Will you pay more for a product made in the USA compared to the "same" one from China, Taiwan, or another country?

Well, I doubt they'd be the "same", but if so, hell yes.  A *lot* more, no.  I would pay *more* for something no matter where it came from, if it was higher quality.  Capitalism demands it.

Yes.  If I actually have a choice that is.  So many thing aren't made in America anymore.  American-made clothes are hard to come by, top-of-the-line graphing calculators and such are pretty much monopolized by Texas Instruments, which has their products made in Taiwan, shoes are almost solely made in other countries, and the list goes on and on from there.

I do own an American-made truck, two American refridgerators, many American-made guns, an American computer system, an old American TV, an American dishwasher, and my house was made from American-cut lumber by American workers.

If the product is EQUAL quality I'm going with the cheaper one on matter where it is made. However, may spend a little more (10 %) to buy the American made product if they are both equal.

Can you buy them at Walmart?

I will buy the better product assuming I can afford it.  A good US made product is always high on my list, but if it junk they can forget it.

On the other hand (sigh:( ), I work for a Canadian company who is the prime contractor for a Japanese mining claim.  We drive Toyotas, have a Jap Caterpillar D-7 (all the switches and knobs have Japanese ideograms), and I have several Canuck coworkers.

I drive a Toyota at home, in part because that is where my paycheck ultimately originates.  I have nothing in common with 80K per year UAW employees who strike because they quibble over a 1/2% raise difference between offered and proposed.

Hell, Noone ever protected MY job except for me!

Let's see, I drove my Ford Truck 160K+ miles before it was creamed while parked. Was still running good at the time.

When Jr. wanted a cordless drill for stage craft & household work, Home Depot was really pushing the Ryobi's at nearly half the price (swore they never had any problems but had a lifetime warranty), but we paid nearly twice the price for a DeWalt.  Never regretted it, and it probably saved us money for never having to take back the cheap Ryobi.

Firearms? All U.S. made.  Ditto the scopes.

Hunting gear - Packs & clothing almost all U.S.

Boots - went out of my way & paid a premium for Irish Setters (US model);  ditto years ago on Frye boots.
Same on the, uh, "dress" shoes for work. Red Wing.

Electronics -  Don't shop Rat Shack much anymore.  TV & game system: fell victim to lack of US mf'd products.  Well, I guess Microsoft is SORTA American.  Darth Gates.

Tools - Mostly Crafstman of US manufacture

Computer - Mixture of IBM, ASUS, Intel, etc. All put together at home with U.S. labor.

Printer - HP

Knives - Gerbers, Benchmade, Buck,

Flashlights - Surefire, Minimags, Eveready

Denims - Wranglers or Lees, NEVER Levi's

Socks & underwear - found U.S. stuff at Penney's

Ex's - Strictly of U.S. origin

I will shop around to find something U.S. made & buy it unless the U.S. product is of significantly inferior quality, or virtually/actually no US product exists.

Certain industries seem to hardly exist in the US - shoes, clothing, electronics, some car parts. Kitchen utensils in your average supermarket.

We need s good source for information on finding U.S. made products.  That's one thing I like about Cabela's -  they are pretty clear whether a product is U.S. or imported.

One thing that's especially annoying is those companies that aren't up-front about it.  Example:  Walgreens' private label stuff will usually only say "distributed by".

I would spend more yes, but these days it is so hard to verify especially electronics. A few years ago I had found out that my stepfather who works in a fitters union told me he must drive an American car to work. In most unions your car would be smashed to pieces if you showed up in a "jap" car. Maybe he was joking, but I thought that was pretty funny considering that most American brand cars if not all contain foreign computer parts. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I read a few years ago that the Japanese or Chinese, actually invented the Liquid Crystal Display? Maybe I am wrong but I swore I read that somewhere. Anyway Firearms, and Knives seem to be among the few items that can be 100% American made. Alot of other things are much harder to verify. I am all for made in the USA but I also keep in mind alot of Americans find employment with foreign owned companies too.

Japanese invented crystal watch movements - saw it on the History Channel the other day.

Tate

I try to buy American, but as long as it's a NATO democracy that the product is coming from I don't mind. The concept of companies having nationalities is a little bit dated. The CEO of Toyota is an American, and a major voting block of stock in Ford is owned by Brithish investors. Then you have American companies that produce there stuff elsewhere, it gets very blury.

Actually, Texas Instruments' products are made in several different countries. The chips (wafers) are almost all produced in the US, with some manufactured in Japan and India, and most are then shipped to Malaysia for testing and shipped back to the US for final assembly and packaging. From there they are either sold to customers or the chips and other misc parts are sent to Taiwan for final assembly into finished product (calculators).

I assume it is this way for most of the larger companies that operate on a global scale. Much of the stuff you buy has its components manufactured in the US only to be assembled in another country. Just because something was 'made' in Taiwan doesn't mean that people in the US aren't building all of its components.

Just something to think about.....

Depends. I've seen too many "Proudly made in the USA"  products that were either junk, dangerously bad, or hideously overpriced.(Automotive parts and accessories are especially bad in this respect..)

Quality for my money takes precedence over where it's made..

Meplat-

I work as a Fitter myself, and about driving U.S. made only cars and trucks, those days of getting your"jap" car smashed up are pretty much in the past..I've seen lots of guys driving jap cars and trucks on the job, including myself, nobody really cares, here in Ohio, not much bad is said about Honda, they have put alot of union people to work building their plants and doing their shutdowns,I've worked at Honda twice through the years, and was always treated very well by the Honda people,Honda would let us construction workers use their cafateria, (excellent food!!)get porta-jons out when needed ,and made sure they were cleaned, and kept clean, they did'nt quibble about overtime when needed,all they said was, Do it, material? how much you need? we'll get it here tomorrow,By contrast, working for some U.S. plants on shutdowns, was quite diffrent, I remember being told at one place we wern't allowed to use their bathrooms,lunchrooms,if you had to go, well, go out side somewhere, at one steelmill the workers there (Union brothers) actually took a torch and broke into our gang-box, and stole everything!! ALL of our tools!! this happened twice, before the company I was working for told the steelmill they'd pullout and leave'm hanging if it did'nt stop, (this was a fairly complex job we were doing, and none of the mill-rats were anywhere near smart enough to do it themselves)it stopped, after the mill threatened to fire the entire night shift,Material was always too little, too late  I guess it all depends on what it is, a car, scope, gun, Cars, right now after having nothing but trouble with the last three Ford pu's, and a jeep cherokee, I'll go with a Honda, they don't break nearly as often as Ford's or Jeeps do.. Guns are another area, I've got a few European made guns(rifles&pistols) and they have decent triggers (not found on many U.S. made rifles, with 10 lb "lawyer triggers") and are accurate,well made, often priced alot cheaper than U.S.made, A CZ 75/85 is a good example here,Scopes, I'll take a Burris thank you, Anymore with just about any U.S. company either owning forigen companys or being owned by them you can't hardly buy anything that is'nt at least partly  made somewhere else,I try to buy U.S. made whenever I can, except for vehicles, After driving this Honda for awhile, I don't think I'll buy a American-made car again, Not until they improve their quality at every level, and thet've got a long way to go.  

I'll spend more for a higher quality product.
Regardless of its country of origin.

If two products are equal in quality, I'll buy the cheaper of the two.
Regardless of its country of origin.

If two products are equal in price, but differ in quality, I'll buy the better product.
Regardless of its country of origin.

If two products are equal in price AND quality, THEN I'll buy the American made product.

Capitalism.

I just buy quality and value. Sometimes American is better (Dewalt, Craftsman), sometimes not.

Just because it says "Made in USA" on it, doesn't mean I will buy it. It's all about quality and value.

Av.

all else being equal, i prefer american products. all my vehicles are american. if the price is significantly higher for american, i'll go with offshore, but i only buy mainland chinese if there's no other choice.
freedom.
i dont want to fund their military off the labor of political prisoner soon-to-be organ donors, especially since we may have to fight them. when the chinese start importing cars into the us, our auto industry is done, kaput, over.

I bought an American made Chrystler product because Lee Iacoca told me too.  I look under the hood and the alternator was made by Nipondeso in Japan.

Screw that noise.

hardly anything is "MADE" in america anymore
assembles yes but tottaly made in amercia damn few. and im not counting guns just every day items.

I deo my best to buy products that are made in the US, most of the time however, I have no choice but to buy a product made somewhere else.

I thought Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and part of America???  Seems like every few years they vote on becoming a state.

I always try to get the most "bang for my buck". Sometimes I spend more for a quality item made here with good support, and other times I buy the cheapest thing possible and if it breaks I throw it away.  I have a hard time passing up a really good deal.

I will do my best to buy American. Funny story kind of for you girls in the mining, construction and any other "export" proof business and trades. I had been watching the construction of a new Menards in town and when the steel was going up I saw a picket go up by some kind of scab buster group. The lead guy (?) was at one entrance driving a caprice all painted up with scab-buster motief(sp) protesting non union labor, and at the other entrance was some guy with a picket BUT he was driving a Isuzu Trooper which is made in Japan. The Rodeo IS at least made in the US. Anyway I pull in at the gate with the jap crap and ask him why I should support him seeing I am a member of the UAW and he doesnt support me. He had no comment and went and sat in his jap crap. I cant wount the number of men I have seen with pro union BS (bumper stickers too) on jap cars they drive. Most of them are construction trades. And dont give me that "its used" story either, I dont care. I will not willing do business with anyone who buys foriegn cars.

Geez, not many Americans are made in America any more.  "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

um...hell no.

if a company (US) can't supply something that is the same at same or lower price screw'em.  Only reason they are expensive is cuz idiots here get paid more than idiots overseas, if you work in a factory why the hell should you get paid as much as a teacher or cop?  

James

That's the beauty of unions.  Don't you just love it? [rolleyes]

rifleer1,

What is so special about teachers and cops that they deserve to be paid more then people who work in factories. Teachers are not special and they get paid enough now but they are always going on strike and forcing schools to close or to open later and the students get fu**ed. As to cops they don’t even deserve what they are getting now for the most part considering how they treat the citizens who pay their salary. But the big problem I have with your attitude is the way you belittle the people who work in factories calling then idiots. So I think you are the one who is an idiot and think you are better then the factories are, unless you are also a factory worker then you are calling yourself an idiot so I can take back my calling you an idiot since you have done that to your self.  By the way I am not a Factory Worker never have been.   Have a nice day.

I think anyone who owns a commie rifle or handgun has no right to criticize anyone for not buying the in USA!

Does anyone actually think their job is export proof?

I work in the mining industry.  It was no joke that the best minor degree to pick up was Spanish.  This is a more mobile industry than most.

Any of the commodity producing industries have to face the market they are trying to sell into.  If a mining company will be able to survive/make an evil profit by mining in South America, do you think they will stay here in the USA and go bankrupt?  If the costs to produce x tons of an item are higher here than elsewhere, who will stay in business and who will sink when times get tough? Same goes for aluminum, steel, corn and wheat producers.

Overly confrontational unions have sunk their share of companies.

Ask your union buddies at LTV Steel what happened last month.  They have plenty of time.