The American manufacturing industry is full of litigation and liability and so many hands grabbing at the money that, by the time we get to put the microscope on the products, there isn't much left to look at.
It's "funny" to me how, for example, an old Emerson oscillating fan can be made in a way that lasts for decades and decades and decades with virtually no mechanical or electrical failure -even though they were (supposedly) much more primitive. You know the ones I'm talking about? They were built like tanks!
Why aren't things made like that anymore? Did we forget how? No....
One day, someone said, "Wow! Our products are SO good, we can only sell them once! We should stop making them so well and then maybe customers will come back when they break and we can sell them another one! I know! Let's start thinking of ways to make things a little less expensively and design things to eventually fail -not too soon, but within a reasonable period of time. That way, people will stay loyal to the brand and come back again and again, thinking that we are a company who has the customers' best interests at heart."
Now, add to that, the weight placed on employers to provide safe working conditions, ALL kinds of insurance, etc. If someone calls in sick, they still get paid. If someone gets pregnant, they get maternity leave....For employers, it basically, starts to boil down to the question of how cheaply can we operate the business? You can either cut corners on the people or you can cut corners on the products.
In China, they don't apply the same standards and working conditions, i.e., severance pay, dental insurance, medical, paid vacations, etc., that we HAVE to apply. So, they can, in some cases, make a better set of drums because they can put that money into the raw materials and design rather than into the mouthes of their employees.
And so then it becomes a, "Well, if ya can't beat em', then join em'!" kind of thing. Thats why most American drums are made in China, now. We simply can't afford to make American drums the way we used to make them. What happens next is all about marketing.
Marketing is everything to businesses like drum making. That's because Keller is the company who makes the shells and a couple other Chinese factories make the hardware for a couple of companies that spec out the designs to the factories. There really isn't much new these days. So, how do you separate yourself from your competitors/ Answer: "MARKETING!"
You make up a story about how the shells are made from ancient Chinese maple and relate it to something about salvaged logs from pillars of the Forbidden City and then you paint them bright "Chinese Crimson" lacquer. And you LIMIT the production to 2,000 sets worldwide (which is a LOT, in reality) and then you price them in a way that makes people believe they are something other than a regular, old Keller drum with some rather generic hardware.
Truth be told: My first drum set came to me EXACTLY in the way jonnistix describes in that scenario. I WANTED a Ludwig kit. I GOT a Tempro kit. The price difference was obviously major at the time. I proved myself by sticking to them (pun intended) and mowed lots and lots of lawns before I could afford a real "pro" drum set. But I did it and my reward was that the product I spent my money on was a good one -so good, in fact, I still have those drums!
As well as all that, I also like good deals, too. When it boils right down to it, and not trying to come across as better than anyone else, but I know when something is quality. I can see it. I guess I've lived long enough around quality products that I know what is what. Honestly, I look for the quality first. I don't really care where it's made, how it's made or who made it -as long as the quality is there. But, again, in all honesty, I don't see the old-style quality in any new products.
Even with the example that people bring up about modern cars being so much better.... I would argue that old Model T's and Model A's would still be rolling on the road if we, as a society, hadn't gotten in a such a hurry. Who needs air bags in a car that can only do 20 MPH? lol! ;) In terms of quality, though, older things that weren't designed to become obsolete, are clearly superior. There are just too many examples to list.
The real shame about the cost of doing business is that it's gotten to the point where innovative designs are stifled. It used to be a form of competition among the big companies to out-design the other one. But the idea of really new design concepts would mean too much re-tooling and expense to maintain the profits. So, who knows what great designs people have come up with that will never see the light of day because of the fact that it costs so much to be creative these days?
I have some design ideas, myself, that I couldn't even begin to afford to bring to market. I'm talking simple ideas that could really be useful. One day I got the urge to snoop around and see what would be involved with prototyping and branding and blah blah, blah...UNBELIEVABLY expensive. And there is little protection for the idea once it's made known. If it's a good idea, then someone will steal it and dare you to sue them over it. Most people can't afford to fight those battles, or they simply don't have the time or the inclination for it.
For me, in most cases (not all, but most), I find the quality I desire in the objects made a long time ago. It's fun for me to seek them out when I can. But, hey, I have to drive on the same highways as you do and I can't drive a Model T across country in the winter. It's a matter of practicality, sometime, too.
And that puts us right back to square one!
