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Supply chain issues affecting the hobby continues

I'm sure China and everyone else get quality parts from the USA. I do know on our Top Drives years back we started taking anything made with China Steel off of them after a gooseneck made in China snapped in half and fell to the rig floor. Luckily no one was injured. Had to stop using Chinese casing too, it kept coming apart under pressure.
The HVAC supply houses were getting the chinese copper fittings, with USA brand names on them, this was over 10 years ago. They would regularly crack and dump the units 26 pounds of refrigerant into the atmosphere. I was working on commercial AC roof top units.
You are talking about the steel, and if I remember right, there were some buildings that had partial collapses using it.
 
So, speaking about the supply chain... Many years ago, a friend who works in the import/export business heard me bitching about something I had broken while using it. I then started going off on the cheap Chinese crap I bought and will NEVER buy another item that's been made in China. He starts laughing. I mean Laughing Hard!!
I said what's so funny. He said you'll understand if you start looking at the manufacturer tag/stamp on most things. He said look at your clothes, dishes, pots and pans, tools, .. EVERYTHING you own. Look at the made in tag. Then come back to me and tell me that you will never buy anything else made in China.
After a few weeks of noticing where all of the things are made, I realized we are totally dependent on China!! And a few other countries, but WOW.. "Made in China" is stamped on almost everything!
Ugh.... This is bad.... so bad.. and it's also very sad. This was 24 years ago and if it was that bad then, it's down right depressing now!
And as I understand it, China is now having massive issues due to Covid 19.
well 81,283,501 people have asked for this
 
Anyone buy windshield wiper blads lately? Just bought a set to today, RainX wiper blades with a $10 off coupon, $ 71 dollars and some change. :eek:
Sounds like you bought them at O'reillys lol. I thought the same thing until I looked at a different store. Oreillys totaled me up to $60 something. L&M had them for $12 each (which is already double what they are worth).
 
Does anyone remember Hillary on the board of directors for Walmart, while Bill was ushering in our "Service Economy"? Without tariffs in place, it won't come back until our wages are lower than China's. But that will never happen, because China has it's currency pegged to ours at a lower value. We need to get out of this one way free trade agreement.


 
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Here in the Keys, the environment pretty much requires that you use stainless hardware, screws, bolts, washers, etc. if you want anything to last more than a few weeks. I've been burned using Chinese stuff that supposedly was 304 or 316 grade stainless steel. The salt air environment down here is not forgiving and quickly exposes poor quality products.
304 will definitely rust when exposed to the elements due to the high percent of carbon.
 
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Sounds like you bought them at O'reillys lol. I thought the same thing until I looked at a different store. Oreillys totaled me up to $60 something. L&M had them for $12 each (which is already double what they are worth).
THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE I GOT THEM! I still haven't put them on, I think I'm gonna go get my money back.
 
Today I took the wiper blades and got my money back, then went to Walmart and bought some old school run of the mill wiper blades for $ 7.95 a piece. I Thought to myself, hell, these were about the only style wiper blades you could get when I was kid, they worked then don't see why they wouldn't work now.
 
I found that cleaning the blade helps a ton!! The blades get coated with dirt and junk and stop being effective. I get a rag and spray some WD-40 and run it up and down the blade. You would be surprised how much junk is on there. Try it!!
But then you have to clean the WD40 off or you're smearing oil all over your windshield. I clean the wipers with RainX while I'm applying a new coat of RainX to the glass.
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At a local store they have a Purpose-Built Cooler for 7Up drinks. It was relatively new and worked fine for about 6 months then started freezing up. Probably the Defrost Control or Defrost Heater failed. They called in the problem and a month later the guys are coming out with a whole other machine. When asked why they didn't just repair the sitting one, they said they are 6 months behind in being able to get parts.
 
It was bad enough that American manufacturing went to China. Now our inflation is causing the American's disposable income to dry up and there is nobody left to buy China's crap the way we did. This is causing the Chinese economy to tank because they are shutting down their factories. We are in for a bumpy ride.

 
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