this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
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Itโs too bad the guy that created the show is a total fucking bigoted asshole
That certainly explains that one episode.
Iโm assuming he did some horrible shit to a trans character in that episode
Mostly just crass jokes at the expense of trans people.
On the other hand, it was Douglas Reynholm's only successful relationship ever, she was the only woman he ever really loved or respected, and he only ruined it all by unearthing his stupid baseless prejudice. We can conclude that if you just drop your prejudice you might actually be happy at last.
came here to post this comment
Don't know what exactly the survey asked, but "quality" wasn't the only consideration.
"Quality, security standards, value for money, uniqueness, design, advanced technology, authenticity, sustainability, fair production, status symbol" https://www.statista.com/page/Made-In-Country-Index
Was wondering why the USA was so high.
"2017"
Honestly, kind of surprised the US is even on that list. For most things better quality is usually found elsewhere.
As someone living in the US, I almost always think products "Made in the USA" are pretty high quality. Trouble is almost nothing is made in the USA because almost everything is imported, largely from China or SE Asia.
It's a common perception for sure, although I have to admit when I do find things that are actually "made in USA" I also find I am often disappointed by their quality. Tools for example, Made in USA often seems to reflect a lot of shitty cut corners and weak crappy materials. There's some good stuff too of course but it's certainly not a guarantee and I wouldn't even say it's the majority.
Made in Japan or Made In Germany is usually a good bet but you'll pay a steep premium, meanwhile there are honestly some exceptionally well made and affordable tools coming out of China, you just have to know what specifically you're buying because of course there is also a lot of absolute crap.
Craftsman was the absolute best until Sears went out of business and they sold the name.
Being able to just walk into any Sears with a broken tool and walk out with a working one was amazing.
My local Sears even had a display of the oldest tools that were traded in.
The American companies obsessed with cutting costs generally don't manufacture in the US any more. Potential exception for the automobile industry, but these cars aren't really exported much to the rest of the world any more.
Also worth noting that this is based on data from 2017. I would be happy to buy a pair of jeans made in America back then. Now, not so much.
Despite the crap labour and business practices, the US is an high wage economy. For non perishable goods, companies either manage to compete on quality or they sink because they can't compete on price.
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- This chart is 8 years old.
Yeah, anyone who dealt with German products outside of a few selected brands knows that quality had been nosediving for the past decade.
Edit: also just checked. The statistic is provided by "Statista" who basically just scam people by aggregating statistics they take from other sources and then don't disclose their sources unless you pay extra. Furthermore the statistic wasn't repeated ever since, which makes it even more dubious as it should be trivial for a data aggregator to update such an index, unless the method and data are of low quality.
Edit: also just checked. The statistic is provided by โStatistaโ who basically just scam people by aggregating statistics they take from other sources and then donโt disclose their sources unless you pay extra.
They block access for anyone visiting from a GDPR area. Which should really tell you all you need to know about how they treat data.
Wtf how Scandinavia and Japan are not on top?
Funny thing about Germany, after all these years, quality differs a lot between west and former ussr ghetto. Knowing this saves lots of cash.
Unless the east German product was made in the GDR, then it will probably outlive you. I have a table made in 60s east Germany and it's still in impeccable shape and will probably last longer than me
Damn these translated abbriviations are tough. For me they were BRD and DDR
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Might be due to cars. Japan used to make affordable cars and that kinda painted expectations on some markets. Also correlates to Germany being high up, everyone knows German cars are good.
At similar price Japanese cars were better for decades though. But Germany had Luxury cars that if you paid the extra price, Germany had the better car. AFAIK Germany never had a decidedly bad brand.
UK Had Vauxhall, Italy had Alfa Romeo, and France had Simca. Those cars had about half the average life span of a VW, but Volvo used to top that rank even over luxury brands like Mercedes. In the 80's the average lifespan in Denmark of a Volvo was 22 years, compared to an average of 13!
PS:
! is for exclamation mark, not factorial.
Those cars had about half the average life span of a VW
Air cooled or water cooled?
That doesn't really matter, it was from the 60's to the 90's, and air cooling was out by the 80's even for VW.
French cars still have the highest rate of flaws within first year of ownership. British brands have improved, but they've also all been bought up, mostly by Germany. But Vauxhall simply went under due to the poor quality, they were often rusty already when you drove it from the dealership! Vauxhall was bought by Opel (GM), and since that Vauxhall were merely rebranded Opel cars. Which were of way way higher quality. Today the brand is owned by Stelantis after CSA bough Opel from GM. So quality has probably dropped, because Stellantis is currently run like a clown show.
AFAIK neither Alfa Romeo, Simca or Vauxhall used air cooling. And compared to VW, it doesn't matter if you compare to water cooled or not. And I could also have compared to Volvo, in which case the 3 bad brands would look even worse.
That doesnโt really matter, it was from the 60โs to the 90โs, and air cooling was out by the 80โs even for VW.
And there was a steep decline in vehicle longevity thereafter.
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GERMAN ENGINEERING IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD
Engineering for repair is part of engineering that Germany has evidently forgotten.
Until you (maybe not exactly you), a common folk without engineering school, try to repair it. Sheeeshh
There's engineering and overengineering
good luck finding anything made in germany in germany though xD
From the stuff I've looked at, it's often nonsensical. Doing stuff in unconventional ways for little apparent reason. Like, in BMWs example, you have to use a lift or jack up the car level to just check the transmission fluid; or the mostly-plastic cooling system which fails and results in the engine being ruined often. I've seen other weird engineering choices in electronics too (have done contract work for a German company).
In my 335i the front differential goes THROUGH the oil pan
Replacing the oil pan gasket required me to drop the entire subframe of the car
And ya the water pump routinely goes every like 80000km. Designed to fail.
Funny that the EU is scores higher than 26 of its member states.
Maybe because it's more about brand recognition than actual quality by country.
I do however agree EU in general is pretty good, and I think that is because we have good regulation, that protects consumers.
So you won't get some of the really bad stuff in EU you might find in USA, but USA also has good quality, it's just mixed in with lots of mediocre shit sold on false advertising.
Yeah, it could be made in Germany or in Bulgaria (no offense).
UK, Italy and France above Finland and Norway ๐
In my experience Scandinavian production quality is higher quality than Germany on average, and Japan is on par.
Anyways, why this is encouraging IDK. Germany being #1 is hardly a surprise, they are probably the most known country for it.
USA is a mixed bag IMO, They generally make good tools, for instance DeWalt is American. But their cars are not so good, but Italy and France are worse. French cars have just about the worst reputation here.
I don't think Italy is up there for the engineering side of things
I go Italian with a lot of kitchen appliances. My Italian stainless steel frying pan is amazing. Pasta machine obviously. They also make some great shoes and leather products.
I would never trust them with anything of equal or greater complexity to a bicycle.
Ask someone who's into race biking what they think of Italian bikes.
To be clear I'm a mountain biker, and Italians have been out of that game for a long time. But it's my understanding that e.g. Bianchi and Campagnolo are very well respected.
Yeah, this is fair. It could be that bikes are the upper limit to complexity. :)
Some friends of mine have experiences with very bad Italian bikes, but I think it's a matter of getting what you pay for. My own bad experiences has mostly been with French bikes...
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Tbh coffee machines are up there as well. I think the weak side is when they need to implement software into things
How could i forget my Moka! I mostly drink filter coffee though, where I sadly go American with a Chemex. :(
Most days you could say the same (though to a slightly lesser degree) about the Japanese.
Depending on the situation, I could consider that a feature. Considering we're all gathered to hate on American and chinese cloud-dependent crapware, there's something to be said for a decent product that's lagging behind on the high-tech side.
I'm curious where the Netherlands stand. To me, a product made here is preferred for a lot of things. I'll trust the Germans to make cars and stuff but other than that...
I don't really trust in the "made in (country of ur choosing)" label. Lots of stuff in that product is still made in china ๐ For example with quick googling i found out there are no legal requirements for a product to be allowed to have Made in Germany label and even the guideline is only 45% of the products value added there or the product being assembled there.
It just feels like a big scam to me personally.
Final assembly is also where the final quality control is. Generally it works fine, but I've heard that cheating is very common in USA, they put some part on a product made in China, but the part is made in USA, and then they print MADE IN USA on that.
Most other places in the world, you can reasonably trust the label.
There was an investigative video I watched recently (I wish I remember the source, sorry), and they said that designer products which are "Made in Italy" quite literally only needs something like sewing on a zipper, to make it so, despite the rest of the product being made in China.
I recently ran into coffee that was a "Product of Canada", and I know damn well that coffee beans aren't grown here! At the very most, they could label it as "roasted in Canada" or "Packed in Canada", but "Product of Canada" is a flat out lie (and likely illegal in this context).
I suspect a lot of "Made in" products are the same, but there are companies who are very transparent and will explain how their products are made, so I try to seek them out.
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I can't even remember the last time I saw anything that said "Made in Germany", apart from beer. I guess I'm not in the market for tanks or BMWs, but still
Home appliances, pharmaceuticals and quite a few things related to engineering really, be that cars parts or something else entirely line tools or screws.
But the most stuff is B2B so you don't get into contact much
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As a Canadian I used to think oh good at least that's somewhat local when I saw the "made in USA" label. Now I'm like flip this upside down and replace on shelf so the next person doesn't waste their time
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