I hear L&P is having trouble already

[bull]

I heard through the grapevine that the L&P consoles have already got trouble from the Chinese who are making them. The first few hundred were good but now the story goes that the workers are pulling the consoles out of the molds too quickly and they're shrinking, so that means you have to modify them to get them to work. Also, I heard that after L&P sent the mold to China for production the Chinese started back-dooring consoles to some other vendor, and then later L&P was credited the $1 million they paid for the mold to be built. So basically the Chinese bought the console mold without permission and are cranking them out with no American quality control, in essence they've completely removed L&P from the process. L&P apparently notified the State Dept. of the issue but the Chinese have possession of the mold and are making them without permission. I don't think there's anything L&P or the State Dept. can do about it either.

All this info is hearsay of course but the person who told me is in the know when it comes to all this reproduction stuff so I'm betting it's pretty much right on. Hopefully it's just a rumor but we all know how the Chinese operate. I guess we'll see what happens.

[Mike DC]

I believe every word of it.  I've heard a bunch of complaints about Chinese production that sound just like that. 

For example one time a steering wheel guy was telling me that he sent a mold over to China for production.  They messed up his mold, and then he found himself competing with underpriced wheels made from his own mold after hours.

There's basically no recourse.  They're the Chinese.  They don't have to obey American laws.  What are we gonna do, INVADE?  The gov't will laugh at you.

.

[Charger_Fan]

That's what L&P gets for farming out jobs like that to the Chinese...idiots.
If they're worried about making money on their product, I'm sure that most of us in the hobby would gladly pay more money for a quality made part...made by someone who CARES about how their product turns out, here in America.

Why would they go to all the bother to carefully make the molds as correctly as possible, then give them to the Chinese to pour the plastic & risk having the finished product end up half-assed?
Serves 'em right.

[69charger2002]

charger fan that is the coolest avatar or short video whatever you call it.. that i've evr seen. PERIOD!
are you good at that stuff? i could pay you to do a little design up for me??
pm me

[ChargerHound69]

That is why you try to buy American. 

[BrianShaughnessy]

Sh8t I thought they were american made when I bought mine.

How many did they expect to make that they were gonna need to send the mold overseas to cut costs?  It's not like they're gonna make millions of them...  a few thousand maybe over a few years.

Anyway that's what I expect from the chinese.   I hope all the execs that choose to outsouce our jobs over there get ph8cked in the end. 

[Charger_Fan]

Anyway that's what I expect from the chinese.   I hope all the execs that choose to outsouce our jobs over there get ph8cked in the end. 

charger fan that is the coolest avatar or short video whatever you call it.. that i've evr seen. PERIOD!
are you good at that stuff? i could pay you to do a little design up for me??
pm me

Thanks, I like it too!

PM sent.

[Charger4404spd]

Well American companies and businessmen need to quit having shit made in China. Just my 

[Lowprofile]

That's what happens when you deal with the devil.  They'll never beat us with their military. They will beat us at our own game....Capitolism. We will pay a heavy price for what we have let them get away with.  MacArthur was right about them.  Once again, our Greed has / is destroying this country.........ever so slowly. We have only ourselves to blame.

[BigBlackDodge]

China: 'Ahhhhhhhhhh yes Mr LP. You send mold today, right? We make conso for cheap for you.....hahahaha.........make you lot of money Mr LP. American worker to lazy and want much money...........no no no...........we make cheap! Hahahaha.............you send today right? Make sure to spend all your money at Wal-Mart.............hahahaha..........we like Wal-Mart'


Serves'em right. Must EVERYTHING be made there?


BBD

[Lowprofile]

on the other hand, I love their pork flied lice.....ah, I mean fried rice.   

[Mike DC]

I'm not saying this to excuse them, but China IS perfectly capable of making a good product if the repro industry demanded it. 

See if GM or DCX would let them return screwed-up castings and make competing pirate runs after hours.  If China knew we'd make the part here rather than accept total crap then this issue wouldn't exist.

.

[Highbanked Hauler]

Well American companies and businessmen need to quit having shit made in China. Just my 

Thats ONE of the reasons our economy is slipping down the chute

[AKcharger]

Well wait...something just doesn't sound right here. This isn't like Ipods or DVD players that EVERYONE wants. I think we're talking Mopar consoles 66-70 right? how many of them could someone really expect to sell...1000, maybe 3000 and that would be tops. If they got a million for the mold they made out like bandits!!

If the consoles sold for say $250, they would need to sell 4000 of them before the Chicoms even broke even and they'd need to sell even more if they were being "backdoored" to a discount vendor.

I don't doubt your story bull, just think some details must have been lost in translation...but for the record I hate Walmart for their Chicom connection

[bull]

Well wait...something just doesn't sound right here. This isn't like Ipods or DVD players that EVERYONE wants. I think we're talking Mopar consoles 66-70 right? how many of them could someone really expect to sell...1000, maybe 3000 and that would be tops. If they got a million for the mold they made out like bandits!!

If the consoles sold for say $250, they would need to sell 4000 of them before the Chicoms even broke even and they'd need to sell even more if they were being "backdoored" to a discount vendor.

I don't doubt your story bull, just think some details must have been lost in translation...but for the record I hate Walmart for their Chicom connection

You may be right. As I said I'm hoping it's just a rumor. I emailed them at L&P hoping to get an answer.

[Charger1970]

That's what L&P gets for farming out jobs like that to the Chinese...idiots

I totally agree. I would GLADLY pay more for an American or Canadian part. Just ask my Snap-on man.

[Big Lebowski]

Communist China still sucks, but Chinese food is still pretty good. 

[Spike]

Well TRW is pulling their work from China and bringing back to the USA. Quality issues are a big reason for this.
Just recently I believe it was Snapper mowers told Wal Mart to stick it because Wally waanted a price reduction and Snapper to build thier products in China. Snapper told Wally they would not sell any more of thier products and they are staying in the US.
F*ck Wal Mart! the biggest importer of Chinese made products.

[Ghoste]

Let us know what kind of answer they give you Bull.  I hope it's not true and I agree with AK that it doesn't seem to add up but when it comes to dealing with China, the deal you make today has nothing to do with the business you conduct when the sun comes up tomorrow.  New day- new deal.  It's just their way.
Keep out of Wal-Mart.

[bull]

Let us know what kind of answer they give you Bull.  I hope it's not true and I agree with AK that it doesn't seem to add up but when it comes to dealing with China, the deal you make today has nothing to do with the business you conduct when the sun comes up tomorrow.  New day- new deal.  It's just their way.
Keep out of Wal-Mart.

I never heard back from them. Don't know what that means but usually when an email is ignored it means someone is too busy to reply or is avoiding the topic.

[Brock Samson]

check this story out..   

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/04/BAGTMH2TEF1.DTL


where's the proof he asks?.. here's the proof..   

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/09/BAGQHH57SI1.DTL&hw=marin+jury&sn=006&sc=712

they musta been bought off... 

[BrianShaughnessy]

check this story out..   

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/04/BAGTMH2TEF1.DTL


where's the proof he asks?.. here's the proof..   

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/09/BAGQHH57SI1.DTL&hw=marin+jury&sn=006&sc=712

they musta been bought off... 

The QC from china is piss poor...  that's fairly well known... just ask me about my CAT stainless rockers... nevermind... DON'T ASK.  I'm sick of repeating the story.   

Even then,  the bicycle story has little to do with industrial / intellectual theft that the chinese practice which is this case with L&P.  And I actually see no reason why L&P would want to comment on the story.    As it is this is an unsubstantiated rumor from an unknown source.

[Shakey]

The consumers (you and I) demand lower prices.  This forces the manufacturers to find ways to build their products more effeciently.  Hence, the strong Chinese boom.  This goes for consoles, pillows and anything else you can think of.  We are to blame.

As mentioned, QC in China is not so good.  They do take instrcutions well however after they begin production, they also look for ways to improve their bottom line and make changes themselves that may seem minor to them but have a severe impact on the end product.

I have experienced this first hand with some of the components used in the products I sell.

This Chinese boom will last for a while longer and then bust, just like e-business in the late '90's.

Keep your eyes on Poland, Turkey and South America for the next wave of cheap labour.

[Shakey]

Communist China still sucks, but Chinese food is still pretty good. 

Silver, is that you?   

[bull]

I think it's a bit of a misnomer that we always demand rock bottom prices. I would pay more than $200 for a new console if it were as perfect as they say and I could avoid the hassles of modifying a new part to get it to work. I think a lot of other people would too. There are occasions where most people will pay more for quality. Butt wipe and Ketchup is a different story but Charger parts, especially interior parts that are front and center, should be quality.