Harbor Freight Tools

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
You got it all wrong. Its because of people like me you have a free country to work in. Thanks for supporting my service. Your post says a lot about you!

I met many with your attidude during the Viet Nam war.


Seriously? You are going to go there?

I appreciate your and all service. I serve and honor our active warfighters every day. If only you knew what I actually do for a living... Perhaps you should hold before making judgements based upon internet discussion.

That said, recommend you get over yourself and your disabled vet status, as I see them as no excuse for buying Chinese junk, and completely unrelated. Being a disabled vet has absolutely nothing to do with the decision to buy third world products when domestic sources are available. And fighting for the "right" to do so is an argument that holds no water.

And for the record, Ive given gifts of US made tools to needy vets in the past.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Super Micro makes boards in the USA FWIW. Intel and AMD are both American companies.


yes, American Companies that have all their manufacturing "off shore".

in the same way that the Ford Fusion (built in Mexico),or the Pontiac G8 (built in Australia), or the Ford Transit Connect (Built in Turkey) are all "American Cars", but the Honda Civic (built in Marysville, Ohio, from parts made by suppliers all over the midwest) is a "Japanese car"

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: jcwit
You got it all wrong. Its because of people like me you have a free country to work in. Thanks for supporting my service. Your post says a lot about you!

I met many with your attidude during the Viet Nam war.


Seriously? You are going to go there?

I appreciate your and all service. I serve and honor our active warfighters every day. If only you knew what I actually do for a living... Perhaps you should hold before making judgements based upon internet discussion.

That said, recommend you get over yourself and your disabled vet status, as I see them as no excuse for buying Chinese junk, and completely unrelated. Being a disabled vet has absolutely nothing to do with the decision to buy third world products when domestic sources are available. And fighting for the "right" to do so is an argument that holds no water.

And for the record, Ive given gifts of US made tools to needy vets in the past.


Lets see you live on a disability pension and see how many high priced tools you'd buy to use once or twice a year. I'm far from feeling sorry for myself, but the reality is there isn't monies to spare for high priced tools made in the U.S. when an imported tool at less that 1/3 the price will do the same job. I realize thats hard for you to understand, but till you walk in my shoes you know not of what you speak.

Regarding the judgments mayhap you need to check the mirror. While you're shaking your finger at me, theres 3 fingers pointing back at you.

As I said in my first post on this thread, it would turn into nothing more than a bashing thread, Harbor Freight has its place here just as the imported parts for the Harley Davidison has.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: jcwit

As I said in my first post on this thread, it would turn into nothing more than a bashing thread, Harbor Freight has its place here just as the imported parts for the Harley Davidison has.


No, HD having an imported parts line is even more ridiculous because an HD is nothing but a toy. I have yet to hear of anyone who only has an HD for their sole mode of transit. It is a toy, for fun, and that's it. If you cant afford American parts, then you probably shouldnt have a toy - particularly a toy that tries to be as "Americana" as an HD motorcycle.

And that doesnt coincide with your argument. If disability pension is so horrid, and you need a screwdriver to fix item x around your house, then so be it. I disagree with the approach, but that's not the point - you need to fix or work on item x in order to live normally. Nobody needs an HD.

Im done with this. Its just good to have this discussion as a record for the future generations who wonder why we have degraded to third world status... As they wonder where their jobs and opportunity that was fought for has gone. And it is not you, jcwit, that need be singled out. There are plenty of higher means and greater income that still do the wal-mart/HF/Chinese junk acquisition approach, while waving their American flag and wondering why unemployment is high and we have a trade defecit.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: jcwit

As I said in my first post on this thread, it would turn into nothing more than a bashing thread, Harbor Freight has its place here just as the imported parts for the Harley Davidison has.


No, HD having an imported parts line is even more ridiculous because an HD is nothing but a toy. I have yet to hear of anyone who only has an HD for their sole mode of transit. It is a toy, for fun, and that's it. If you cant afford American parts, then you probably shouldnt have a toy - particularly a toy that tries to be as "Americana" as an HD motorcycle.


You are detached with reality, I do know folks who's chief mode of transportation is with a Motorcycle, Harley or other make, in other words to you a "toy".

With your above logic H/D should not be building "toys".

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Super Micro makes boards in the USA FWIW. Intel and AMD are both American companies.


yes, American Companies that have all their manufacturing "off shore".

in the same way that the Ford Fusion (built in Mexico),or the Pontiac G8 (built in Australia), or the Ford Transit Connect (Built in Turkey) are all "American Cars", but the Honda Civic (built in Marysville, Ohio, from parts made by suppliers all over the midwest) is a "Japanese car"


Oh really?

Intel is headquartered in California, and has 10 fab sites around the world. SEVEN of those fab sites are in the USA good sir, and one of them is in Ireland. The remaining two are in Israel and China.

They have 6 assembly sites in various countries around the world, one of which is in located in Arizona.

I would hardly say that a company with 7/10ths of its fab capacity in the USA has all of its manufacturing "off shore", would you?

Some research before making that statement probably would have helped you here.

Quote:
February 2011: Intel will build a new microprocessor factory at Chandler, Arizona, which is expected to be completed in 2013, at a cost of $5 billion. It will accommodate 4,000 employees. The company produces three-quarters of their products in the United States, although three-quarters of their revenue comes from overseas.


Intel is pretty bloody American using any modern yardstick. It is quite sad that nobody appears to know that.

Your argument holds some water for AMD however, since they spun off their manufacturing to a separate company back in 2008 that has a whopping single fab site in the USA.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: jcwit

As I said in my first post on this thread, it would turn into nothing more than a bashing thread, Harbor Freight has its place here just as the imported parts for the Harley Davidison has.


No, HD having an imported parts line is even more ridiculous because an HD is nothing but a toy. I have yet to hear of anyone who only has an HD for their sole mode of transit. It is a toy, for fun, and that's it. If you cant afford American parts, then you probably shouldnt have a toy - particularly a toy that tries to be as "Americana" as an HD motorcycle.


You are detached with reality, I do know folks who's chief mode of transportation is with a Motorcycle, Harley or other make, in other words to you a "toy".

With your above logic H/D should not be building "toys".




riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.

HD should be building toys. Absolutely they should. That is their business. But the poor financial condition of most people in this country today is because they dont have their head on straight and are buying toys when they should be looking out for their future. Then they complain that they can't afford US made parts or tools, and when their job gets offshored too, they wonder why.

Ride a train along any railroad anywhere in the country and youll see thousands, maybe more abandoned factories, mills, etc. that are the effect of offshoring to China. If you dont see it, perhaps you need glasses.


Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Absolutely right, JHZR2. For instance, some people criticise the former pay level of US manufacturing workers and autoworkers. But the thing is their spending and taxes paid from that pay were lifting all boats. We didn't have deficits, police and fire and other public services cutbacks, rough roads, empty stores and restaurants closing etc. There's a high hidden cost to "cheap" imports and low wages. It's false economics.


Thank you, at least some folks get it.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.



Might it occur to you I might have friends and relatives that live in Florida, Texas, and Arizona?

Lets have some common sense here.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Ride a train along any railroad anywhere in the country and youll see thousands, maybe more abandoned factories, mills, etc. that are the effect of offshoring to China. If you dont see it, perhaps you need glasses.



Last time I rode a train was when the Government was shipping me to Fort Knox, KY. Haven't ridden one since, don't plan to either.

BTW, I've worn glasses since the age of 5 back in 1948.

As I stated in a previous post:

At this point in my life I'll just pruchase what I can afford and take into account how much use it will be subjected to. Other than that I no longer care, anymore.

 

[chestand]

Not wanting to contribute to those that seem to get their shorts in a wad as soon as Harbor Freight is mentioned, but I love my HF color coded ratcheting box ends. And their floor jack. And their breakover bar. And their extendable length 1/2 inch ratchet. And their impact sockets. I'm not a professional mechanic, but I turn wrenches frequently on my own and other's cars and motorcycels and I've never had a HF tool fail on me. I can't say that about Sears USA made tools. I recently returned at 1/2 inch breakover to Sears that had been all but twisted off over 20 years ago.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.



Might it occur to you I might have friends and relatives that live in Florida, Texas, and Arizona?

Lets have some common sense here.


And their ONLY transportation is a harley? Guess they are all single, no family, and either take a cab, bus, or ask for a ride to do anything and everything? They strap their groceries to their harley?

Ill take your word for it, but I highly doubt that anyone has a harley as the only vehicle for transportation in the household (its possible if living in an inner city, I suppose, but not anywhere else practically speaking). If so, they may be lacking common sense too.

 

[JOD]

Harbor Freight sells a lot of stuff. To answer the question "why would anyone do business with HF, here's an example: LINK

A "comparable" US-made tool is about $250.00, though it's really not even comparable, since I need both left and right-hand thread, so I may actually need two different tools. With coupon, it was $32.00 versus about $500.00, for a tool I'll use maybe 20 times in my life. This tool works great, BTW. So, that's one reason.

A second reason is that not everything they have is made by people making a dollar a day. There are a lot of Taiwanese hand-tools (yes, in my mind there's a huge difference in environmental regulations, pay rates and working conditions). I have much less of a problem buying stuff from Taiwan. And the drop cloths I just bought from HF were Hecho en Americo!

Lastly, I can ride my bike there. So it cuts down on the oil dependence thing...

That said, what I don't get is the attitude of "well, my laptop is made in China, so why should I care about everything else". For a lot of products, there is a choice--a choice which probably won't remain for much longer if everyone takes that attitude... I just bought a Lenox hacksaw at Lowes (this one was still made in the US) for about twice the price of the Chinese ones, and it also looked twice as nice. So yeah, I'll go out of my way to pay a little more for stuff that's either made here, or made in countries where the workers are paid a living wage; and I'll do so even though I occasionally buy stuff made in China. But I do have my limits on the cost differential, and I am glad to have HF as a resource.

 

[bigmike]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.



Might it occur to you I might have friends and relatives that live in Florida, Texas, and Arizona?

Lets have some common sense here.


+1

My dad's sole mode of transportation was a 1980 and a 1981 Honda CX500. He had a cold weather suit, a rain suit, 2 helmets, a fairing, and a travel box on the back. Rain or shine, he drove them 20+ years until they died.

 

[bigmike]

BTW, the OP never stated anything about the country of origin of the HF product. He commented on the quality of the product.

To discuss the off topic discussion:
Find me a place where I can buy USA Corded or Cordless power tools. The picking is slim.

Some people have blinders on if they think people can afford to buy tools either 2-4 times the cost because of a USA logo on the side, which isn't even verifiable most of the time. My retirement money isn't being spent on tools.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
Originally Posted By: jcwit
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.



Might it occur to you I might have friends and relatives that live in Florida, Texas, and Arizona?

Lets have some common sense here.


+1

My dad's sole mode of transportation was a 1980 and a 1981 Honda CX500. He had a cold weather suit, a rain suit, 2 helmets, a fairing, and a travel box on the back. Rain or shine, he drove them 20+ years until they died.


must be nice to NEVER, EVER need to carry something larger than what fits in the travel box on the back of a motor cycle.

Oh yeah, he probably still had access to a car.

Common sense is that the country is spread out enough that it is impractical for 99.9999999% of the non-urban population to go around with just a motorcycle and no simple access to a real vehicle.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Oh yeah, he probably still had access to a car.

Common sense is that the country is spread out enough that it is impractical for 99.9999999% of the non-urban population to go around with just a motorcycle and no simple access to a real vehicle.


Where did you come up with that number? Can you back it up with facts or a link? LOL

How would you know whether he had access to a car or not?

Probably is nothing more than an assumption.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

riiiight. Lots of people whose sole mode of transport in all conditions is a motorcycle? Yeah right. Im sure it works real well in Indiana winters.


I don't know how well it works in Indiana winters, but I went many years with only a motorcycle. I carried the OE tools made of case hardened Velveeta though.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
I'm far from feeling sorry for myself, but the reality is there isn't monies to spare for high priced tools made in the U.S. when an imported tool at less that 1/3 the price will do the same job.



That tells me you're the type of person who buys a tool to complete a task; there's nothing wrong with that, a lot people are that way. But what you may not realize is that there are people out there who buy the tool just so they can have the tool; not so much to complete a task. Some people have such a high appreciation for fine tools, that the money spent on them doesn't concern them so much; it just means that they can't buy as many tools as they may want in a given amount of time; they have to wait awhile until they have the money saved up.

 

[demarpaint]

What's wrong with buying cheap tools for menial jobs, like removing switch plates, or setting popped nails in drywall? I have Estwing hammers, S&K screw drivers, Snap-On tools, Craftsman [American Made] and some other fine tools but my helpers aren't going to use them. HF fills a void for me. I can afford expensive tools for myself, but not temporary helpers. If I could buy cheap American tools for them to use I would, the problem is I can't. I'm out to save a few $$ whenever possible, just like the a lot of other people are in this economy.

On a side note HF has a few good tools too, being able to see and handle them in a store is a plus.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: jcwit
I'm far from feeling sorry for myself, but the reality is there isn't monies to spare for high priced tools made in the U.S. when an imported tool at less that 1/3 the price will do the same job.



That tells me you're the type of person who buys a tool to complete a task; there's nothing wrong with that, a lot people are that way. But what you may not realize is that there are people out there who buy the tool just so they can have the tool; not so much to complete a task. Some people have such a high appreciation for fine tools, that the money spent on them doesn't concern them so much; it just means that they can't buy as many tools as they may want in a given amount of time; they have to wait awhile until they have the money saved up.


Right, I used to do that, still do with fine firearms, but at my age its no longer practical. Plus the monies saved leaves more monies for the firearms and ammo.

My target .22 rimfire ammo runs over $100.00 after shipping, for 500 rounds.