[Elecraft] Prospective K3 Owner

[David Woolley (E.L)]

Julian, G4ILO wrote:
> 

> 
> It seems to be impossible nowadays to buy tools of any sort that are not
> cheap cr*p made in China from poor quality steel that gets chewed up at the
> first tough job it encounters.

This has very little to do with where they are manufactured, and a great 
deal to do with how little people in West are prepared to pay, 
especially the people who buy from DIY superstores.

Modern marketing practices, which consider actually educating the user 
either too boring or likely to raise their FUD (fear, uncertainty and 
doubt) about the purchase, may also contribute.

If you take the sort of cordless hammer drill that the man in the street 
or cowboy trader might buy, you might pay GBP 33.  If you buy the sort 
of hammer drill one would expect a professional tradesman to use, you 
might be paying GBP 209.  (It is possible, though, that screwdrivers are 
so cheap that tradesmen treat them as consumables.)

You get a similar problem with ISPs.  The reason that they tend to use 
overseas call centres which tell you to re-install Windows  is that that 
is all you can afford to do at the prices that customers are prepared to 
pay.

-- 
David Woolley
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