From China with Love - Squeaking Metal
Today we are going to talk about how China is taking our wealth, one purchase decision at a time over the years and the roots of that problem.
When I was a younger mechanic, in my mid-twenties or so, I used to scrap metal for a little extra cash from time to time. I had a guy that came by once a month and loaded up all the old engines and brake rotors that piled up behind my shop. He did it for free, so I let him take it. One day, he had a tizzy fit because someone was stealing his scrap. I didn't care how it left my shop. All I knew is that he garbage men did not want it in the dumpster because it was too heavy. I was glad that somebody came and got it out of the way.
I was a bit upset that this scrapper guy had gone off on me. I had enough problems with people complaining about the price of towing or trying to bring their own parts in to get a cheaper price on a brake job, so I started hauling my own scrap into the city and I found out that there is pretty good money in it. After all, I had my own truck and I was paying for insurance for it even on Sundays, so why not.
On my first trip to the scrap yard, I learned that they weigh the whole truck (with all the metal in the back, including driver) and then you head off to the area where you wait (usually) for a claw or magnet to pull the load from your truck. I had a pick up truck so it was better to have a magnet hover over it and suck the metal up onto itself rather than have a claw poke a hole in the bed of my truck. I could always choose to throw the stuff off the truck myself, but I had a bunch of guys who loaded it and some of the scrap needed to be put on using a hoist, so why break my back...
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The claw was a really cool device they had there, and they used it to toss a lot of scrap onto a large conveyor belt and the massive machine that processed it all was loud. It could do whole cars. "Do what?" you ask? Well, it has huge metal teeth as a first step and progressively smaller ones further down the line to break up, crunch up, and shred up everything that you can throw at it. It was really cool to see it work. All I knew is that when that machines was down, lots of piles got a lot bigger and the machines that fed it were idle.
At the other end, the output was a mix of tin, brass, stainless, iron, steel and even plastic. I got a glimpse of the sorting mechanism as I was waiting to get back on the scale to weigh out and the magnetic rollers on several of the output belts were doing their best to sort lighter rubber and plastic out of it, magnetic or non out of it, but the bulk of the output was loaded onto a barge. I later found out that the barge was headed to China and it was destined to be turned into new scrap! In this case, chairs that are so weak, they break if you use them more than once per month.
Changing Gears
I have been having difficulties over the last few years with chairs among other things. But let's just talk about the chairs for the sake of keeping this short. When I go out to get a new office chair or gaming chair for my kids, I look for one of quality construction. I like metal construction and those are the ones I buy for the most part. Invariable they all break within a year if I am using them. I no longer a play the role of a mechanic. Now I do programming and cleaner work for a living. I sit all day and get up for coffee on occasion.
I always asked where the chairs were made and was assured that they are made in this country. But where does the manufacturer buy it's metal? Where do the parts that make up the chairs come from?
Well after many years of research and over thirty chairs, I found out that they buy it all from, you guessed it, China.
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Here is a sorting facility in China today. The workers are sorting through all those water heaters, pots and pans, tin cans and engines that the machine chewed up and it is all being melted into pipe, plates, tubing, and other things that are welded together into chairs as well as other products and they all break right next to the welds. It is low grade mixed metals that do not have any tinsel strength because it is not pure steel or iron (they are different, you know). If you have ever dropped your favorite pot, you will know that the metal is great for being heated up over and over but it is soft and dents easily. It is not steel.
That is the point I am making. Society used to be able to count on metal products being tough and able to last for many years. Chairs do not last anymore and will never again unless we demand a product that is forged, poured or treated here with pure metals made here! Companies that do not care enough to buy the right stuff are putting a bit more profit on their bottom line, but at what cost? The cost is on us, having to buy the same item over and over because of their decision to skimp.
It is an annoyance if we are talking about a chair. It is something entirely different when we are talking about a wing spar in an airplane wing, or an automotive frame! Consumers need to do the research and when the product does not hold up, have the vendor send it back to China!!
For More...
Economy Size
Musical Frequencies
Compliance
Cheap, Convenient Fascism
That's Bad for You
Many of the @changes that I present will prove to be parts of the path that has led us to the place where we find ourselves. I am glad that there is an immutable platform where it can be documented.
Updates:
There is an update to this post...
I had talked about dish soap no longer doing the job that it used to and I keep looking for one that will last long enough to clean more than three or four plates with not much luck. I went to a place that sells bulk soaps and bought a gallon of dish soap, but it was even worse than the brand name is the little bottles.
Lately I went to one that is listed on @hivepago because they sell things and accept crypto. I mentioned the problem to the owner and his wife and they said they formulate their own bulk soaps. I bought another gallon. Using it gets me through up to six or seven plates before I put another tablespoon of soap on the sponge, so it is slightly better. Still nothing like Dawn or Joy used to be when I used to get several days of dirty dishes from half the quantity of soap.
It is like companies have all stopped making quality and are opting to a forced "buy and buy again" model for making money, as stated in the above post about office chairs and other metal products.
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