Evidently my last post, which was entitled “American Labor - Sleeping with the Fishes,” was a little hard to understand, so I figured I had better do a better job of explaining myself...

Anyway, to make a long story short, a company by the name of Emerson Electric used to manufacture the Craftsman line of power tools for sale in Sears hardware stores. Then Sears decided that they could make more money by manufacturing these tools overseas, and Emerson lost the contract--which meant that Emerson was going to have to close down its manufacturing plant in Paris, Tennessee.

Sensing an opportunity, The Home Depot stepped in and offered to start selling Emerson made tools in its home improvement stores. In turn, The Home Depot was given the Ridgid brand name--a solid brand that until that time had been associated mostly with plumbing tools.

So with a much publicized act of heroism, The Home Depot helped to save the jobs of many American workers who would have otherwise fallen victim to foreign outsourcing and corporate greed. At least that's how it all started out...

But after a few years, greed must have won out anyway, because that plant in Tennessee was indeed shut down, and the tool manufacturing business was once again sent overseas. And this time, no one seemed to notice...

Now believe it or not, I'm not one of those people who think all corporations are inherently evil. Sure, they're in the business of making money, but they are also subject to consumer trends. In other words, if consumers don't seem to care if their products are made in America, well then neither do the corporations...

So I decided to head back to The Home Depot--this time to do a little comparison shopping. And here's what I found:

1/2” Keyless Chuck Drills
Milwaukee (Made in the USA) = $139
Ridgid (Made in China) = $129

7 1/4” Worm Drive Circular Saws
Skil (Made in the USA) = $179
Ridgid (Made in China) = $169

Heavy Duty Reciprocating Saws
Milwaukee (Made in the USA) = $119
Ridgid (Made in China) = $89

Pneumatic Framing Nailers
Paslode (Made in the USA) = $279
Ridgid (Made in Taiwan) = $259

The biggest surprise was that there really wasn't that much of a price difference between the American and foreign made power tools. You'd think the foreign made tools would be a lot cheaper, but they really weren't.

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In fact, the biggest price difference I saw was between the reciprocating saws. The Ridgid saw (Made in China) was selling for only $89, whereas the Milwaukee saw (Made in the USA) was going for $119.

Now, the average person walking into a Home Depot store probably won't know this, but a Milwaukee reciprocating saw is the best you can get. In fact, this type of Milwaukee saw is actually called a “Sawzall,” as in “Saws-All.” My father owns one (as does every other professional contractor I know), and he's had his for as long as I can remember...

But anyway, most of the American made power tools were selling for only about $10-20 more than their foreign counterparts.

Now I'll be the first to admit that not all of my tools are made in America--sometimes you just don't have a choice anymore. But when there's a choice, I believe you should choose American.

And I hate to say it, but if you can't afford an extra twenty bucks for an American made power tool, then you probably can't afford to do that home improvement project in the first place. Especially considering how much money you'll likely save by doing the work yourself...

But I guess the most important thing to remember is that even though an American made product may cost more, it could still end up being the better overall value.

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