Vise Grips Moves to China

Guess it was only a matter of time. Anyone know of a US made alternative?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26531610/

 

Buy them used. Treat your old ones gently.

Bummer...

 

That sucks, at least I have a few old pairs that are American made.

 

What is this world coming to????

 

That sucks...another one stolen away...one more thing to scrounge for at the swap meets...


cool tee shirts: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236347

 

Oh crap.....where's Richard D???? haha

 

Here's the e-mail address for their media contact in case anyone wants to send a note expressing their displeasure.

melissa.gambrill@irwin.com

 

So now the jaws will break instead of rounding off the nuts? Hey there's always an upside. lol

 

channel lock makes a good locking plier... they still made here?

 

I have about a dozen...guess they'll be keepers..

 

They'll try to blame it on the workers,some of whom were unaware how lucky we are to be working at all,but the suits who do stuff like this are really garbage.We have dozens of pairs of vice grips,anything else has always failed to measure up...till now. These suits really are garbage.Garbage!

 

Why so down? They could change the name to Kung Fu-grips and have twice the power.

 

It's a crock of shit if ya ask me......

 

HAHAHAHAHA,
I would buy a pair of those just for the novelty of it. Maybe we should make our own US made brand and call them that.

I could just see it out in the garage right now:
ME: "Hey honey since your out here, come here, and bring that Kung-Fu grip(tm)."
Wife: "Not now the kids are still awake"

HAHAHA

(Sorry, little joke from one of our favorite Sublime songs)

 

Treat them gently??????

 

That sucks. You might be able to find an alternative here. This is a list of tool companies that still manufacture their products in the U.S.A.
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/tools.html#handtools

 

I hate china. It sucks that america can not survive with out china any more. There should be a law about handing away jobs to other countrys. keep it here in the us

 

And now we know how China paid for the extravagant Olympics. They used our money........we move manufacturing to China and we end up buying back the crap they make for us. How stupid are we??
www.madeinusa.com
www.canadianmade.com
USE THESE SITES

 

F##k Vice Grips f##king sellout dollar whores. F**king Raybestos brakes parts made in china, too. They wont stop till everybody is out of work in the USA.

 

Might be time to start using the hammer for a hammer... Just a thought.

 

assholes and sellouts. This news makes me sick.

 

Blame it on our goverment for taxing the shit out of these companies that forces them to go over seas so they can make a profit

 

China isn't stealing this company, the cut throat corporate management made the economic decision to move the company to replace the work force and facilities with cheaper options so as to make more profit for the investors are. You can't blame the Chinese workers for taking the opportunity presented to them. American did the exact some thing to build this country from around 1850-1970 until we lost the advantage and most people fortunately weren't living in 1000 sf. houses anymore and could afford to have a summer vacation. We took manufacturing away from Europe with our cheap labor and new infrastructure. Now it our turn on the other end of the stick. So, if you want to complain, stop going to Walmart, etc, and just always buying the cheapest crap you can find and that will be the best thing you can do to help. But, short of that, try to educate yourself on history some and fault the people who are really to blame; the investors of the company, the management and people who think nothing of blaming workers for all our problems when all they are trying to do is work a good day and go home and have a decent house and life for their families. The people with the real money make all this happen and we know what side of the fence they are sitting on. Cheap labor is all they want and they don't care where they need to go to get it and quite frankly they would do it regardless of how much more the American production costs. If all they could make is 5 cents more for every dollar, they would do it. That's how publicly owned corporations survive and what the management does every year to keep the bonuses flowing.

And please don't start with the tax and treehugger BS. Do the research. The companies want people to believe that because it gives them an easy excuse. Those costs pale in comparison to the labor costs and the cost to maintain outdated facilitates verses just getting new ones somewhere else. The reality is the companies don't want to pay American workers enough to make a decent living. But, they are happy to replace their jobs with cheaper labor and then sell the products back to you. the reason is that so many consumers just wanted to buy the cheapest product they can find. So, seems like the problem starts at home and ends at home. Blaming others is hypocritical at best. The Chinese companies are just supplying a product they are being asked to by actual request and by market demand. If you vote free market and buy the cheapest stuff you can get, then this is what happens.

Also blame the current obsession of the stock market and making money with investment gambling. The stock market is no more about investments than Las Vegas is. 'Investors' don't invest in companies any more than shopping around for the cheapest labor is an investment. People buy and sell stock purely on how much money they can make of it. The aggressive and cut throat companies are rewarded and the companies that are happy just making good products and decent profits are sold off and traded down and eventually out of business. Invest like that in the stock market and you are supporting that as well. But, if you really want to 'invest' in a company, buy their stock and don't sell it off the second you see some other stock can make a few more bucks for you. Invest in a company to actually invest in a company for a real reason and for something you believe in and not play the stock like a game of Black Jack.

 

I was just talking about this at lunch today. A few of my co-workers have relatives that worked at the factory, here in Nebraska. They lost their jobs there - sad to see it go overseas.

Malcolm

 

stude trucks - i doubt ANYONE will read your post, and if they do, it will be selective comprehension.

 

as i see it , companies go offshore for two reasons...one is to save on manufactoring costs. wages and benefits like health insurance are through the roof

the second is to save on the costs associated with the BS and regulations the governments place on them. when i say governments i mean federal , state and local...the officials we vote for. this also includes regulatory agencies , like the EPA , we do not get to vote on... either who are running them and what their policies are


through in the Sieirra Club and the other groups that do nothing buy try to stop progress in this country . we haven't built an new oil refinery plant or nuclear power plant in this country in 30 years...not that someone didn't want to...but they were stopped from doing so by guess who

with the prospect that taxes and regulations are going to increase in the upcoming years , what should they do? stay here and die? their first obligations are to the stockholders of the company. if you don't like how they run the company , start your own and find out

don't get me wrong , i don't like it either...but get used to the fact we will see more of it

 

Oden said employees were told that "to keep the Vise-Grip name competitive, they had to move to China."

bullshit. vice grip has (had) no competition. they are making money, and want to make more money and fuck the people who actually do all the work.

it's the American way.

 

Vise grips were made in Deweese, Nebraska. Company started to go to shit when Irwin Tool Co. bought them out.

 

Then solve that by taxing the shit out imports. We'll need the money for welfare for the laid off workers.

 

Somehow or another I'm pretty sure I'll get by with or without quality locking pliers. My real concern is the 300 more Americans that just had their lives turned upsidedown and their futures put in serious jeopardy. Just more of the slow but steady erosion of our country.