[TheForge] American home shop mania

[Ries Niemi]

On Wednesday, December 3, 2003, at 09:00 AM, Rich Maynard wrote:

> I wouldn't say there was no heavy industry left - it's just quite hard 
> to
> get hold of materials on a 'hobby' scale. We certainly have people who 
> can
> supply these things, but they're normally only interested in selling 
> lots at
> a time to account customers.
>
> I'm constantly amazed by what people get up to in their garages in the
> States; I think easier access to quality DIY shops etc makes a big
> difference.
>
> Thanks for the hep, guys.
>
> Rich.
>
>

People tend to forget how incredibly big the USA is. Even though 
everybody complains about how much of our industry is moving to china, 
which is true, there is still an amazing amount left. In just about 
every corner of the country, there is small scale manufacturing tucked 
away. Not to mention the huge swaths of real manufacturing towns. We 
still have lots of steel mills, machine tool manufacturers, boat 
builders, car factories, and all kinds of other really big industry. We 
also have little one man shops that are so well equipped you cant 
believe it. I read about a guy recently way up on the slopes of Mt 
Ranier who singlehandedly runs 3 big CNC machine tools, putting out 
several hundred thousand dollars worth of parts for Boeing a year. This 
is not that unusual. I can count 20 or 30 1 or 2 man shops in the woods 
in my little county of 100,000 people. There is a guy building a land 
speed record car, another who builds world class stringed instruments, 
a dozen blacksmiths, a machinist who makes $2500 fishing reels, vintage 
auto restorers, a dozen boat building shops, and on and on.
We also have a pretty egalatarian distribution system. It wasnt always 
that way- when I first started making things in the seventies, I would 
constantly find that the supplier who had just what I wanted wouldnt 
sell it to me. The often wanted to sell only to retail stores, or to 
people who would buy a minimum of thousands of dollars a month. This 
has changed enormously over the last thirty years, and now, even though 
I do have all my business credentials, and I often buy small but 
reasonable quantities, I still can find anything I want, usually charge 
it over the phone, and have it delivered in a few days. Business in 
america has really streamlined, computer technology has certainly 
helped, as it is not such a big deal to set up an account anymore, so 
companies are willing to make one cash sale for $100 now, where they 
wouldnt before. UPS and Fed ex help a lot too, as do credit cards.
I think the UK is probably just a little more old fashioned in that 
respect, whereas here, if you can afford it, they will sell it to you.

ries