You need to get out more. Gas in the UK is about $10. In most of Asia it's
about $8. Not everything EMPI sells is made in China nor ar they all crap.
I am not a vendor nor do I have interest in their business. I just know
general statements are often not completely in accurate. Though I will agree
some stuff EMPI sells can be total crap, there are a great number of them
which are better than anything I have ever seen on this side of the world. I
buy from a local EMPI retailer where I get to see and inspect the item
before purchasing.

Cheers,

BenT

On 8/6/08, J Stewart <fonman4277@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> All this talk about Empi leads me to wonder if there is a problem with some
> stuff being counterfeit. I've seen it posted on other VW lists that Empi now
> means "cheap crap made in China". The last Empi product I purchased was a
> short throw shifter for an air cooled bus, and I bought it off Ebay. Three
> months later I threw it in the trash, it was such a piece of crap I would
> not have even tried to resell it. It was a far cry from the Gene Berg
> shifter I foolishly let go with another bus I sold. Last Saturday I was on
> Canal Street in Manhattan and I could have purchased a real slick looking
> "Ferrari" watch for $45.00. I'm sure it wouldn't have lasted as long as the
> shifter. The last set of bearings I got from China looked so poor that I
> decided not to use them. But I don't blame the Chinese for this-it's the
> American consumer who is at fault. 95% of folks shop on price alone and
> don't know/don't care about quality. I call it the "Wal Mart mentality". The
> stuff is cheap crap because th
> e supplier told the Chinese manufacturer "this is what I'll pay for it" and
> to make it at that price, well, it has to be a cheap piece of crap. Isn't it
> also ironic that we "gave" all our manufacturing away to foreign countries
> and now with their economies "booming", so we are told,  we now pay
> $4.00/gallon for gas?  Just my .02 cents.  Jeff
>

--
BenT