"Wayne.B" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:11:02 -0800, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

we need to stop trying to
compete on price alone

With commodity type products, particularly consumer goods, price is
always the top priority.

There are fewer and fewer USA made products left where quality is the driver
behind a consumer purchase. It's not that the quality of USA made products
are necessarily slipping. It's the fact that competing countries are
building more and more quality products.

I can give a first hand example, garnered from my new experience in retail
guitar sales.
USA made Gibson and Fender guitars are still considered the ultimate
throughout the world and remain very much in demand. In fact, I know a guy
who regularly buys USA made guitars and travels to Brazil to sell them at a
significant profit.

However, some countries ... notably China (who basically gives the rest of
the world the finger when it comes to patents or copyrights).... are
building excellent guitars that sell for a fraction of it's USA built
counterpart. A company in China recently produced a copy of a Les Paul
Standard, complete with serial number and "Made in the USA" stamped into
the headstock. The guitars were shipped to the USA and sold through eBay.
They fooled experts. The quality and performance of the guitar was
undistinguishable from an authentic USA version.

They goofed in one minor detail when they copied it, and it's the only way
those of us buying and selling guitars can recognize the clone.

Eisboch