKS military surplus rifle that is one of the best shooters in my collection. The best pair of reading glases I own I bought in a Macy's-like department store in Beijing a year-and-a-half ago. My Nikon Digital SLR was made in Thailand, a suburb of China. My Honda generator was made in China and runs so well my neighbors have yet to return it. My Dell laptop is made in Malaysia, another suburb of China. My best DVD player is a Toshiba, made in China. When we go out for chinese food, I try and get a Tsingtao beer with it. One of the nicest beers around. Made in China.

Didn't we already go through this 40 years ago, claiming Japanese stuff was also junk? And then Toyota taught GM, Ford and Chrysler how to build real cars that actually ran more than a week without breaking down...

When American products are always superior to foreign ones, we can lay claim to a national sense of pride you suggest. Until that time however, we become hypochrites claiming foreign stuff is crap. We need to clean house here first before casting stones over seas.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

heatboy

What brand(s) of copper tubing..........

........... are actually milled here in the USA? If I knew I would try and find a place to purchase it. As for fittings and valves, I use Viega ProPress and I haven't had any issues so it doesn't matter to me where it's manufactured.

At REX, I chatted with the Cimberio valve people and suggested a purge setup (combination ball valve and drain) with press ends. He took my address and informed me he would make some and send them to me to try. How is that for listening to your customer? I have hundreds of their valves in use and Cimberio USA is local to me. They are an Italian company, so does that constitute made in the USA or not?

hb

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Howard Emerson

"My Nikon Digital SLR was made in Thailand, a suburb of China"

I guess Miami, FL is a suburb of Brattleboro, VT then?

It's over 1700 mile between Thailand and China, Ken, but I guess you're just being facetious?

Regards,
Howard

Ken_40

Howard,

I was being facetious, but your sense of direction is similar to your devotion to a particular boiler; based on wishful thinking and incorrect assumptions.

Thailand is within 100 miles of China. Like your favorite boiler, there's lots to question.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

lchmb

never said

I personally never said they were poorly made. I would purchase american made to keep american's working...But that is of course my decision and my feelings... Do I alway's get the best quality, maybe not. But I will support my fellow workers, right, wrong or indifferent.


If this country continues to send all of it's production over sea's, we will eventually run out of work...Then it won't matter how cheap it is or how poorly it was made, we won't be able to purchase it.....

Maybe we need to stop giving tax break's to companies that move to another country and give them to those that stay in the states....IMHO

Rich Kontny_5

I object to...

> The notion that goods made in China are cheap

> (meaning poorly made - not merely less expensive)

> is fraught with inconsistencies.

>

> The vast

> majority of products I see coming from China are

> very well made. I own a Norinco SKS military

> surplus rifle that is one of the best shooters in

> my collection. The best pair of reading glases I

> own I bought in a Macy's-like department store in

> Beijing a year-and-a-half ago. My Nikon Digital

> SLR was made in Thailand, a suburb of China. My

> Honda generator was made in China and runs so

> well my neighbors have yet to return it. My Dell

> laptop is made in Malaysia, another suburb of

> China. My best DVD player is a Toshiba, made in

> China. When we go out for chinese food, I try and

> get a Tsingtao beer with it. One of the nicest

> beers around. Made in China.

>

> Didn't we

> already go through this 40 years ago, claiming

> Japanese stuff was also junk? And then Toyota

> taught GM, Ford and Chrysler how to build real

> cars that actually ran more than a week without

> breaking down...

>

> When American products are

> always superior to foreign ones, we can lay claim

> to a national sense of pride you suggest. Until

> that time however, we become hypochrites claiming

> foreign stuff is crap. We need to clean house

> here first before casting stones over seas.

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 504&Step=30"_To Learn More About This

> Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in

> "Find A Professional"_/A_

Rich Kontny_5

Ken,

I do not question the eventual quality of the products as the technology and even a great deal of the manufacturing equipment come from industrialized countries.

Due to the immense investment of globalization to seek cheap labor we have a very extreme imbalance of trade with China. It is of course in their favor. Free trade is not necessarily fair trade as you know.

I do not install plumbing and heating systems for Chinese nor do I own stock that profits from exploiting the workers in third world countries. While I have stated in other threads that I would rather have trading partners than military threats, I am not comfortable with sweat shop style manufacturing.

My intent was to source out domestic manufacturers due to the thread last week "Made in China". While we are at it I have no problem with countries that have a quality of life equal to or greater than ours. I also am a proponent of clean and safe environment policies (which are very much ignored in China and other third world countries)

So quality has improved to consumer standards at the exspense of heavily polluted air, water and other natural resources. Now that the quality issue(s) have been addressed how long to you figure it will take for them to level the playing field relative to worker rights and pollution???

Rich

hr

China will surpass the US to become # 1 greenhouse gases

this year. Is that a good or bad statistic for the U.S. of A?
Certainly speaks louldly about our habits.

Actually buy buying made in China products haven't we merely outsourced our pollution to them

Dirty industry that was shut down here by EPA regs has sprung up in China and at a much dirtier level.
Last year China produced more coal than the U.S., Russia and India combined. Burned in plants with few if any regulations.

China does seem to have a plan for a "green evolution." And the power and money to make it happen. That would be a good thing for us, as we all live down wind.

Check out this Popular Science article.

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/environment/9de4dae055883110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Rich Kontny_5

Exactly

Hot Rod,

Ironically while we import more and more from China and other third world countries with abundant cheap manpower we export our quality of life.

Quality manufacturing jobs here are either eliminated or the workers are beat up to work for cheaper wages and less benefits. More unemployed, more poverty and more crime.

Our appetite for cheaper products has made the owners of Wal-Mart and others very wealthy while the average American family has to have both husband and wife working to make ends meet. So are we really buying goods cheap?

The Chinese will most likely become a consumer nation itself but I don't see that happening as quick as it did with the Japanese. The Japanese by the way enjoy a higher standard of living then we do and are pretty much on the same plane as we our culturally.

Just read an article about pollution in China regarding next year's Olympics. The IOC is very concerned about air quality and whether it will affect athletes and attendance.

Globalization is definitely here to say, however the problems of pollution and exploitation are also.

Rich

Ken_40

Perhaps, before we condemn all 3rd world

labor as below standard, we should be aware that millions died of starvation prior to getting that 50-cents an hour wage. Before we boulght their goods, they simply died in the streets of famine and disease. Now they live in relative wealth. They actually have jobs. They now read and write, before they farmed and starved.

They now have an opportunity to make a living and live past 35 years of age.

Comparing the wage of a country that already went through the age of relative abject poverty, as we did 100 years ago and during the depression, is absurd. Compare what they have now as a result of trading with us compared to what they had before we became consumers of their goods and you see the real picture.

Unless of course you think they're entitled to what we struggled for for the past 100 years - overnight?

Just how many color TV's should we have when we compare any other nation to ours - never mond what we went through to get here? And we have the nerve to **** about what we have compared to what they have?

When they endure the 100 years of figuring it out as we did, then we can pontificate about the financial disparity. While we were developing stability and a economic national agenda, they were playing fifedoms and communism.

Their national income has soared far better than ours in the past 20 years. Any time you go from communism to capitalism, there's a catch up period. To suggest that's "unfare" displays a logic I cannot fathom.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"