The China Conundrum

These days, we hear lots of good and bad about China. Human rights violations, environmental violations, crappy trade practices. We've heard it all before.

BUY AMERICAN is proclaimed but if we look at where most fishing tackle comes from these days, like most everything else in America, it's made in China and as such, I feel no internal moral urging to buy American. See that Kastmaster you bought? China. Rapala plug? China. Cumberland Float Tube? China. Minn Kota trolling motor? China. PVC pipe for making a trolling motor mount? China. Tire pressure monitoring system? China.

My wife's 2012 Ford Fusion has more Chinese parts than my friend's Toyota Corolla. How's that for irony.

So I have surrendered. I'm 65 and too f-n old to give a s-t about what in my case amounts to trivia. ALL my business dealings, from now until death, will be made at an advantage to my current financial state. Don't care about anything but making my family better. If Americans gave a single s-t about this, Wal mart would be out of business but so would every other retailer because, sad to say, most of it is drop-shipped from, you guessed it, China.

Look at all the third-party sellers that are ALL Chinese drop-shippers. Forgetaboutit, it's all COMING (so to speak ) from Asia. SO I'm not going to sweat it any longer.

OldMan wrote:Look at all the third-party sellers that are ALL Chinese drop-shippers. Forgetaboutit, it's all COMING (so to speak ) from Asia. SO I'm not going to sweat it any longer.

Wow, no one wants to berate me? Geez...

AMAZON is Chinese spelled backwards :[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
When I was a kid it was Japan. China can't keep up with inflation. Their are more TESLA's sold in China than anywhere else in the world.............with global economy, They crash we crash......GT

I'll give you feedback on this notion. China is only as "good" as the people who are working with them. the stigma that Chinese products or any other country products are inferior to American is simply an antiquated mindset. Frankly, it's just ridiculous.

Simple example, Apple is well known for making some of the best products on Earth. (Not going to be challenged, this is a broad stroke as an example) China produces most if not all of their products for them to meet the standards of the business. Reiterate a point, they meet the standards. They do not set standards, they meet the standards. All the companies that have moved off-shore have done so mostly with the mindset that they can/will save money. (If people want to challenge the logistics benefits or currency exchange be sure you include war surcharges and the month of December in your reply) This is entirely true, I myself have established and managed a Maquiladora (American owned business manufacturing in Mexico) in Tijuana to save money. I paid all of my employees top scale wages at $60 a week to manufacture zero class (death if failure) stainless steel brake lines for cars and recreational vehicles. Brake lines made there exceeded 99.6% pass rate as a standard. My quality crew in Torrance topped up the remaining. My standard was set and met by a perceived lower end manufacturing area. It required hours of investing in training and materials but once you put in a McDonald's model you can produce anything nearly anywhere.

All in all, for anything that is regulated and standardized, China is a great resource perhaps too great. Keep in mind though, many businesses are not and thus you have a vast catalog of items that could surpass your expectations or not. Let the buyer beware is a sound motto to use in these cases.

Let the buyer beware is good advice for anyone, anywhere. The reason I mentioned it this: A LOT of Amazon's third-party sellers are the same companies I see on AliExpress. Same products, same specs, different price. Now I know the shipping from Amazon is faster (not cheaper) than AliExpress (which offers extensive buyer protection as well) but the products are identical. Lithium batteries, some fishing lures, wrist watches, etc.

I've actually quit Amazon altogether because they screwed me too many times with "Prime" shipping, which is not. LandBigFish.com has the same lures, line, etc. For other things, I rely on Ebay. Amazon also treats workers (from warehouse workers to engineers) like s-t, including a friend of mine who called me a month ago, suicidal from working in an Amazon warehouse in TN. I talked him down and told him to find another job that didn't crush his soul.

But I'll be planning ahead and buying more from China. I know you know many things are made by the same company, *for* a bigger company, but the companies in China will make your branding appear on whatever product. Since I have no brand, I couldn't care less about THAT, but folks need to know that "American" brand they're buying is just re-badged Chinese stuff. I was looking at Kastmasters recently, back of the card said "China." So I ordered some Chinese equivalents without the branding. Cost me 30 cents apiece, and since I have a couple old ones, I'm not worried about the slow-boat shipping.

Ordered a sweet fishing vest (mine is a done-in photographer's vest I got 30 years ago for free in a Fuji Film giveaway. I worked for a newspaper and we had those vests coming in BIG quantities, because we went through so much film. $12.

30 trout spinners - $4
Couple of jointed lures for mackinaw fishing in Tahoe - $2.

10ah lithium battery for the fish finder: $40.
40ah lithium battery for the trolling motor: $95

Best of luck finding values like that in the US. Not likely.

Your factory in Mexico sounds impressive. I'm intrigued by your story. I'm guessing you're retired now, no?

Thanks for your input.