OH S%#&!! Y MI DECQ NGO POPP....??
Great article on front page of Wall Street Journal on 11/13/06 titled "Clothes Made Abroad Create factory Jobs in L.A. for Mr. Fix-It", in which one Barry Forman discusses his big business in fixing mistakes made by Chinese apparel manufacturers. Turns out a lot of that cheap s*** they make in China is just that - CHEAP. The article pertains to the clothing industry but these quotes bring up some universal issues with Chinese products (which are prevalent in the skate industry today in case you've been in a coma) - for example:
"........And by the time defective goods reach U.S. shores, it isn't feasible to send them back for repairs."
or:
"When I was a manufacturer, I drove a mile to the factory where there was a problem....what the hell do you do when your goods are from 9,000 miles away?"
Then there is my personal favorite:
"In June, employees spent a day digging through 15,000 pairs of pants that had been sitting in a cargo hold partly filled with seawater for several weeks."
So the next time you get a piece of toxic waste that looked like a skateboard when it was on the wall of your local shop but is soggy/has no pop, or is drilled wrong, or delams/snaps in a day or two, I'll bet you a million Yuan I know where its from and why its bad (at least one of the following reasons):
1) Someone used a couple plys of sub-par soft wood cuz' "kid don't know difference."
2) A new brand of glue was on sale that week that "almost like regular brand", but cheaper.
3) The deck didn't get pressed long enough or was not allowed to cure long enough 'cuz the ship was sailing and the container full of junk skateboards had to be on it ASAP.
4) Sometime between when the wood arrived to the local woodshop in China and its 9,000 mile over-water journey to your local skate shop, it got too much exposure to:
a) Rain
b) Humidity
c) Mongolian termites
d) Seawater
So what is the solution you ask? Well you can take all that money you saved buying that piece of s*** deck and use it to buy another one, or:
A) Maybe someone at your local skateshop speaks Mandarin and can call the manufacturer and ask for a replacement deck (or better yet a refund).
B) Get an ADDIKT deck - 100% Canadian Maple - Made in U.S.A. - FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!
www.addiktskateboards.com
SKATER OWNED NOT CORPORATE CLONED
"........And by the time defective goods reach U.S. shores, it isn't feasible to send them back for repairs."
or:
"When I was a manufacturer, I drove a mile to the factory where there was a problem....what the hell do you do when your goods are from 9,000 miles away?"
Then there is my personal favorite:
"In June, employees spent a day digging through 15,000 pairs of pants that had been sitting in a cargo hold partly filled with seawater for several weeks."
So the next time you get a piece of toxic waste that looked like a skateboard when it was on the wall of your local shop but is soggy/has no pop, or is drilled wrong, or delams/snaps in a day or two, I'll bet you a million Yuan I know where its from and why its bad (at least one of the following reasons):
1) Someone used a couple plys of sub-par soft wood cuz' "kid don't know difference."
2) A new brand of glue was on sale that week that "almost like regular brand", but cheaper.
3) The deck didn't get pressed long enough or was not allowed to cure long enough 'cuz the ship was sailing and the container full of junk skateboards had to be on it ASAP.
4) Sometime between when the wood arrived to the local woodshop in China and its 9,000 mile over-water journey to your local skate shop, it got too much exposure to:
a) Rain
b) Humidity
c) Mongolian termites
d) Seawater
So what is the solution you ask? Well you can take all that money you saved buying that piece of s*** deck and use it to buy another one, or:
A) Maybe someone at your local skateshop speaks Mandarin and can call the manufacturer and ask for a replacement deck (or better yet a refund).
B) Get an ADDIKT deck - 100% Canadian Maple - Made in U.S.A. - FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!
www.addiktskateboards.com
SKATER OWNED NOT CORPORATE CLONED
posted by BiLlY rUnAwAy at 7:47 AM
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