Made in China
China CAN make stuff of good quality. But BIG-BOX retailers (in response to the American public) go cheap on their orders. CHINA supplies the cheap product nicely. Some American importers as well as BIG-BOX retailers are way too cheap to employ an engineer of merit to check the products as they come to America. Hence the quality troubles. Actually the BIG-BOX retailer probably was weighed the legal costs of bad product versus getting a high quality product and probably chose to pay the legal fees.
IMHO, for now, I won't buy any major product,appliance or food item that says "made in China". I check the box first at retailers. The box font is usually an easy giveaway.
Here is where I think the people of this website have a good idea. Some older vintage appliances and such were of superb quality. (Some weren't... I know..) However, as an example, a purchase of a 1965 steam iron (made in USA) will likely give you an iron tht will outlast a new Chinese product.
Oh sure, the Chinese steam iron may shut itself off and not tip easily. However I personally prefer to be responsible and take those risks and use the 1965 iron for the next ten years rather than buy a new Chinese iron every 13 months. This world needs less landfill anyway.
Yes, I have engineering background and carefully check my appliances beforehand. I won't use a vintage gas appliance though (my call). I used my Economic Stimulus money to buy fun vintage stuff at estate sales and put the money back into our people. I'll resume buying Chinese product when they can PROVE that the purchaser's best interest isn't at the bottom of their list of priorities. I do put a lot of blame in the public who have also forgotten what quality is all about and enjoy buying the cheap. (BTW I LOVE my new-ish WEBER grille! American made and virtually indestructable.)
