Then again, my bikes aren't made in America by Americans who take no pride in their work yet require large American wages.
There are plenty of Americans that take pride in their work. And some that don't as well.
It takes a "large American wage" to live in the USA...even more so now with the price of EVERYTHING going up.
I'm not sure if it is a lack of pride on the part of the factory worker or the fact that corporate orders mandate that the assembly line be run in such a fashion that
the worker has no time to setup this stuff correctly at the factory.
This is coupled with the pressures for wage cuts in the face of global outsourcing that eliminates many jobs in our country every year. The consumer votes with
their dollars on what they TRULY prefer... or want to believe. Many may not like that the majority of our consumer products in the USA are made in foreign lands,
but they will still buy their stuff at Wallmart every week.
Many members on this forum are very frustrated by the cost of the aftermarket parts for our sleds... I'd bet more than 95% of them are made in the USA and that
is why the cost is so high... I dont see the owners of Edgeworks or Fire N Ice driving around in New Escalades and putting a new 10,000 sq ft addition on their homes....
It's the cost of making things in the USA...
We all want it "CHEAPER and BETTER".... or we want to belive that the quality can be maintained or improved for less cost.... It's just human nature!
I grew up in the Detroit area... lots of auto workers in my neighborhood... some of them were lazy SOB's that would not put a bolt in a fender correctly...
but others who took great pride in their work but were not allowed by time constraints dictated by the management do the good work they wanted to do.
It is super frustrating for a line worker when the time allotted for performing their task is not made by someone who actually knows how to do the task...
and I'm talking about quality minded, apple pie eatin survivors of the depresion that know what pride in their work and our country is all about.
All of these decisions are made in an environment, our laws, that require public owned companies (like Polaris, Exxon, Blue-Cross, etc...) to maximize profits for
their share holders. It's a pretty complicated "tangled web" in our society. A multi-variable equation if you will that is upset greatly when you change the different
factors that affect the system.
These are the same profit-margin pressures that prevent the factory from making a recall or free service on obvious flaws in a design.
Profit maximization should be REQIRED by the S.E.C. to include a component of sustainability (for our country's economy and security) as well as maintaining the quality
of a product. If a company is expected to increase profits when the costs are skyrocketing [check the cost of copper, plastic, steel and fuel lately] and still turn out a
quality product and increase their shareholders earnings... that is a recipe for disaster...not just for Polaris, Cat and Ski-Doo... but for our USA as a society.
