Yesterday it snowed here in New York a little and I decided to buy a new pair of snow boots. I have my good snow boots that I used to work in but I just wanted to replace my pair that I wear to shovel snow or throw out the garbage. Something easy to slip on and off with no laces.
My wife ordered me new boots from LL Bean. I didn't even see them yet because she knows I go nuts if I can't buy something made in USA and I would start yelling at the computer (maybe it is my PTSD)
So last night we go to dinner at an Italian place and I wore my old snow boots. I wanted to replace them because they had some cracks on the top and were no longer water proof.
On the way out from the restaurant I felt like I was dragging a Pizza box. I looked at my foot and didn't see anything. I took a few more steps and could hardly walk so I looked at my foot again. Nothing!!
This is weird, so I lift my foot, and the bottom of the boot falls off.
At my friends house he gave me duct tape to fix the boot so I could at least get into my car without walking barefoot in the snow. I got the boots home and looked at where they were made even though I knew what to expect. China, of course.
I myself would never purposely buy something from China and this is one reason.
Have you ever seen the bottom fall off an American Boot? No, you haven't.
Of course there are no more American boots so it is hard to compare.
It drives me nuts that in such a big, beautiful country like the US we can't buy a simple boot. Or much of anything else.
I don't even care what it cost, just build me something in the US that does not fall apart. If I had time, I would make my own boots.
We only have this garbage for sale because so many people bought it to save money. That's great but we should also make something here, just charge more, I am willing to pay for quality.
Did you ever go to Home Depot and buy hardware like screws, nuts and bolts?
You can't use that stuff on something important that must stay together because the steel in that stuff is garbage. I am not sure what they mix their steel with, probably I Phone 4s or 8 Track tape players but it is trash. When I build something I want it to be strong and last so I have to go to a good hardware store, not Home Depot. If you understand hardware you will see that there is a big difference. If you just want to hang a picture on a wall, it's fine, but if you had to hang out of a plane on that bolt, I wouldn't buy it in home depot.