6 combs made in China $1.49, 1 (ACE) made in USA same company $2.49

[Omaha Steve]

It is the company that bought out Rubbermaid in 1999: http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/newellco/aboutus/history.jhtml?id=id2

http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/newellco/index.jhtml?_requestid=137466

I bought the single made in USA comb.

[Merlot]

1. How long will the six combs last? As long as the 1 comb mane in USA?

Cheap combs loose teeth. I guess we'd need to know if the quality of the combs was any different. My feeling is the one made in China will be made of brittle plastic and will break sooner. So, you could by 6 combs that will break before the one good comb does.

[jmowreader]

3. The one comb made in USA is made of rubber

The six Chinese ones are plastic. The rubber comb is better for your hair and scalp than the plastic ones are.

[shanti]

17. brittle is right

try buying some plastic coathangers. i got some at the 99cent store and they snapped with very little resistance. it's like they're leaving some kind of key ingredient out that probably costs more to make them last longer. there are very few china-made objects that aren't cheesy or downright dangerous.

[Taverner]

2. Well yeah, slave labor does produce cheaper goods

[Jane Austin]

4. I'm using one of those rubber Ace combs right now -

As I read posts, I'm teasing my genetically limp hair.

The teeth are generally much closer in the good comb.

Wish they made them in colors other than black, though, so we could identify them more easily.

[OhioChick]

5. I'll bet the comb made in the US will last forever. n/t

[John Q. Citizen]

6. My long time analysis is that when you have the free flow of goods and capital, but the

restrictive flow of labor, there is no way labor can compete, here there or any where.

If labor could flow freely it wouldn't be long before labor would organize to put demands on power, the distortions caused by the free flow of only goods and capital would be mitigated.

Just as capital and production is organized globally, labor too could be organized globally.

While i don't think this is about to happen, I think it's important to understand what is happening. Money enjoys more freedom of movement and people enjoy less freedom of movement. And that distorts peoples relationships to power and to money.

[Warpy]

7. Who the hell needs 6 combs

unless they're a married couple with four kids with tangled hair and not a comb among them?

Buying in bulk just doesn't make sense in most cases, I don't care how cheap it is. I have a Costco card. I know this stuff.

I'd have bought the single one, too.

[SoCalDem]

8. Amen.. I am using a comb that was my aunt's

She probably bought it in the 1950's..
But that is also the problem with that kind of product...they are cheap to buy..and we don't buy them all that often.

[gollygee]

9. I was stupid not long ago and bought cheap potholders from Walmart

Our Walmart is slow, so if I just need one or two things it's easy to get in and out quickly. So I used it kind of as a convenience store rather than for regular shopping. But no more!

I bought these damn "potholders", and then did some baking, and I used one as I pulled a pan out of the oven and it was like I'd picked it up with my bare hand! It wasn't a potholder, it was just a lightly quilted rectangle of fabric marketed as a potholder. No insulting material at all! I have learned my lesson and it was painful. It's better to spend more on something made properly.

[Warpy]

11. I crochet my own potholders

out of the colored cotton string they sell at Wally's, thicker than kite string, thinner than packing twine. I just do single crochet squares and then crochet the edges together with the sides perpendicular to each other. The ones I'm using now are about thirteen years old.

I suppose they'll catch on fire eventually and I'll have to crochet some more, but in the meantime, they're the best ones I've ever had.

[gollygee]

12. I got my daughter one of those potholder weaving looms

You know, the ones that use loops? She made one potholder, gave it to my mother-in-law, and hasn't made any more. Maybe I should get it out and make some on that. I forgot she had it she uses it so seldom.

[lonestarnot]

15. I just use dirty socks then I don't have to wash them.

:evilgrin: :spray: :rofl: Gawd I'm sick.

[Warpy]

16. I've been known to use wool socks in a pinch

when either the last potholders have caught fire or are dirty or wet.

I just use clean ones.

Man, you are sick. Dirty socks tend to stick to the bakeware, thereby rendering them less than ideal as potholders. Use clean ones!

[lonestarnot]

18. I was just kidding. Ackety cooking with dirty socks. mmmm mmm mm.

Toe jam meatballs gross. :evilgrin:

[RB TexLa]

10. I don't know where it was made but I still use the same comb I had in high school 20 plus years ago.

[HamdenRice]

13. It's not labor costs, I can assure you, but it is a mystery

When you look at the cost of some cheap disposable plastic item like a comb, labor costs are not a big factor in either the US or China comb. These items are made mostly by automated processes, using the same machines in both places. Labor costs are higher in the US than in China, but when you spread those costs over the many, many combs the machines make it is very little; when you also include shipping and storage costs, the labor costs are even more minor. You'd be shocked at how much of the cost of a comb like that are (1) shipping, (2) storage/inventory and (3) advertising and packaging.

The difference is that ACE, like most American corporations making basically cheap manufactures shit, thinks it can "brand" such cheap crap and sell the brand, not the item. Ace is the Mercedes Benz of cheap plastic combs, believe it or not -- that's why they charge five times as much for the same crap. It's the same logic behind selling $5 dollar cost Nike sneakers for $160. All the extra money goes to executive compensation (CEO, COO, CFO and VP salaries), which preposterously has become one of the biggest costs on US corporate balance sheets.

China says, fuck that, let's sell the most stuff we can, which means the lowest possible price.

US manufacturers put themselves in this position through stupid strategies, not because of labor costs.

[bertman]

19. Matters not to me. I'll gladly pay more for an American-made product as long as it's

a superior product. Call me protectionist, but I'd rather see American companies making a profit and keeping Americans employed than give my $$ to the Chinese or American corporations that have moved their operations to China.

If the American product is not of superior quality, fit and finish, then all bets are off.

[yardwork]

14. Rubbermaid was an Ohio company.

Follow the buyouts.

[Omaha Steve]

20. I too will always take the made in USA

When I have a choice. Funny they were side by side in the store. The combs were assorted sizes btw.

OS