Why is everything you buy such rubbish!!

Edited By Ian S C on 14/11/2010 09:41:51

Edited By Bill Pudney on 22/11/2010 01:15:18

Edited By Bill Pudney on 22/11/2010 01:16:15

The Japs learned Fast ! and I mean Fast ! Early on, they made crap [remember the joke "made in Japan "? ]

Not anymore [think Toyota,Honda ] Their prices rose as their living standards rose.their stuff is no longer cheap,but it works. The situation in China is much the same,they can change,and will,but only if their customers make them,by rejecting their rubbish. Put pressure on your dealers,and if you annoy them enough,they will become a bit more choosy about who they buy from.

PS I can,t remember the last time I saw an English motorbike on the road,can you ?

Triumph are one of the biggest sellers in the uk and mostly made here.

Mike

I'm quite sure the Chinese can (and do) make extremely good machine tools & accessories - but probably not at the kind of price that would suit the average UK 'hobbyist'. Most of the Far Eastern accessories that I have purchased are not only better than I could make myself but also often cost less than even the material I would have to purchase (thinking of items involving 'castings' mostly) . Anyone who wants something better will have to be prepared to make those improvements themselves - not impossible, just time consuming. Personally, I generally don't need to work to microns - although I'm sure some here do - and most of my Chinese 'bits' are perfectly good enough for my needs.

However, I do agree that as standards of living rises across China, India and other (currently) low-wage societies - that the cost of the machinery and tools they send us will go up too.

Regards,

IanT

Maybe the way the early posts in this thread look so bitter and exaggerated now is because things really have got better, but I think they were already a lot better than that in 2010.

Back in the 60s and 70s, a few cars would get past 100,000 miles but not many. Most were failing MoTs or breaking down badly/frequently by 70 or 80k. Nowadays many or most cars will get to 200k easily.

And there are plenty of other examples of consumer products like washing machines and dishwashers becoming much more reliable, especially with the abandonment of electromechanical control systems in favour of electronic.

A bit over 2 years ago I replaced my Myford lathe with a Chinese machine at about a third of the new price of the last Myfords. It's far more capable in several ways than the Myford was, most of the things that have gone wrong with it have been my own fault, and so far I've been able to fix all of them.

Far more serious IMO is the issue of how you square the fact that machine-made and robot-assembled products are so much more consistent and reliable than human-made, with the fact that people need creative jobs they can be proud of.

Hornsby of Grantham built a successful tracked vehicle mounted with an internal combustion engine. They tried to sell this to the war department to tow guns before the first world war .This was rejected by the cavalry generals.Hornsby sold the track design to Holt who subsiquentley sold it to Catapiller.There has always been a lack of investment in our industry.

Frank

Posted by Martin W on 12/11/2010 12:45:01:

Hi Terry

 

Only if you are looking at it through rose tinted glasses .

 

Martin

Now that's another thing. Has anyone else noticed that new spectacles these days seem to last one to two years before the "special scratchproof coating" on the lenses starts to bubble and discolour and you have to go and buy new glasses? None of the shops today seem to allow you to buy new lenses for your old glasses, you have to buy the whole frame and lens package. Planned obsolescence obviously. And I am sure the rose tinted lenses are no exception