There is a first time for everything, I guess

[Tiger Small Engine]

Well, back to my original post. I got the cheap carb over the weekend and put it on the mower today. I obviously can't speak to the longevity of the carb, but I can say that it bolted on perfectly and started right up. It just sat there purring exactly the way it should.

I will now at least look to places like Alibaba, Amazon, and eBay for parts, especially on these older mowers I'm refurbishing. I can now make a decent profit on an under $100 mower. It sure makes a difference in what I have to charge for a refurbished mower.

I can see about being concerned about a warranty on a $45,000 vehicle, but warranty on a $80 carburetor, really?
The fact is most parts are now made in China, Mexico, India, Taiwan, Korea, etc. The United States sold out our manufacturing business many years ago (very sad). It is a different world than even 20 years ago. Most parts are now replaced and not rebuilt.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I can see about being concerned about a warranty on a $45,000 vehicle, but warranty on a $80 carburetor, really?
The fact is most parts are now made in China, Mexico, India, Taiwan, Korea, etc. The United States sold out our manufacturing business many years ago (very sad). It is a different world than even 20 years ago. Most parts are now replaced and not rebuilt.

The problem is when there is no warranty then there is no quality control either because it does not matter if the parts work or not so 100 % of what comes off the end of the production line is deemed to be saleable quality.
This is one reason why there is so much trash sold on line .
QC costs a lot of money .
Down here because we are a long way from most markets we have a government mandated 12 month warranty on everything sold via a retail outlet .
So yes I get warranty on an $ 80 carb, in fact I get warranty on a $ 2 rebuild kit .
The down side is warranty inflates the price a bit to cover warranty claims so the $ 80 carb in the USA will be $ 90 down here

 

[PTmowerMech]

I can see about being concerned about a warranty on a $45,000 vehicle, but warranty on a $80 carburetor, really?
The fact is most parts are now made in China, Mexico, India, Taiwan, Korea, etc. The United States sold out our manufacturing business many years ago (very sad). It is a different world than even 20 years ago. Most parts are now replaced and not rebuilt.

At the wages manufactures have to pay, it's almost impossible to make anything here anymore. Remember when $15K per year was a decent living? It should still be that way. Because those countries we're having to outsource to, that same $15K per year is a decent wage.
Since Reagan, the USD has lost 75% of it's buying power. Probably more in the last 6 years.

 

[smhardesty]

I can see about being concerned about a warranty on a $45,000 vehicle, but warranty on a $80 carburetor, really?

I don't provide a specific warranty on any repairs I do or even on the equipment I refurb and sell. What I do is tell the customer that if he has any problems, to get in touch with me. I kind of use a one month rule. If the customer comes back with a problem within 30 days, I'll most certainly consider fixing it either for free, or at a reduced cost. Now, that is if I see no signs of mistreatment to the equipment. I also separate my repairs from whatever problem he comes back with. If I replaced a carburetor and two weeks later he brings the piece back with a sheared flywheel key, that's no freebie. Same holds true, even for that carb, if I pull the air filter and it's completely filthy and plugged up. I'm not going to do a repair for free on that one either. When I was doing this work a few years ago, I maybe had 5 or 6 customers that had a problem with something I did. I didn't hesitate to fix it for free. I'm not a big enough shop to refuse to repair something I might not have gotten right the first time. My little business can't handle too much bad publicity, especially the word of mouth kind. If you have never heard it before, you can have 100 happy customers that will never say a word about your business, but one unhappy customer will tell every person he knows about you. I find that to be very true.

 

[PTmowerMech]

The problem is when there is no warranty then there is no quality control either because it does not matter if the parts work or not so 100 % of what comes off the end of the production line is deemed to be saleable quality.
This is one reason why there is so much trash sold on line .
QC costs a lot of money .
Down here because we are a long way from most markets we have a government mandated 12 month warranty on everything sold via a retail outlet .
So yes I get warranty on an $ 80 carb, in fact I get warranty on a $ 2 rebuild kit .
The down side is warranty inflates the price a bit to cover warranty claims so the $ 80 carb in the USA will be $ 90 down here

With that cheaper stuff I get from Amazon, I don't even worry about a warranty. I just throw the carb in the box and buy another one from a different seller. I'll start the refund process. But if I gotta pay to ship it back, in the box it goes.

 

[PTmowerMech]

I don't provide a specific warranty on any repairs I do or even on the equipment I refurb and sell. What I do is tell the customer that if he has any problems, to get in touch with me. I kind of use a one month rule. If the customer comes back with a problem within 30 days, I'll most certainly consider fixing it either for free, or at a reduced cost. Now, that is if I see no signs of mistreatment to the equipment. I also separate my repairs from whatever problem he comes back with. If I replaced a carburetor and two weeks later he brings the piece back with a sheared flywheel key, that's no freebie. Same holds true, even for that carb, if I pull the air filter and it's completely filthy and plugged up. I'm not going to do a repair for free on that one either. When I was doing this work a few years ago, I maybe had 5 or 6 customers that had a problem with something I did. I didn't hesitate to fix it for free. I'm not a big enough shop to refuse to repair something I might not have gotten right the first time. My little business can't handle too much bad publicity, especially the word of mouth kind. If you have never heard it before, you can have 100 happy customers that will never say a word about your business, but one unhappy customer will tell every person he knows about you. I find that to be very true.

When I was selling a lot of used stuff, I'd write down what I did to get it back up and running. So the customer the list and tell them if any of those things went wrong in 30 days, it was no questions asked. Unless, like you say, there was signs of abuse. Anything that wasn't on the list, was on them. But I'd give them a discount on the repairs that came up, even a year after they bought it. (I didn't tell'm how much of a discount)

 

[smhardesty]

At the wages manufactures have to pay, it's almost impossible to make anything here anymore. Remember when $15K per year was a decent living? It should still be that way. Because those countries we're having to outsource to, that same $15K per year is a decent wage.
Since Reagan, the USD has lost 75% of it's buying power. Probably more in the last 6 years.

I just had a conversation with a guy about that very same thing. I'll promise you that I had more excess money in the 70s and 80s than I do now. Maybe not the exact dollar amounts, but percentage wise I had more "excess" funds than I do now. I realize a lot of that has to do with the fact my wife and I are both retired, but our incomes now aren't as healthy as we had anticipated. What has happened in the last few years has REALLY affected our standard of living. Once you commit to living off your retirement income you are kind of locked in. Then, when gas prices double, electric rates take a 75% to 100% increase, and groceries increase by 25% to 40%, it sure makes getting by on a fixed income troublesome.

 

[PTmowerMech]

I just had a conversation with a guy about that very same thing. I'll promise you that I had more excess money in the 70s and 80s than I do now. Maybe not the exact dollar amounts, but percentage wise I had more "excess" funds than I do now. I realize a lot of that has to do with the fact my wife and I are both retired, but our incomes now aren't as healthy as we had anticipated. What has happened in the last few years has REALLY affected our standard of living. Once you commit to living off your retirement income you are kind of locked in. Then, when gas prices double, electric rates take a 75% to 100% increase, and groceries increase by 25% to 40%, it sure makes getting by on a fixed income troublesome.

If they'd stop using the Federal Reserve like it was an unlimited credit card, things would just barely change. Like down in Mexico, 30 years ago, you could live very well on $1000 per month. Now, you can still live good on just $1500 per month. That's only a $500 increase in 30 years.
Try living on $1000 per month here now a days.

If I hadn't found this place in Arkansas, I was headed for Mexico. Texas went nuts with their home prices and rent.

 

[smhardesty]

If they'd stop using the Federal Reserve like it was an unlimited credit card, things would just barely change. Like down in Mexico, 30 years ago, you could live very well on $1000 per month. Now, you can still live good on just $1500 per month. That's only a $500 increase in 30 years.
Try living on $1000 per month here now a days.

If I hadn't found this place in Arkansas, I was headed for Mexico. Texas went nuts with their home prices and rent.

My wife and I actually had a couple of very serious conversations about moving to one of the Central American countries that allow dual citizenship. There are a few that allow dual citizenship where you can live like a king for $1500 to $2000 a month, and that includes a full time, live in housekeeper/maid. We kind of just let go of the idea. We never made a decision NOT to do it. We just stopped talking about it. If things keep on the way they have been going the last few years, we may very well be discussing it again.

 

[bertsmobile1]

At the wages manufactures have to pay, it's almost impossible to make anything here anymore. Remember when $15K per year was a decent living? It should still be that way. Because those countries we're having to outsource to, that same $15K per year is a decent wage.
Since Reagan, the USD has lost 75% of it's buying power. Probably more in the last 6 years.

A very popular misconception
Th problem is management will not invest in high volume modern production equipment
If the machine is pumping out 10,000 widgets a day it makes no difference to the price of the widgets if the single worker operating the machine is paid $ 1 /day $ 100/ day or $ 1000/day.

Now MBS'a invent all sorts of economic markers for efficient running of a business.
One of these is the profit to equity ratio and the screen jockies on Wall st live & die by PE ratios.
The highest PE ratio you will ever make is by importing something and directly selling it on the WWW so it can be dropped shipped from the supplier.
Thus no CEO wants to have anything to do with making anything unless the company can get BIG & I MEAN REALLY BIG subsidies from the governments for doing it
If you ever go to Brazil, have a look at the VW factory
An airconditioned glass walled building inside and outer shell
Inside are hundered of robots & automated assembly machines and not 1 single human being
AFAICT things are ever worse n the USA
Untill some one shoots all of those over educated idiot accountants with MBA's who can not understand the difference between
"All profits originate in the board room "
&
"All profits are made in the board room"

If you really want to see what is happening, look at the % increase in renumeration of executives & directors ( including bonuses ) and those on the shop floor for the past 20 years

In OZ executives had increased their pay packets by 3500% or 35 times if you like
Workers have increaed 42%or slightly less than 1.5 times
CPI increases were 57%
So yes workers down here are going backwards