Corporate raiders and Vulture Capitalists … their bean counter CPAs and hired gun lawyers calculate how to make a quick buck by looting the pension fund, selling off the property/assets and business operations, and leaving the wreckage behind
They're scumbags no doubt, but the real blame is with the so-called Elected Officials in D.C. who facilitated the selling out of American Manufacturing to China, the Raiders fatten their wallets and bribed the D.C. scumbags to keep it going.
I’m no advocate of socialist economics, but what you see IS the natural dynamics of capitalism. Which, credits where they are due, was correctly predicted by one K. Marx. What to do about it? How to resist such hostile takeovers? It would come down to turning down a good sum of money. Few would do that. 🤥
Kind regards from the US. I’ll share something that was said to me the other day about your side of the pond. “Britain was built by men in flat caps and destroyed by men in bowlers” This is exactly the same way I feel about Starrett being bought out.
I am SICK of these so-called "Investment" and "Hedge-fund" companies. We have the same bandits over here in the UK. They serve no practical use, except to themselves.
@@stevedavey1343People are quick to blame capitalism, when the socialists are failing just as much to protect us from monopolies. The government is bought and paid for, and it still would be if it was communist.
it happens because people let them do it. Corporations move the factories overseas because of costs, but they keep charging like they were still made in the USA. I am from Argentina and I remember we would buy Made in Usa measuring devices for labs or engineering firms because it was asign of quality and you knew it was going to last forever, you wouod not need to recalibrate after a few uses. Now they just get a cheap movement and put out a Starret dial and off it goes on sale
Might seem like it to you old timers but that's the result of a global and consumer economy so you could have all this cheap crap because you complained about everything being so expensive. A race to the bottom folks. Hey, at least you have Medicare, Medicaid, and your pensions/social security. That will all disappear for my generation.
as a mechanic i used to only buy Moog suspension parts, that is until recently. i installed some new ball joints in my truck. all 4 were bad right out of the box. i found out Moog had been sold recently to a Chinese company, the quality went right out the window, yet mysteriously prices stayed the same. i will never buy Moog again
Yes, it is sad when you opt for, and pay a premium for an iconic brand only to find it is just a brand mark now, not quality. Unfortunately, that is what Amazon has turned this world into, fast and cheap has replaced tried and true.
It’s the same with most auto parts. In my 30 years as a professional tech I’ve watched brand after brand, many reputable names, outsource overseas and now it’s becoming hard to find truly good parts. Sourcing them from different vendors gets you nothing but a different box and often a higher price for literally the same part. Wether it be in a Napa box, a BWD box, a Standard Motors box or an A/C Delco box purchased directly from a GM dealer or what have you, they’re often the exact same part made in the same factory coming off of the same assembly line at the same time and re-boxed per the brand of the vendor. It’s aggravating to say the least. It can make me as a tech look bad because a part fails shortly after releasing the vehicle to the customer or simply having to retain the vehicle for a long period of time while I go through a line of parts until I find one that functions properly, all the while eating all of the extra time and labor involved in doing so. Another unfortunate situation I’ve seen more of lately is that the quality among those few US made parts that I can find is often somewhat lacking too. Seeing that “made in the USA” logo used to nearly automatically mean quality. That unfortunately is apparently also and sadly a thing of the past. Let’s hope both of the above mentioned scenarios can change soon.
I've said this for 40 years: ''If we're going to have open trade with China, we better be prepared to live like they do. In a shack, eating cardboard soup.
What a great company. Years ago i wrote Starrett a letter asking if i could buy a wall chart. They sent me five charts for FREE!... I was so impressed by that.
Yeah, they have a section on their website with charts, tables and booklets for free, free shipping too. Fantastic stuff. Interesting to see where this private company takes Starrett.
STARRETT sent me the DECIMALS CARDS that covered Metric and Standard everything front and back 3X4" they sent our class enough along with the really large Banner type that we hung on the walls of our machine shop class that was ended maybe 10 years ago? How much were the politicians paid to allow China to buy up our country, Americans bought into China 15 or 20 years ago they owned 49% and many gave up the Chop to their partner and many Americans lost their shirts as the CHOP was not seen again? In the USA China pays our politicians very well to insure they can buy and OWN anything they want from corporations to Farm Lands? What fools we Americas were and are right Obama, right Biden right Congress, right Senate? All of it started with the BILL and Hilary CLINTON'S RIGHT?
As a machine tool builder apprentice in the 1970’s I was told to purchase LS Starrett tools for precision measuring. I was being trained by highly skilled journeymen who worked through WW2 and a fair amount of highly skilled Germans all of whom knew how to use precision tools to build the precision equipment necessary for modern manufacturing. Thanks to them I can still setup and create high precision machinery. I’m so grateful to have learned an essential trade from men who graciously passed on their knowledge to the guy who was 23 when they began molding me and my mind. The world is in turmoil and there will come the day when an American precision tool making company will be essential.
A few years ago here in Birmingham, UK, we were similarly saddened when the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury (founded 1824) was taken over by Kraft, and the quality reduced to Kraft levels.
Haven't bought any since! I check supermarket labels to make sure I'm not buying Kraft aka Mondelez or something, but find they've taken over loads of once-respected companies.
I think I recall either John Saunders or Adam Booth tour of the Starrett facility, the tour guide said their biggest competitor was their own used tools.
This is what very few people will realize and acknowledge. Even Tubalcain has videos of tools he bought used at industrial and estate auctions, flea markets, etc. The same people that complain about the cost of new items from Starrett and then brag about their second-hand Starrett acquisitions are a part of the problem. But the biggest factor is no one can compete with Chinese labor costs.
@@jonathanhendry9759 Yeah, but you wouldn't have those, had the America the founders envisioned and codified in the first immigration act survived. Who owns the FED?
That's miserable, but keep the stuff and honor the legacy, remember what was instead of what things are becoming. Thanks to every politician and voter that has had a hand in wrecking this once beautiful America
Um, it's the CEOs and the board members who approved this kind of stuff. The politicians voting for deregulation of corporate finance laid out the yellow brick road for it to happen. Just look who private equity fat cats are donating millions to.
Blame idiots who voted for these clowns and blame people who buy cheap imports and knockoffs. I hate to say it but supporting Vevor and they're ilk is how we got here.
The biggest culprit are the consumers. Every year they demand everything at a cheaper & cheaper price point. We hit the point a few decades ago of no longer being able to produce at the price point the consumer demands. Offshoring is inevitable once you hit that point. Those companies who hung in there, are barely doing so by selling to a dwindling set of hardliners. Their day will come as well, when there are to few customers to continue operations. Like Geronimo told Crazy Horse after turning himself in, "The dance of the world changed, and we failed to change with it."
There it is. What does everyone expect American companies to do when their customers' first choice is Harbor freight? Keep losing money? Obviously they did and got bought by venture capitalists.
I did a 3 year Apprenticeship program as a machinist and T&D guy in the early 1970s. I inherited most of my precision tools (Starrett and Brown & Sharp) from one of my retiring mentors. I still have them and all are in great shape. Each one has the initials of the previous owner on them, a bit of history. Mine too! Your tools were your life and trade. I had to learn how to use all 41 types of various machines in the shop and a lot of various processes and use them with proficiency before I got my papers and could bid on a job in the shop! After all a great machinist could be called on to run any machine at any time if someone called off. I started on the "Burr Bench" every apprentice does!! All my mentors and instructors were mostly ex-Navy WWII machinists mates and aircraft mechanics/machinist. None finer to learn from. These guys learned to get good literally under fire in combat. Really, the good old days!! I will miss Starrett.
I just heard about this coming the other day. "One more" gone. Chrysler sold out a VERY long time ago, and now "their" name, "Stellantis," sounds like an arthritis medication.
@@robc8468I would love for the I6 to be in my Jeep, with a Jeep transmission. The automatics in the wrangler now are Mercedes. Admittedly they are intended for diesels but I wish I had held out for a stick.
@@jasonchristiansen9063 If no one gets rid of their old stuff and people still want to buy it because it's better than the new, that causes prices to rise.
Whether I bought the tool, or my father did, or my grandfather did; I already considered them all to be priceless. There is no amount of money that could separate me from these tools. I just hope when I have a son, he'll feel the same and not just pawn them off.
As long as Americans vote with their dollars to buy cheap first, this will continue to happen. The same people crying about Starrett, Craftsman, Delta, etc. often supports Harbor Freight and other discount tool sellers. We only have ourselves to blame.
yes...to an extent. it is easy to virtue signal online but when we need something we mindlessly hop on amazon and get the best deal we can find delivered to our doorstep the next day. I am as guilty as anyone. But it is getting harder and harder to buck that system. With any product of any complexity there is no choice anymore. If it isn't totally built in China its components are. Things produced 100% in the US have become too expensive to compete. Just the world we live in. Like politics, everyone complains but not enough people will do what needs done to change things. So we keep on keeping on...
As a professional, I always went with Starrett or B & S. As a retiree, it's either Harbor Freight or do without. I'm not taking anything away from an American company when I buy affordable Chinese products. I don't like it, but there it is.
@@tonyanderson-ln9gl to be able to afford professional tools you have to be making a professional salary. It doesn't matter what you and me like, that's how it is. Then if the pro stuff doesn't perform I really feel burnt then.
In my 50 year machinist career 95% of my tools are Starrett. I only bought other tools if Starrett didn't make it. Picking one up is like seeing an old friend. I completely wore out 4 dial calibers!
It is a very sad day, as an English engineering apprentice in the UK in 1969 I bought most of my tools from Starrett (Jedburgh Scotland) and they always were the best you could buy.
As a teenager in the 70's, during school holidays, I used to go with a schoolfriend in his Dad's lorry on deliveries. We went to Starret in Jedburgh a couple of times and had a quick look round some of the site. I can only remember seeing thousands of hack saw and bandsaw blades ! I later went into engineering, but most of my dti's and mics are M&W or Mercer. I still have a Mitutoya digital vernier caliper that work bought me (at a huge cost !) back in 1984, that still gets used every week.
I saw this coming. I started collecting starrett tools last year as a result. same thing happening with a lot of old great companies. Colt, Remington, etc
I still have the micrometers my father used in Detroit in 1928, graduated in ten thousands, still as accurate as they were then. I recently sold my Starret tools to young machinist, but kept the two my father used. Hopefully new owners won't ruin the "standard of the world".
Being in England I always used Moore and Wright mic's, verniers and dti's, but did have access to Starret tools as well, and they were equally as good as Moore and Wright. A company I ended my working life with made automotive parts for some big names in the US and Europe, outsourced all the molding tools for a new project to China and my god what a mistake that was ! As I am sure you are well aware prototype parts are made with soft tooling to prove concept etc then you move to hard tooling for production parts, the prototype parts were acceptable, the production parts were utter rubbish ! The 'hard' tooling, after some investigation proved to be made from steel that was softer than the 'soft' toolling ! £5M down the pan and the project cancelled. RIP Starret
Absolutely correct; the bean counters will cheapen up the product like they always do. Look at what happened to Competition Cams if you have any sliver of doubt.
George, I got to see Vic Edelbrock at SEMA just before he passed. I have been building engines for 40 years. After Vic passed I heard a rumor that Edelbrock had been sold to China, and hoped it wasn't true. Last year I bought a intake for a 390 ford I was building, Right on the box, Made In China. I bought it directly from Edelbrock. @@georgedennison3338
Yep, the last precision measuring instrument company in the US, on it's way out. #45 tried to put tariffs on imports to protect US companies and everyone cried.
I've been retired from tool&die making for 23 years but still appreciate quality tools like Starrett. Getting older like everything and everyone else, we get thrown out with the garbage bin. Screw Chinese crap, and Japanese us steel, Smithfield pork owned by Chinese, budweiser owned by? Things had better make a 180 or their ain't going to be a United States!
I’m a 62 year old retired Toolmaker. I have a bunch of Starrett stuff in my toolbox. I have other companies things as well. Unfortunately time marches on and things change with time. Form grinding is being replaced by EDM and EDM is being replaced by multi axis Hard Milling. I changed with the times, I once was good on a Bridgeport and the drawing board. Now I’m running a Cad/Cam software and 5 axis machines. I still miss the old days but not the early days of CNC tape machines.
"Reshoring" is such an innocuous word. I had never seen the word until, after watching this video, I read the Starrett press-release. My condolences to the skilled craftspeople at Starrett.
Starrett died some time ago. I bought one of their 6 inch combination squares (the product that started the company) about a year ago and it was out of square by 0.010 over the 6 inches! No appreciation by the recent management of their illustrious 140 year history of making this product!
It’s so sad but it’s happening everywhere. There is a hardware store that I go to alot because I try to help out small businesses and they have been in the same location since 1933. Just last week I was talking to one of the workers and they said they will probably close sometime this year within a few months. What upsets me the most is that I will now have to go to the big box store and they never have what you’re looking for. I would imagine that STARRETT TOOLS would be worth more now. I guess in the end they all sell out. Such a shame.
I’m a postwar child living in the UK and could cry when I think of all the asset stripped companies, formerly world class names, then sliding into oblivion. Many is the time I watch a programme such as yours, Mr. Pete, from across the ‘pond’ where somebody says something like “wow, this is is a superb A and B made in the UK years ago”. Alas, nearly every major name has gone. There are some smaller producers of tools - still of world class - but you have to know where they are. 👍🇬🇧👍🇺🇸👍
One thing, this actually makes your "old junk" even more precious now. It's like my Dad's old Snap-On hand tools from before they started to slowly creep into engineered obsolescence like all the others.
Not only that but I was on the truck a couple of years ago and couldn't believe "made in China" was stamped into some of their tools. Haven't been back since so it is only a matter of time before another American icon of manufacturing dies in a ditch it dug for itself.
Consolidation is the best way to eliminate competition without improving anything. Apex tool group has embraced this fact and now produces nearly all of the hand tools on the market. In retrospect, it makes sense that companies like Starrett would be next on the hit list. I guess this is what they call "progress" these days. My condolences for this progress. Cheers
Why in the world do people want to live forever? In my 78 years I've witnessed more American manufacturing icons bite the dust than I care to remember. The longer you live, the more memories you'll see sadly die! Damn depressing!! Wakodahatchee Chris
Population has nothing to do with it. It's our cost of living and value of our money. China's cost of living is literally more than 50% cheaper than the U.S. Starrett has outsourced work to China for years for a lot of their tools, not all but a lot.
I believe you are right, the schools that my grandchildren went to quit offering shop classes! they are trying to dumb us down like they did the American Indian, and they are succeeding! too bad for America!
@@richb419listen to Russell Means description of the reservation, basically he said " reservations" are just testing grounds , learning to control the people just like the internment camps for the Japanese and Italians during WWII...So enjoy the " bread and circus" for this goes back to ancient Rome...
On Starrett's website it states they are going to "reshore" the company. I had to look up this term as I am not familiar with it. To "reshore, means to return to the original country of manufacturing from overseas" To me this means Starrett, will no longer be producing products overseas and will return to the USA only. Time will tell and I hope they're being truthful and forthright in their statement.
They will have a lot better chance when a bunch of the greedy, heartless old men are no longer keeping a stranglehold on the country. In short, they'll dte.
Metrology has changed dramatically over the last several decades, LASER measuring and probing in CNC machines has reduced the need for hand measuring tools. it was inevitable. Modern CAD, combined with CNC, reduces or eliminates the need for layout tools. By the way, retired toolmaker here, 35 years in the trade, I watched it happen.
I have it on my stock watchlist ever since I had bought it during covid pretty cheep and sold it last year for more than double. I saw the recent dip and figured something was going on then it went way up soon as the anouncement was made. I was waiting for your reaction. RIP Starrett!
That's exactly what they're saying, that nothing will change. Which complete, and utter BS! The scumbags at USI said the same thing when they bought Axelson, then they shut them down not to long later. Which is a damn shame bc Axelson made some beautiful machines. 😤
Back in 2004, the company I worked for was bought out. The week after that, a some random VP from the new owners flew down to assure us that they didn't want to change anything, were very happy with how things were done, and wanted to keep everyone exactly where they were. The first firings came less than two weeks later, and now that company doesn't exist anymore. Never believe what the new owners say after any acquisition, particularly if it's a private equity or other investment firm. They're snakes.
@@stevepreskitt283We had a local printing Co that was started here. It was doing fine I believe, good enough to be bought, then closed when the buyers restructured the company and moved everything to a different location out of state.
we bought a Starrett indicator holder back in 2009, Made in China... .and it was not inexpensive.....but quality was not there...... I cherish the Starrett tools I own..... a sad day for many....
The company I work for a company that was bought out by a private equity firm last year. The only thing they've managed to do so far is piss off our customers. 6 months ago they let go 25% of our work force and now are hiring back the turds we let go in the past for being turds. Quality is really starting to suffer now. Pretty much everyone in corporate is someone's buddy. Our new site director is the COO's buddy from the military. The are overloaded with debt. They will grind us into the ground and use the loss as a tax write off.
After hearing the report from you I went online to check out the sale, I was disappointed that the board of directors excepted the buy out of the company. The sale price per share was included in the article.
When I started in the shop in the 70's, if we needed a tool there wasn't even a question of what kind it would be. The foreman would just call the Starrett salesman and order it. There was no need to look anywhere else.
Very sad Mr Pete. The same thing happened to Sidchrome in Australia. Stanley bought them for the name and shut down Australian production, now they are made in Taiwan. Strangely as I write this there are 222 likes.
Likes don't mean you necessarily like the video's news, just that the video is useful. They help cause the almighty RUclips ALGORITHM to promote the video to other interested parties.
This is so sad! I was just at a gun show at the Big E in Massachusetts last week talking to a very informative person at the Starrett booth who was telling my group, I was with, the history of the company and how the micrometer changes came decades apart from Mr Starretts original. The world we live in is ever changing and sadly for the money hungry!
Mr. Pete, thank you for letting us know. Perhaps the heritage Starrett tools are worth having as long as they exist in the used market then how do you know when you get into the Chinese made stock? You see it in Craftsman, Crescent Tools….it’s seems the market is flooded with garbage. It’s almost like the suppliers want you to lower the bar and say….that’s good enough… I still say, at least the heyday of machine tools was the World War II era, it’s been a gradual but sure decline ever since…..target an early to mid fifties machine that was not trashed by war production and you have a gem. Brown & Sharpe, Axelson, now Starrett…. I am not naming them all… Each of us can keep that spirit alive….yet there are fewer of us. Never give up! Cheers Randy
i prefer mitutoyo anyway. they have far better quality controll and they realy figured out how to mass produce an item and srtill have them spot on everytime. starrett is way to expensive for what you get
Not much experience of Starrett, but Mitutoyo - as you say - always delivers on consistent quality. However I can sympathise with Mr. Pete's despair....
I cant tell you Guys my True Feelings about Mitutoyo Company ! i fell in Love with the Tools and since then i am fascinated by the History of Mitutoyo.
Starrett like many were trying to sell their products at premium "buy it because of our name prices" in a Chinese market economy "We ain't got no quality or name, but we cheap, you buy from us HA HA!! " Unfortnuately most real machinists / T&D guys have retired. No supply left of good ones. Many mfg companies around where I live are screaming they can't get good machinists anymore. Of course they only want to pay $16-18 per hour, or $20 if your a T&D guy. And most companies long ago gave up their apprenticeship training programs when CNC became king. So what did they expect?? So now there is no domestic supply of good machinists anymore and kids don't want jobs where they have to get dirty. I'd say long live USA mfg but it has been long dead for a while now. Thanks Federal Government and State Governments, you're a country killing bunch!! But the corps and and the Unions both got greedy and that drove the bulk of our mfg over seas for cheap labor. Greed kills all!!
@@johnkemas7344 you know it used to be one concept we were taught in buisness class, sometimes you opperate a division at a loss but you do so as you can ill afford to just cut and run without it as it does even more damage to do so or you cede capabillities to the competition, I guess that lesson is lost here, I know we cant fedralize things that would just be socialism but allowing the whole thing to dissappear is not good eaither, a flickering candle about to die still provides more like then no candle at all, I buy usa made if I can help it but I am not a machinest I am a woodworker and only have soo much need of machineset percision.
Good comment. Manufacturing and Retail across the board is declining into an abyss. The wages are so out of ratio shop floor to CEO it’s criminal, quality suffers and then this happens. You won’t be able to buy quality goods of any description soon.
When I started in the trade 20ish years ago, I worked with guys that had 30-50 years in already. Several of them told me wages hadn't really changed much since the 1970's. Well, surprise, they haven't changed much in my 20 years either. Government has done just about everything it can to devalue the dollar, and incentivize companies to go overseas due to over regulation.
Thanks for all your videos. Starrett was purchased by Middle ground investments out of Florida. At least it wasn’t sold to china or went into bankruptcy.
The SAGA continues. I'm always on the lookout at thrift stores and yard sales for vintage, REAL tools, cookware, etc. I collect them for my families future use. "Chinesium" is worthless.
When Mitutoyo entered the market, it was game over for Starrett, eventually. My uncle, an engineer for IBM years ago, was startled at Starrett's archaic manufacturing methods. As a 40 mold maker, I have mostly Starrett tools. But, my Etalon calipers and Interapid indicators blow my Starrett's out of the water.
My first set of calipers were Etalon, silky smooth. I have a mix of Starrett and Mitutoyo calipers and measuring equipment. The founder of Mitutoyo went to UC Berkeley and was really dedicated to his craft. They always seemed a bit more innovative. Quality is important, but it is also important to innovate and remain relavent. I remember seeing some very odd tools, even in their more recent catalogs (a mechanical tachometer, a tool for setting up a planar to name a few). I doubt the Investment firm has any intention of turning the company around, but it seems Starrett was not keeping pace. Keep in mind that China has perhaps 10 time the number of engineers as the US. They aren't sitting around doing nothing, nor are they stupid. They will become increasingly competitive, innovative and they will have increasing quality in many areas. It is inevitable. We should all be working to be competitive and not bemoan former greatness. That said, this is sad indeed.
We The Consumer are to blame for the demise of quality domestic tools. We SAY we want quality and we SAY we're willing to pay for it. Maybe some of us are. But the hard fact is that Chinese crap is what most people buy. Race to the bottom.
It's really a shame they're selling out, but don't hate what they were because of what they are now. The Starett tools you got is still good stuff, so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater by getting rid of them! Edit: spelling
I am an old journeyman machinist and was a loyal Starrett customer my entire career. The tools they produced were always used with complete confidence. I simply loved the feel and finish on all I still own to this day. They built this country. I am in mourning.
Mr. Pete my Starrett tools are just as valuable and useful as they were when I started buying them over 40 years ago when I first started in machine shop in high school. Starretts only real problem is having made quality tools that in fact do last a man a lifetime and often his grandkids lifetime. Nothing to be ashamed of there. No doubt the company has been struggling to hold on to the market for decades now. Honestly im proud of them for holding on as long as they did. Also I might have some Mititoyo tools but my customers will never see me using them. I really mean that. If a customer is in my shop he sees Starrett tools only.
Another example of the USA commiting industrial suicide. I have used Starret tools al my life. Some received from my old man and some from my grandfather. Outstanding equipment. I still believe that American industry can make a comeback: Get rid of the finance guys!!!!! Regards from Argentina!
Lyle, Keep your Starrett tools. They are like you, from a time in history when a man with quality tools and talent could make anything. Take a break and come to the realization that those tools made you who you are today.
They got me about a year ago. I bought a dial caliper online brand new for $150. Didn’t know if was made in China until it showed up. Worst part is it doesn’t say anywhere on the caliper or the plastic case. It only says “China” on the cardboard box the plastic case goes inside. Not even “made in China”. Just “China”. I bought a Mitutoyo metric dial caliper about the same time. It was $30 cheaper and made in Japan. Says it right on the dial.
This is in fact truly unbelievable. Do out leaders have some childish fantasy that our nation could function without our own metalworking? Non Sense! We might as well surrender gosh darn it, right now. In Sanity!
Several comments here blame leaders, voters and lawmakers. They see the issue as one that can be legislated against. And while laws and rules can be written and free trade can be curtailed, this would be, and has been after the fact, after most manufacturing has gone to places with lower labor costs and less regulation as to safety and quality. Recent tariffs and historical ones, have demonstrated that this leads to inflated costs to domestic purchasing from overseas as intended, but it also leads to an even higher wage imbalance and even more impetus for manufacturers to outsource. While it's easy to blame lawmakers, no one seems to be concerned with the ethics of corporations, who see no problem with giving away our jobs to foreigners. Capitalism inherently maximizes profit for owners and investors, to the detriment of all citizens. This is the origin, and the reason for the long term collapse of our manufacturing prowess disaster. Why nobody seems to fault big business, and instead puts the onus on lawmakers and laws, which are forcing buisness to do something which burdens them. Thus, the question is, do we force capitalists against their will, or let the free market ruin our economy in order for millionaires to pocket the difference? The problem here is the influence corporations have over congress. While corporate owners and investors might be citizens too, they are vastly over represented in congress. A business with a hundred thousand workers and a hundred investors has ten times the influence of those hundred thousand, and opposite goals, because they can throw millions at a few lawmakers, while citizens cannot. People love freedom, but corporations cannot be people, as the Supreme Court has recently ruled. They cannot have more sway in government than the people. This land is for the many, not the handful .
@@JoeSmith-cy9wjAa big part of the problem is with the the gov. because they should not be allowed to move product or company profits oversee's period. to me its treason. yu start a company make all your profits from americans the money needs to stay. if you want to start a company in another country go ahead but no selling and you cant use us made money to do so. AMERICA FIRST!
@@JoeSmith-cy9wj I wish you could have summed those points up more concisely but, yeah, that's pretty much the case. Americans have love-hate relationship with Laissez-faire capitalism.
It is indeed a shame! Our politicians have driven manufacturing from our shores, and when one of the few great companies like Starrett is purchased, it means cheap imported tools under the Starrett name.
Doesn't surprise me with the crazy inflation. I'm a Machinist and I can't afford to buy new Starrett stuff. Best I can do is mostly used tools when I can. That itself says something big. An American Machinist can't even afford American Machinist tools to use at work. - "Three" , lathe, mill, & surface grinder Machinist, cnc and manual, Central Arkansas, $23.50/hr as of 2-2023 to 4-2024
these are historically bad times. everything is collapsing. including the american family. then our government and our president gives statements about how this is the best economy in history. what is going on...
@@looking_33 Democrook/socialists in power is whats going on. That said.....they all sold us out with bad trade deals a long time ago. Me thinks they all got rich via big kickbacks for selling out the middle class.
@@looking_33 it absolutely is a great economy... for billionaires and hedge funds, us normal people are screwed, sadly I'm starting to think nothing is going to fix it at this rate, it's all over other than the kicking and screaming.
We in the UK have lost so many great companies in the same way. So sad. I'm the proud owner of a couple of Starrett sets and I will treasure them even more now.
There is not one American brand that when purchased by an investment organization becomes better. I agree with you, Starrett will no longer be made in the U.S.A. It may not happen quickly but the bean counters will start outsourcing things to make profits for the shareholders and it that does not occur, it will be a first. Harley kept outsourcing and now the plant in York, PA makes the frame, the fenders and the tanks bur not for the Sportster, which is made elsewhere from downsizing and outsourcing. That model may still be assembled in Kansas City, Missouri - I have no proof of this. I just saw a search result and when I worked there, many, many parts were being shipped to the warehouse north of York, PA and were from China. China was not on this particular list. Lights, ignition, wheels were coming in from China. That was in 2009. I do not have an info on how many countries are doing what but the wiring harness is manufactured and assembled in Mexico. All this was done in York and slowly, the screw machines were not being replaced, the mufflers were made by a vendor and chromed prior to arrival, and the engine castings were done in China and machined in Wisconsin. The union happily signed off on all this. I feel Starrett will soon be on Amazon and other sites that sell Chineseum. Time will tell. Brandon has done nothing to get manufacturing back to the U.S.A. because CO2 is more important, jobs aren't.
@@Failure_Is_An_Option Just what are you sayng? Handouts for what? I have a feeling you are a very sick individual. I hate unions, despised the jobs I did at Harley due to management and the union cast system, no way to advance. Handouts. Expalin or be known as a total a...ho.e.
You might want to take a look at where Mitutoyo makes their tools. I have a few Jedburgh made Starrett tools and we bought Starrett saw blades until they shut the factory a couple of years ago and shifted it off to China and Brazil. We managed to find other UK made blades for less than Starrett now charge for the Brazilian made ones, which have tripled in price
Sad. I knew they were struggling, citing their own products as their biggest competition. I recently bought a new Starrett spring punch rather than a garage sale used one, to try and help. We all love them, but most of us have acquired used Starrett tools, rather than new and that doesn't help the bottom line there. Le sigh....
I read about this before your video came out. My first thoughts were that Mr. Pete will be devastated. But take heart, pre-sale Starrett tools will become more sought after and more valuable, just like Winchester & other arms manufacturers.
Lyle, I have been using Starrett tools for over 60 years, and I collect them as well. However in the past 15 - 20 years, things have not been right with them. Now I haven't bought much from them in 20 years or so, as I didn't need too, I had everything I need. I just bought things I had lost or couldn't find, like a center gauge, that was not quite right with fit and finish, and a thread pitch gauge that the threads looked like they were stamped imperfectly, with rounded crests. Not good !!! Then my wife got me a Starrett 0 - 1 digital micrometer, that I really wanted, but could not afford. It had a partially defective digit in the display from day one. The local Starrett dealer sent it in several times, but it never got fixed, so I thought he was not being honest with me, and I sent it in directly. It came back with a note, that it was obsolete, and offered me $ 20.00 dollars credit on a new one. They said it was unrepairable !!! I had no choice, so I took it apart, and repaired it, ( former electronics technician ), the display worked great, the accuracy was perfect. Sadly, it would eat the battery in a weeks time, if I left the battery installed. And I have not figured out how to fix that yet !!!, probably won't live long enough tp get it done either !!! The Starrett dealer, whom I have bought from for 5 decades, said buy a Mitutoyo !!! as Starrett electronics were junk !!! So I got a used Mitutoyo from the swap meet, for very little money, and it works perfectly !!! Battery lives forever, might out last me !!! I have many other Mitutoyo pieces that I bought at the swap meet over the years, and they were all excellent, just not Starrett !!! I love my old Starrett tools, and some one will inherit them I am sure, but I no longer recommend new Starrett tools to any one, only good used ones !!! I guess WOKNESS has destroyed the last of American greatness. Tim
Hi Mr. Pete! The silver lining to this cloud is the value of "Made in USA" Starrett products (i.e. your horde) suddenly increased in value significantly! 😊
It will become a profit driven company after being an innovative technology driven company. Laroy S. Starrett must be spinning in his grave over this one. Sad days indeed 😢
If you live in the New England area or will be visiting. I would recommend taking the Starrett factory tour. Hope they are still offering it. I have taken 2 over the last 20 years. You will get to meet and see the hard working employees who have made Starrett the legend that it is. With this terrible news this might be your last chance to see Starrett in Athol MA.
On UK here…I just bought (Oct 24) a Starret 18C auto punch (Amazon 23.99)…This I found is now made in China under licence. The quality DOES look great in this case, but how long before cost cutting measures result in rough machining and lower quality steel? As of now I trust the punch point is suitably hardened, like carbide, but only time and use will tell. I noticed on Amazon some comments complaining about Starrett combi squares being out of true on the cheaper models….This is how the rot begins.
I'm sad!!! But in amazement they lasted this long!!! This All started with the Reagan Nomics in the 80s!!!! Where just about all of our manufacturing jobs went to china at us taxpayers expenses!!!
Starrett quality has been going down hill for a number of years - I switched to Mitutoyo after Starrett couldn't deliver a reasonable quality combination square - too many defects in the castings. Again, this was about 10 years ago for me. Private equity has now killed Metabo, particularly their corded angle grinders. Metabo used to produce the finest quality tools in Germany. Now they mix in VERY low quality junk produced in China (and it really is JUNK). Worse, Metabo still produces some tools in Germany, but appear to go out of their way to obfuscate the "country of origin" until you actually purchase the product. It's called "prostituting the brand" - (a) take a well known, decades old, premium brand. (b) swap out a quality product for garbage produced in China, (c) insist that the lower-quality product is even better, (d) jack up the prices. Metabo, Pony Clamps, Tilley Hats, and now Starrett. And NOTE this isn't simple paranoia, China does produce some quality products. However, in each of the three examples above (Metabo, Pony Clamps, Tilley Hats), the quality has VISIBLY and FUNCTIONALLY suffered markedly.
Levi Strauss is a classic example of a prostituted brand. The jeans used to be made in San Francisco, in the USA. Now they are made in third world countries, but they are priced as if they are made here. I found non Levis jeans made in the USA priced for less than the now prostituted Levis.
While I _hope_ things don't change, the unfortunate reality is that they probably will. Sounds like it's time to stock up while the good stuff is available! Mr. Pete, don't get rid of your beautiful Starrett collection! Keep it, use it, and show us what quality looks like! We can still celebrate the history!
In the 80s and 90s they were called Corporate Raiders. Now they call them Investment Firms and Equity Funds. Same evil, different name
Corporate raiders and Vulture Capitalists … their bean counter CPAs and hired gun lawyers calculate how to make a quick buck by looting the pension fund, selling off the property/assets and business operations, and leaving the wreckage behind
They're scumbags no doubt, but the real blame is with the so-called Elected Officials in D.C. who facilitated the selling out of American Manufacturing to China, the Raiders fatten their wallets and bribed the D.C. scumbags to keep it going.
Asset strippers !
Also Known as Vulture Capitalist. They strip all of the value from a company for their shareholders and leave the carcass to rot.
I’m no advocate of socialist economics, but what you see IS the natural dynamics of capitalism. Which, credits where they are due, was correctly predicted by one K. Marx. What to do about it? How to resist such hostile takeovers? It would come down to turning down a good sum of money. Few would do that. 🤥
The bean counters can tell you the price of anything, but understand the value of nothing. Kind regards from the UK 🇬🇧
Its not the "bean counters". Its the greedy wall street ponzi schemers who are in bed with Joe Biden and all our crooked politicians.
Which is why bean counters don't run companies, they support the guys and gals who do.
Kind regards from the US. I’ll share something that was said to me the other day about your side of the pond. “Britain was built by men in flat caps and destroyed by men in bowlers” This is exactly the same way I feel about Starrett being bought out.
I am SICK of these so-called "Investment" and "Hedge-fund" companies. We have the same bandits over here in the UK. They serve no practical use, except to themselves.
Unless our country goes Trotskyite, I rather think we're stuck with it, though. It's late stage global capitalism doing its thing. 😉
@@stevedavey1343: There must be a half-way solution. The way we dealt with pirates in the 18th century would be a start! 😄
@@stevedavey1343People are quick to blame capitalism, when the socialists are failing just as much to protect us from monopolies. The government is bought and paid for, and it still would be if it was communist.
One of the most efficient, effective and ruthless funds was CEO'd for many years by Mitt Romney aka Bain Capital.
Everyone hates it but bitches when their retirement funds tank, can’t have it both ways.
We are in a death spiral as a nation.
We’re already dead we just won’t accept it yet
This same exact kind of stuff has been happening forever. Capitalism, corporate greed, and the dollar always wins.
it happens because people let them do it. Corporations move the factories overseas because of costs, but they keep charging like they were still made in the USA. I am from Argentina and I remember we would buy Made in Usa measuring devices for labs or engineering firms because it was asign of quality and you knew it was going to last forever, you wouod not need to recalibrate after a few uses. Now they just get a cheap movement and put out a Starret dial and off it goes on sale
Happens to every murderous empire. You'd think folks would notice the trend...
Might seem like it to you old timers but that's the result of a global and consumer economy so you could have all this cheap crap because you complained about everything being so expensive. A race to the bottom folks. Hey, at least you have Medicare, Medicaid, and your pensions/social security. That will all disappear for my generation.
as a mechanic i used to only buy Moog suspension parts, that is until recently. i installed some new ball joints in my truck. all 4 were bad right out of the box. i found out Moog had been sold recently to a Chinese company, the quality went right out the window, yet mysteriously prices stayed the same. i will never buy Moog again
Even, for example, some OE parts on Peterbilt are Chinesium such as brake drums.
Yes, it is sad when you opt for, and pay a premium for an iconic brand only to find it is just a brand mark now, not quality. Unfortunately, that is what Amazon has turned this world into, fast and cheap has replaced tried and true.
Moog sold out about a decade ago. Their parts have been shit long before that though.
Moog sold out about a decade ago. Their parts have been shit long before that though.
It’s the same with most auto parts. In my 30 years as a professional tech I’ve watched brand after brand, many reputable names, outsource overseas and now it’s becoming hard to find truly good parts. Sourcing them from different vendors gets you nothing but a different box and often a higher price for literally the same part. Wether it be in a Napa box, a BWD box, a Standard Motors box or an A/C Delco box purchased directly from a GM dealer or what have you, they’re often the exact same part made in the same factory coming off of the same assembly line at the same time and re-boxed per the brand of the vendor. It’s aggravating to say the least. It can make me as a tech look bad because a part fails shortly after releasing the vehicle to the customer or simply having to retain the vehicle for a long period of time while I go through a line of parts until I find one that functions properly, all the while eating all of the extra time and labor involved in doing so.
Another unfortunate situation I’ve seen more of lately is that the quality among those few US made parts that I can find is often somewhat lacking too. Seeing that “made in the USA” logo used to nearly automatically mean quality. That unfortunately is apparently also and sadly a thing of the past. Let’s hope both of the above mentioned scenarios can change soon.
A very unfortunate sign of the times. We’ve sold off or destroyed our ability to build and produce in this country.
I would say *they*... Our so-called leaders... People who shine seats with their backsides for a living
Your saying in the next war, that China won't continue selling us computer chips for our fighter jets, bombers and smart bombs?
😱
I've said this for 40 years: ''If we're going to have open trade with China, we better be prepared to live like they do. In a shack, eating cardboard soup.
The very thing that made us strong.
@@bluecollar58 How's the weather in China?
What a great company. Years ago i wrote Starrett a letter asking if i could buy a wall chart. They sent me five charts for FREE!... I was so impressed by that.
Yeah, they have a section on their website with charts, tables and booklets for free, free shipping too.
Fantastic stuff. Interesting to see where this private company takes Starrett.
STARRETT sent me the DECIMALS CARDS that covered Metric and Standard everything front and back 3X4" they sent our class enough along with the really large Banner type that we hung on the walls of our machine shop class that was ended maybe 10 years ago?
How much were the politicians paid to allow China to buy up our country, Americans bought into China 15 or 20 years ago they owned 49% and many gave up the Chop to their partner and many Americans lost their shirts as the CHOP was not seen again?
In the USA China pays our politicians very well to insure they can buy and OWN anything they want from corporations to Farm Lands? What fools we Americas were and are right Obama, right Biden right Congress, right Senate? All of it started with the BILL and Hilary CLINTON'S RIGHT?
As a peace corps volunteer, starrett sent many large charts to me without question which made my efforts successful.
Similar experience with Starrett. They sent a couple wall charts and small placards to fit in the lid of my toolbox. A fine American company.
As a machine tool builder apprentice in the 1970’s I was told to purchase LS Starrett tools for precision measuring. I was being trained by highly skilled journeymen who worked through WW2 and a fair amount of highly skilled Germans all of whom knew how to use precision tools to build the precision equipment necessary for modern manufacturing. Thanks to them I can still setup and create high precision machinery. I’m so grateful to have learned an essential trade from men who graciously passed on their knowledge to the guy who was 23 when they began molding me and my mind.
The world is in turmoil and there will come the day when an American precision tool making company will be essential.
nice short post
Dont cry... This is just capitalism. This is America...the free market.😂😂😂
I came up the same way, and at 60 I can still set precision machines with the pride given to me by WWII veterans.
A few years ago here in Birmingham, UK, we were similarly saddened when the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury (founded 1824) was taken over by Kraft, and the quality reduced to Kraft levels.
In the USA we have Mexican made burnt Hershey wax making Cadbury. Might as well just eat the wrapper, taste better.
I used to love Cadbury!
Gee, I didnt know that. From Australia
Haven't bought any since! I check supermarket labels to make sure I'm not buying Kraft aka Mondelez or something, but find they've taken over loads of once-respected companies.
Cadbury has always been dogfood.
I think I recall either John Saunders or Adam Booth tour of the Starrett facility, the tour guide said their biggest competitor was their own used tools.
Lol I don't doubt it, that's all I buy
This is what very few people will realize and acknowledge. Even Tubalcain has videos of tools he bought used at industrial and estate auctions, flea markets, etc. The same people that complain about the cost of new items from Starrett and then brag about their second-hand Starrett acquisitions are a part of the problem. But the biggest factor is no one can compete with Chinese labor costs.
RIP Starrett. America, I would say 'Don't let what happened to the UK happen to you', except it's too late.
Demography is destiny, I'm afraid.
@@thunderstruck1078 Not demography. Short-term profit-seeking MBAs.
@@jonathanhendry9759 Yeah, but you wouldn't have those, had the America the founders envisioned and codified in the first immigration act survived.
Who owns the FED?
Would Middleground purchase Starrett for a 63% premium to wipe out the company?
@@thunderstruck1078 The first immigration act was ignorant, stupid, and racist.
That's miserable, but keep the stuff and honor the legacy, remember what was instead of what things are becoming. Thanks to every politician and voter that has had a hand in wrecking this once beautiful America
Well Said.
Um, it's the CEOs and the board members who approved this kind of stuff. The politicians voting for deregulation of corporate finance laid out the yellow brick road for it to happen. Just look who private equity fat cats are donating millions to.
Blame idiots who voted for these clowns and blame people who buy cheap imports and knockoffs. I hate to say it but supporting Vevor and they're ilk is how we got here.
I have 2 Starrett digital cals. TBH, they suck.
The biggest culprit are the consumers. Every year they demand everything at a cheaper & cheaper price point. We hit the point a few decades ago of no longer being able to produce at the price point the consumer demands. Offshoring is inevitable once you hit that point. Those companies who hung in there, are barely doing so by selling to a dwindling set of hardliners. Their day will come as well, when there are to few customers to continue operations. Like Geronimo told Crazy Horse after turning himself in, "The dance of the world changed, and we failed to change with it."
I stopped buying Starrett when they stopped putting Made in USA on their tools.
There it is. What does everyone expect American companies to do when their customers' first choice is Harbor freight? Keep losing money? Obviously they did and got bought by venture capitalists.
Same
I will only buy used Starrett tools !
@@richardbrobeck2384 You should only buy those marked as made in USA.
@@richardbrobeck2384 Some used are made in China. Be careful.
I did a 3 year Apprenticeship program as a machinist and T&D guy in the early 1970s. I inherited most of my precision tools (Starrett and Brown & Sharp) from one of my retiring mentors. I still have them and all are in great shape. Each one has the initials of the previous owner on them, a bit of history. Mine too! Your tools were your life and trade. I had to learn how to use all 41 types of various machines in the shop and a lot of various processes and use them with proficiency before I got my papers and could bid on a job in the shop! After all a great machinist could be called on to run any machine at any time if someone called off. I started on the "Burr Bench" every apprentice does!! All my mentors and instructors were mostly ex-Navy WWII machinists mates and aircraft mechanics/machinist. None finer to learn from. These guys learned to get good literally under fire in combat. Really, the good old days!! I will miss Starrett.
👍👍👍
I just heard about this coming the other day. "One more" gone. Chrysler sold out a VERY long time ago, and now "their" name, "Stellantis," sounds like an arthritis medication.
And Stellantis fired 400 technology workers on Friday. ruclips.net/video/NQ1sjaKNRCg/видео.htmlsi=AiXHOY86jtih2zF9
The Europen Management have tried pass off the smaller Dodges and Jeeps as authentic but they are FIATS.
I heard stellantis just let several thousand people go. Probably end up like Pontiac.
I thought it was a herbal Laxative?
@@robc8468I would love for the I6 to be in my Jeep, with a Jeep transmission.
The automatics in the wrangler now are Mercedes. Admittedly they are intended for diesels but I wish I had held out for a stick.
Why would you get rid of the old stuff? I'd think it would increase in value when the new owners ruin the company.
if no one gets rid of their old stuff your old stuff would be worth nothing. just something to think about.... i agree its a sad day
@@jasonchristiansen9063 If no one gets rid of their old stuff and people still want to buy it because it's better than the new, that causes prices to rise.
The tools that I currently have from Starrett, will be from a time when the name was really Starrett. Now they are priceless to me.
Same here I use on a daily basis my grandfathers early Combination guage he was a machinist .
Whether I bought the tool, or my father did, or my grandfather did; I already considered them all to be priceless. There is no amount of money that could separate me from these tools. I just hope when I have a son, he'll feel the same and not just pawn them off.
I just can't believe it. I'm so proud of my Starrett tools. I have been buying them since I was 12 years old, now 82 years. Can't believe it.
Do you vote republican?
@@MrTangentBoth will offshore at the drop of a hat. They are wings of the same bird.
@@gcanaday1 Maybe, but Reagan was largely to blame for these policies. And republicans are no friend to labor.
@@MrTangent Only the simplest of minds fall for the two party political scam. Get it together!
As long as Americans vote with their dollars to buy cheap first, this will continue to happen. The same people crying about Starrett, Craftsman, Delta, etc. often supports Harbor Freight and other discount tool sellers. We only have ourselves to blame.
yes...to an extent. it is easy to virtue signal online but when we need something we mindlessly hop on amazon and get the best deal we can find delivered to our doorstep the next day. I am as guilty as anyone. But it is getting harder and harder to buck that system. With any product of any complexity there is no choice anymore. If it isn't totally built in China its components are. Things produced 100% in the US have become too expensive to compete. Just the world we live in. Like politics, everyone complains but not enough people will do what needs done to change things. So we keep on keeping on...
@@seanobrien7169 Not everyone. We have never bought anything from Scamazon and never will do so. Horrible Fright is for emergency use only.
Cheap is all I can afford.
As a professional, I always went with Starrett or B & S. As a retiree, it's either Harbor Freight or do without. I'm not taking anything away from an American company when I buy affordable Chinese products. I don't like it, but there it is.
@@tonyanderson-ln9gl to be able to afford professional tools you have to be making a professional salary. It doesn't matter what you and me like, that's how it is. Then if the pro stuff doesn't perform I really feel burnt then.
In my 50 year machinist career 95% of my tools are Starrett. I only bought other tools if Starrett didn't make it. Picking one up is like seeing an old friend. I completely wore out 4 dial calibers!
It is a very sad day, as an English engineering apprentice in the UK in 1969 I bought most of my tools from Starrett (Jedburgh Scotland) and they always were the best you could buy.
As a teenager in the 70's, during school holidays, I used to go with a schoolfriend in his Dad's lorry on deliveries. We went to Starret in Jedburgh a couple of times and had a quick look round some of the site. I can only remember seeing thousands of hack saw and bandsaw blades ! I later went into engineering, but most of my dti's and mics are M&W or Mercer. I still have a Mitutoya digital vernier caliper that work bought me (at a huge cost !) back in 1984, that still gets used every week.
We told the best/brightest to go to college for business and all they’ve learned to do is cut/dry any company with value for a quick buck.
Capitalism
I saw this coming. I started collecting starrett tools last year as a result. same thing happening with a lot of old great companies. Colt, Remington, etc
I still have the micrometers my father used in Detroit in 1928, graduated in ten thousands, still as accurate as they were then. I recently sold my Starret tools to young machinist, but kept the two my father used. Hopefully new owners won't ruin the "standard of the world".
Being in England I always used Moore and Wright mic's, verniers and dti's, but did have access to Starret tools as well, and they were equally as good as Moore and Wright.
A company I ended my working life with made automotive parts for some big names in the US and Europe, outsourced all the molding tools for a new project to China and my god what a mistake that was ! As I am sure you are well aware prototype parts are made with soft tooling to prove concept etc then you move to hard tooling for production parts, the prototype parts were acceptable, the production parts were utter rubbish ! The 'hard' tooling, after some investigation proved to be made from steel that was softer than the 'soft' toolling ! £5M down the pan and the project cancelled.
RIP Starret
Absolutely correct; the bean counters will cheapen up the product like they always do. Look at what happened to Competition Cams if you have any sliver of doubt.
Or Boeing 😂
What happened to Comp Cams? They're still made in US. Edelbrock bought them, but what's bad about that?
George, I got to see Vic Edelbrock at SEMA just before he passed. I have been building engines for 40 years. After Vic passed I heard a rumor that Edelbrock had been sold to China, and hoped it wasn't true. Last year I bought a intake for a 390 ford I was building, Right on the box, Made In China. I bought it directly from Edelbrock. @@georgedennison3338
The real stuff will be worth keeping.🤑
The stuff they've been making in China and Brasil for almost 3 decades?
That dollar sign is all anyone thinks about... Disgusting.
😱Thanks for sharing this unfortunate news Mr. Pete
First it was Lufkin, then it was Brown and Sharpe, and now it is Starrett! 😮 😂☹️😡
I’d start with Sears & Roebuck, graduate to Craftsman and then…
@@MWandMachine The Great Stanley Tool Works used to make fine products.
Yep, the last precision measuring instrument company in the US, on it's way out. #45 tried to put tariffs on imports to protect US companies and everyone cried.
they sure did. @@fknsl1
Yes just like the small company Johnson Level company also Delta woodworking tools !
I've been retired from tool&die making for 23 years but still appreciate quality tools like Starrett. Getting older like everything and everyone else, we get thrown out with the garbage bin. Screw Chinese crap, and Japanese us steel, Smithfield pork owned by Chinese, budweiser owned by? Things had better make a 180 or their ain't going to be a United States!
Thank you for sharing this dreadful news Mr. Pete. 😢
“More competitive “, is the clue.
Yeah, life as we know it is forever changed.
Too bad.
A very sad day indeed. This REALLY sucks!
I’m a 62 year old retired Toolmaker. I have a bunch of Starrett stuff in my toolbox. I have other companies things as well. Unfortunately time marches on and things change with time. Form grinding is being replaced by EDM and EDM is being replaced by multi axis Hard Milling. I changed with the times, I once was good on a Bridgeport and the drawing board. Now I’m running a Cad/Cam software and 5 axis machines. I still miss the old days but not the early days of CNC tape machines.
"Reshoring" is such an innocuous word. I had never seen the word until, after watching this video, I read the Starrett press-release. My condolences to the skilled craftspeople at Starrett.
Thank you
Starrett died some time ago. I bought one of their 6 inch combination squares (the product that started the company) about a year ago and it was out of square by 0.010 over the 6 inches! No appreciation by the recent management of their illustrious 140 year history of making this product!
It’s so sad but it’s happening everywhere. There is a hardware store that I go to alot because I try to help out small businesses and they have been in the same location since 1933. Just last week I was talking to one of the workers and they said they will probably close sometime this year within a few months. What upsets me the most is that I will now have to go to the big box store and they never have what you’re looking for. I would imagine that STARRETT TOOLS would be worth more now. I guess in the end they all sell out. Such a shame.
I’m a postwar child living in the UK and could cry when I think of all the asset stripped companies, formerly world class names, then sliding into oblivion.
Many is the time I watch a programme such as yours, Mr. Pete, from across the ‘pond’ where somebody says something like “wow, this is is a superb A and B made in the UK years ago”. Alas, nearly every major name has gone. There are some smaller producers of tools - still of world class - but you have to know where they are.
👍🇬🇧👍🇺🇸👍
One thing, this actually makes your "old junk" even more precious now. It's like my Dad's old Snap-On hand tools from before they started to slowly creep into engineered obsolescence like all the others.
Not only that but I was on the truck a couple of years ago and couldn't believe "made in China" was stamped into some of their tools.
Haven't been back since so it is only a matter of time before another American icon of manufacturing dies in a ditch it dug for itself.
Consolidation is the best way to eliminate competition without improving anything. Apex tool group has embraced this fact and now produces nearly all of the hand tools on the market. In retrospect, it makes sense that companies like Starrett would be next on the hit list. I guess this is what they call "progress" these days. My condolences for this progress. Cheers
Why in the world do people want to live forever? In my 78 years I've witnessed more American manufacturing icons bite the dust than I care to remember. The longer you live, the more memories you'll see sadly die! Damn depressing!!
Wakodahatchee Chris
So true
Hi Mr Pete, so sad. More greedy so and so's just in it for a quick asset strip. Unfortunately, I'm sure Starrett won't be the last!
Our government doesn't care about American manufacturing hasn't for a long time that SUCKS.
We don't have the population to make stuff
This is how Capitalism works.
Population has nothing to do with it. It's our cost of living and value of our money. China's cost of living is literally more than 50% cheaper than the U.S.
Starrett has outsourced work to China for years for a lot of their tools, not all but a lot.
I believe you are right, the schools that my grandchildren went to quit offering shop classes! they are trying to dumb us down like they did the American Indian, and they are succeeding! too bad for America!
@@richb419listen to Russell Means description of the reservation, basically he said " reservations" are just testing grounds , learning to control the people just like the internment camps for the Japanese and Italians during WWII...So enjoy the " bread and circus" for this goes back to ancient Rome...
On Starrett's website it states they are going to "reshore" the company. I had to look up this term as I am not familiar with it. To "reshore, means to return to the original country of manufacturing from overseas"
To me this means Starrett, will no longer be producing products overseas and will return to the USA only. Time will tell and I hope they're being truthful and forthright in their statement.
The young folks have no future in the former United States of America . 😢
You mean the new Communist States of Merika
Old men have said this for 1000 years.
@@WmSrite-pi8ck did not know USofA been around that long . 🤔
They will have a lot better chance when a bunch of the greedy, heartless old men are no longer keeping a stranglehold on the country. In short, they'll dte.
@@mikelgeren149 Does have a point though, Indians probably said something similar. 😂
Metrology has changed dramatically over the last several decades, LASER measuring and probing in CNC machines has reduced the need for hand measuring tools. it was inevitable. Modern CAD, combined with CNC, reduces or eliminates the need for layout tools. By the way, retired toolmaker here, 35 years in the trade, I watched it happen.
The entire country is in the toilet!
How True😊
My friend, its a global issue.
@@larrymashburn7789 Keep blaming something else, while voting for communist democrats.
it's an oligarch issue @@larrymashburn7789
We could have avoided it by buying American and Union.
I have it on my stock watchlist ever since I had bought it during covid pretty cheep and sold it last year for more than double. I saw the recent dip and figured something was going on then it went way up soon as the anouncement was made. I was waiting for your reaction. RIP Starrett!
That's exactly what they're saying, that nothing will change. Which complete, and utter BS! The scumbags at USI said the same thing when they bought Axelson, then they shut them down not to long later. Which is a damn shame bc Axelson made some beautiful machines. 😤
They always say that. It has never once been true.
They made substandard stuff anyhow.
Back in 2004, the company I worked for was bought out. The week after that, a some random VP from the new owners flew down to assure us that they didn't want to change anything, were very happy with how things were done, and wanted to keep everyone exactly where they were. The first firings came less than two weeks later, and now that company doesn't exist anymore. Never believe what the new owners say after any acquisition, particularly if it's a private equity or other investment firm. They're snakes.
@@petemcpeterson6205
Got anything to back up that ridiculous claim?
@@stevepreskitt283We had a local printing Co that was started here. It was doing fine I believe, good enough to be bought, then closed when the buyers restructured the company and moved everything to a different location out of state.
A sad day indeed. RIP Starrett.
we bought a Starrett indicator holder back in 2009, Made in China...
.and it was not inexpensive.....but quality was not there......
I cherish the Starrett tools I own.....
a sad day for many....
@mrpete222 Since when does a micrometer, made in the USA, become obsolete because a company gets sold?
hi there very sad indeed best to all john
The company I work for a company that was bought out by a private equity firm last year. The only thing they've managed to do so far is piss off our customers. 6 months ago they let go 25% of our work force and now are hiring back the turds we let go in the past for being turds. Quality is really starting to suffer now. Pretty much everyone in corporate is someone's buddy. Our new site director is the COO's buddy from the military. The are overloaded with debt. They will grind us into the ground and use the loss as a tax write off.
😂😂
After hearing the report from you I went online to check out the sale, I was disappointed that the board of directors excepted the buy out of the company. The sale price per share was included in the article.
When I started in the shop in the 70's, if we needed a tool there wasn't even a question of what kind it would be. The foreman would just call the Starrett salesman and order it. There was no need to look anywhere else.
Very sad Mr Pete. The same thing happened to Sidchrome in Australia. Stanley bought them for the name and shut down Australian production, now they are made in Taiwan. Strangely as I write this there are 222 likes.
Likes don't mean you necessarily like the video's news, just that the video is useful. They help cause the almighty RUclips ALGORITHM to promote the video to other interested parties.
I've still got my Aussie sidchrome tool set.
I just use the like button to remind me I've watched the video
mrpete222 had 222 likes at the time you posted your comment. I would take that as a sign.
The way your companies are allowed to be bought out is shameful. You guys have to pay premium for imports, and now everything is imported! Insane.
Bought alot of Starrett equipment back in the 70's and they all still operate flawlessly today . But that was then and this is now
They have been dead for quite some time.
I bought two sizes of Starrett tap wrenches because I wanted the “best”!
Neither can hold a tap straight!
This is so sad! I was just at a gun show at the Big E in Massachusetts last week talking to a very informative person at the Starrett booth who was telling my group, I was with, the history of the company and how the micrometer changes came decades apart from Mr Starretts original. The world we live in is ever changing and sadly for the money hungry!
Mr. Pete, thank you for letting us know. Perhaps the heritage Starrett tools are worth having as long as they exist in the used market then how do you know when you get into the Chinese made stock?
You see it in Craftsman, Crescent Tools….it’s seems the market is flooded with garbage. It’s almost like the suppliers want you to lower the bar and say….that’s good enough…
I still say, at least the heyday of machine tools was the World War II era, it’s been a gradual but sure decline ever since…..target an early to mid fifties machine that was not trashed by war production and you have a gem.
Brown & Sharpe, Axelson, now Starrett…. I am not naming them all…
Each of us can keep that spirit alive….yet there are fewer of us.
Never give up!
Cheers
Randy
Starrett was the definition of craftmanship. Anything that required measuring, I did it with a Starrett because the tools gave me confidence.
i prefer mitutoyo anyway. they have far better quality controll and they realy figured out how to mass produce an item and srtill have them spot on everytime. starrett is way to expensive for what you get
Not much experience of Starrett, but Mitutoyo - as you say - always delivers on consistent quality. However I can sympathise with Mr. Pete's despair....
I've bought Mitutoyo, would have bought Starrett, but, a shop worker lives pay check to pay check.@@ianpendlebury9503
Thank you for your support @pirminkogleck4056
I cant tell you Guys my True Feelings about Mitutoyo Company ! i fell in Love with the Tools and since then i am fascinated by the History of Mitutoyo.
Starrett hadn't been competitive for a while now. The writing was on the wall at least 10 years now.
Starrett like many were trying to sell their products at premium "buy it because of our name prices" in a Chinese market economy "We ain't got no quality or name, but we cheap, you buy from us HA HA!! " Unfortnuately most real machinists / T&D guys have retired. No supply left of good ones. Many mfg companies around where I live are screaming they can't get good machinists anymore. Of course they only want to pay $16-18 per hour, or $20 if your a T&D guy. And most companies long ago gave up their apprenticeship training programs when CNC became king. So what did they expect?? So now there is no domestic supply of good machinists anymore and kids don't want jobs where they have to get dirty. I'd say long live USA mfg but it has been long dead for a while now. Thanks Federal Government and State Governments, you're a country killing bunch!! But the corps and and the Unions both got greedy and that drove the bulk of our mfg over seas for cheap labor. Greed kills all!!
Corps and Unions killed nothing. Consumers want to buy as cheaply as possible, hence the influx of tat from overseas. @@johnkemas7344
@@johnkemas7344 you know it used to be one concept we were taught in buisness class, sometimes you opperate a division at a loss but you do so as you can ill afford to just cut and run without it as it does even more damage to do so or you cede capabillities to the competition, I guess that lesson is lost here, I know we cant fedralize things that would just be socialism but allowing the whole thing to dissappear is not good eaither, a flickering candle about to die still provides more like then no candle at all, I buy usa made if I can help it but I am not a machinest I am a woodworker and only have soo much need of machineset percision.
Good comment. Manufacturing and Retail across the board is declining into an abyss. The wages are so out of ratio shop floor to CEO it’s criminal, quality suffers and then this happens. You won’t be able to buy quality goods of any description soon.
When I started in the trade 20ish years ago, I worked with guys that had 30-50 years in already. Several of them told me wages hadn't really changed much since the 1970's. Well, surprise, they haven't changed much in my 20 years either.
Government has done just about everything it can to devalue the dollar, and incentivize companies to go overseas due to over regulation.
Thanks for all your videos. Starrett was purchased by Middle ground investments out of Florida.
At least it wasn’t sold to china or went into bankruptcy.
Follow that money trail a little tighter… another American icon has left the building.
Yeah, those firms are vultures who buy companies to sell for a profit. They'll gut it first, then guess whos buyin'
I would not be surprised if it is a shell company controlled by the Chinese.
Their from Lexington, Kentucky
The SAGA continues. I'm always on the lookout at thrift stores and yard sales for vintage, REAL tools, cookware, etc. I collect them for my families future use. "Chinesium" is worthless.
Family's ? Sorry grammar NAZIs!
When Mitutoyo entered the market, it was game over for Starrett, eventually. My uncle, an engineer for IBM years ago, was startled at Starrett's archaic manufacturing methods. As a 40 mold maker, I have mostly Starrett tools. But, my Etalon calipers and Interapid indicators blow my Starrett's out of the water.
My first set of calipers were Etalon, silky smooth. I have a mix of Starrett and Mitutoyo calipers and measuring equipment. The founder of Mitutoyo went to UC Berkeley and was really dedicated to his craft. They always seemed a bit more innovative. Quality is important, but it is also important to innovate and remain relavent. I remember seeing some very odd tools, even in their more recent catalogs (a mechanical tachometer, a tool for setting up a planar to name a few). I doubt the Investment firm has any intention of turning the company around, but it seems Starrett was not keeping pace. Keep in mind that China has perhaps 10 time the number of engineers as the US. They aren't sitting around doing nothing, nor are they stupid. They will become increasingly competitive, innovative and they will have increasing quality in many areas. It is inevitable. We should all be working to be competitive and not bemoan former greatness. That said, this is sad indeed.
@@John-ro2yk thank you for your support.
We The Consumer are to blame for the demise of quality domestic tools. We SAY we want quality and we SAY we're willing to pay for it. Maybe some of us are. But the hard fact is that Chinese crap is what most people buy. Race to the bottom.
It's really a shame they're selling out, but don't hate what they were because of what they are now. The Starett tools you got is still good stuff, so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater by getting rid of them!
Edit: spelling
I am an old journeyman machinist and was a loyal Starrett customer my entire career. The tools they produced were always used with complete confidence. I simply loved the feel and finish on all I still own to this day. They built this country. I am in mourning.
👍👍
Mr. Pete my Starrett tools are just as valuable and useful as they were when I started buying them over 40 years ago when I first started in machine shop in high school. Starretts only real problem is having made quality tools that in fact do last a man a lifetime and often his grandkids lifetime. Nothing to be ashamed of there. No doubt the company has been struggling to hold on to the market for decades now. Honestly im proud of them for holding on as long as they did. Also I might have some Mititoyo tools but my customers will never see me using them. I really mean that. If a customer is in my shop he sees Starrett tools only.
Another example of the USA commiting industrial suicide. I have used Starret tools al my life. Some received from my old man and some from my grandfather.
Outstanding equipment.
I still believe that American industry can make a comeback: Get rid of the finance guys!!!!!
Regards from Argentina!
Lyle,
Keep your Starrett tools.
They are like you, from a time in history when a man with quality tools and talent could make anything.
Take a break and come to the realization that those tools made you who you are today.
They got me about a year ago. I bought a dial caliper online brand new for $150. Didn’t know if was made in China until it showed up. Worst part is it doesn’t say anywhere on the caliper or the plastic case. It only says “China” on the cardboard box the plastic case goes inside. Not even “made in China”. Just “China”.
I bought a Mitutoyo metric dial caliper about the same time. It was $30 cheaper and made in Japan. Says it right on the dial.
This is in fact truly unbelievable. Do out leaders have some childish fantasy that our nation could function without our own metalworking?
Non Sense!
We might as well surrender gosh
darn it, right now.
In Sanity!
Several comments here blame leaders, voters and lawmakers.
They see the issue as one that can be legislated against. And while laws and rules can be written and free trade can be curtailed, this would be, and has been after the fact, after most manufacturing has gone to places with lower labor costs and less regulation as to safety and quality.
Recent tariffs and historical ones, have demonstrated that this leads to inflated costs to domestic purchasing from overseas as intended, but it also leads to an even higher wage imbalance and even more impetus for manufacturers to outsource.
While it's easy to blame lawmakers, no one seems to be concerned with the ethics of corporations, who see no problem with giving away our jobs to foreigners. Capitalism inherently maximizes profit for owners and investors, to the detriment of all citizens. This is the origin, and the reason for the long term collapse of our manufacturing prowess disaster. Why nobody seems to fault big business, and instead puts the onus on lawmakers and laws, which are forcing buisness to do something which burdens them. Thus, the question is, do we force capitalists against their will, or let the free market ruin our economy in order for millionaires to pocket the difference?
The problem here is the influence corporations have over congress. While corporate owners and investors might be citizens too, they are vastly over represented in congress. A business with a hundred thousand workers and a hundred investors has ten times the influence of those hundred thousand, and opposite goals, because they can throw millions at a few lawmakers, while citizens cannot.
People love freedom, but corporations cannot be people, as the Supreme Court has recently ruled. They cannot have more sway in government than the people. This land is for the many, not the handful .
@@JoeSmith-cy9wjAa big part of the problem is with the the gov. because they should not be allowed to move product or company profits oversee's period. to me its treason. yu start a company make all your profits from americans the money needs to stay. if you want to start a company in another country go ahead but no selling and you cant use us made money to do so. AMERICA FIRST!
@@JoeSmith-cy9wj I wish you could have summed those points up more concisely but, yeah, that's pretty much the case. Americans have love-hate relationship with Laissez-faire capitalism.
@@mikel5582 me too
Had no idea. This was happening. Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Wisconsin
Apparently, the company was for sale and someone bought it. That happens with a lot of companies.
Most people don't know what we have lost. Does any American factory make precision tools?
Woodpecker. But then people whine about their prices. People just like to complain.
WTF? I think I'm going to be sick
It is indeed a shame! Our politicians have driven manufacturing from our shores, and when one of the few great companies like Starrett is purchased, it means cheap imported tools under the Starrett name.
Doesn't surprise me with the crazy inflation. I'm a Machinist and I can't afford to buy new Starrett stuff. Best I can do is mostly used tools when I can. That itself says something big. An American Machinist can't even afford American Machinist tools to use at work.
- "Three" , lathe, mill, & surface grinder Machinist, cnc and manual,
Central Arkansas,
$23.50/hr as of 2-2023 to 4-2024
If you really want to look at it your not making much over poverty level but the sad thing is that you are making more than a lot of family's
these are historically bad times. everything is collapsing. including the american family. then our government and our president gives statements about how this is the best economy in history. what is going on...
@@looking_33 Democrook/socialists in power is whats going on. That said.....they all sold us out with bad trade deals a long time ago. Me thinks they all got rich via big kickbacks for selling out the middle class.
@@looking_33 it absolutely is a great economy... for billionaires and hedge funds, us normal people are screwed, sadly I'm starting to think nothing is going to fix it at this rate, it's all over other than the kicking and screaming.
@@bdkj3ethe kickin and screaming is all I have left. I say we bring it!
We in the UK have lost so many great companies in the same way. So sad. I'm the proud owner of a couple of Starrett sets and I will treasure them even more now.
There is not one American brand that when purchased by an investment organization becomes better. I agree with you, Starrett will no longer be made in the U.S.A. It may not happen quickly but the bean counters will start outsourcing things to make profits for the shareholders and it that does not occur, it will be a first. Harley kept outsourcing and now the plant in York, PA makes the frame, the fenders and the tanks bur not for the Sportster, which is made elsewhere from downsizing and outsourcing. That model may still be assembled in Kansas City, Missouri - I have no proof of this. I just saw a search result and when I worked there, many, many parts were being shipped to the warehouse north of York, PA and were from China. China was not on this particular list. Lights, ignition, wheels were coming in from China. That was in 2009. I do not have an info on how many countries are doing what but the wiring harness is manufactured and assembled in Mexico. All this was done in York and slowly, the screw machines were not being replaced, the mufflers were made by a vendor and chromed prior to arrival, and the engine castings were done in China and machined in Wisconsin. The union happily signed off on all this. I feel Starrett will soon be on Amazon and other sites that sell Chineseum. Time will tell. Brandon has done nothing to get manufacturing back to the U.S.A. because CO2 is more important, jobs aren't.
LOL... Harley? You're one of those that likes hand outs.
@@Failure_Is_An_Option Just what are you sayng? Handouts for what? I have a feeling you are a very sick individual. I hate unions, despised the jobs I did at Harley due to management and the union cast system, no way to advance. Handouts. Expalin or be known as a total a...ho.e.
You might want to take a look at where Mitutoyo makes their tools. I have a few Jedburgh made Starrett tools and we bought Starrett saw blades until they shut the factory a couple of years ago and shifted it off to China and Brazil. We managed to find other UK made blades for less than Starrett now charge for the Brazilian made ones, which have tripled in price
Sad. I knew they were struggling, citing their own products as their biggest competition. I recently bought a new Starrett spring punch rather than a garage sale used one, to try and help. We all love them, but most of us have acquired used Starrett tools, rather than new and that doesn't help the bottom line there. Le sigh....
I read about this before your video came out. My first thoughts were that Mr. Pete will be devastated. But take heart, pre-sale Starrett tools will become more sought after and more valuable, just like Winchester & other arms manufacturers.
Lyle, I have been using Starrett tools for over 60 years, and I collect them as well.
However in the past 15 - 20 years, things have not been right with them.
Now I haven't bought much from them in 20 years or so, as I didn't need too, I had everything I need. I just bought things I had lost or couldn't find, like a center gauge, that was not quite right with fit and finish, and a thread pitch gauge that the threads looked like they were stamped imperfectly, with rounded crests. Not good !!!
Then my wife got me a Starrett 0 - 1 digital micrometer, that I really wanted, but could not afford. It had a partially defective digit in the display from day one. The local Starrett dealer sent it in several times, but it never got fixed, so I thought he was not being honest with me, and I sent it in directly. It came back with a note, that it was obsolete, and offered me $ 20.00 dollars credit on a new one.
They said it was unrepairable !!!
I had no choice, so I took it apart, and repaired it, ( former electronics technician ), the display worked great, the accuracy was perfect. Sadly, it would eat the battery in a weeks time, if I left the battery installed. And I have not figured out how to fix that yet !!!, probably won't live long enough tp get it done either !!!
The Starrett dealer, whom I have bought from for 5 decades, said buy a Mitutoyo !!! as Starrett electronics were junk !!!
So I got a used Mitutoyo from the swap meet, for very little money, and it works perfectly !!!
Battery lives forever, might out last me !!!
I have many other Mitutoyo pieces that I bought at the swap meet over the years, and they were all excellent, just not Starrett !!!
I love my old Starrett tools, and some one will inherit them I am sure, but I no longer recommend new Starrett tools to any one, only good used ones !!!
I guess WOKNESS has destroyed the last of American greatness.
Tim
@MrTIGERH1752 glad to hear the used Mitutoyo purchases have lived up to your expectations. We take a lot of pride in our products.
My dad used Starrett. I inherited his tools but he didn't take care of them. I prefer Mitutoyo
Hi Mr. Pete! The silver lining to this cloud is the value of "Made in USA" Starrett products (i.e. your horde) suddenly increased in value significantly! 😊
Exactly. I'm expecting the price for original Starrett products to increase.
It will become a profit driven company after being an innovative technology driven company. Laroy S. Starrett must be spinning in his grave over this one. Sad days indeed 😢
Very sad! There are just too many cheap tools out there. It's tough to be competitive.
Sad to hear , so many companies vanishing through such buy outs , usually property and asset stripping follows .
Another one bites the dust, so sad.
If you live in the New England area or will be visiting. I would recommend taking the Starrett factory tour. Hope they are still offering it. I have taken 2 over the last 20 years. You will get to meet and see the hard working employees who have made Starrett the legend that it is. With this terrible news this might be your last chance to see Starrett in Athol MA.
Oh no...this is TRULY BAD NEWS. I can't believe it...
On UK here…I just bought (Oct 24) a Starret 18C auto punch (Amazon 23.99)…This I found is now made in China under licence. The quality DOES look great in this case, but how long before cost cutting measures result in rough machining and lower quality steel? As of now I trust the punch point is suitably hardened, like carbide, but only time and use will tell. I noticed on Amazon some comments complaining about Starrett combi squares being out of true on the cheaper models….This is how the rot begins.
Very sad
Everything has gone down the shitter as regards tools ond machines. When you bought a machine and it outlasted the man running it.
I'm sad!!! But in amazement they lasted this long!!! This All started with the Reagan Nomics in the 80s!!!! Where just about all of our manufacturing jobs went to china at us taxpayers expenses!!!
Starrett quality has been going down hill for a number of years - I switched to Mitutoyo after Starrett couldn't deliver a reasonable quality combination square - too many defects in the castings. Again, this was about 10 years ago for me. Private equity has now killed Metabo, particularly their corded angle grinders. Metabo used to produce the finest quality tools in Germany. Now they mix in VERY low quality junk produced in China (and it really is JUNK). Worse, Metabo still produces some tools in Germany, but appear to go out of their way to obfuscate the "country of origin" until you actually purchase the product. It's called "prostituting the brand" - (a) take a well known, decades old, premium brand. (b) swap out a quality product for garbage produced in China, (c) insist that the lower-quality product is even better, (d) jack up the prices.
Metabo, Pony Clamps, Tilley Hats, and now Starrett.
And NOTE this isn't simple paranoia, China does produce some quality products. However, in each of the three examples above (Metabo, Pony Clamps, Tilley Hats), the quality has VISIBLY and FUNCTIONALLY suffered markedly.
Levi Strauss is a classic example of a prostituted brand. The jeans used to be made in San Francisco, in the USA. Now they are made in third world countries, but they are priced as if they are made here. I found non Levis jeans made in the USA priced for less than the now prostituted Levis.
From who? Won’t be buying Levi’s anymore since they went woke!😩
Thank you for your support @AlphaBobFloridaOverlord
While I _hope_ things don't change, the unfortunate reality is that they probably will. Sounds like it's time to stock up while the good stuff is available!
Mr. Pete, don't get rid of your beautiful Starrett collection! Keep it, use it, and show us what quality looks like! We can still celebrate the history!