I honestly don’t care where chunks of plastic and metal are made as long as they’re made well.
I think YYF has PR problems. On their Askfm they can be very cocky and insult other companies. It’s not a good look. I also read a lot of the posts Ben made on here. Just, eh… Very brash.
I think their PR issues are the reason people jump on the hate wagon.
On the business end they seem a bit too corporate, I feel like their sponsored players are afraid of being themselves because it might hurt the image they’ve been hired to promote. That disappoints me.
Then again, remember when everyone got their panties in a bunch over John Ando smoking a cigarette in a promo video? I mean, c’mooon. That was flat out silly. Sponsored players should have more freedom.
So, TL;DR, YYF makes awesome yoyos. They don’t have the best track record on business politics, but damn are their yoyos good.
I just think that confidence and cockiness are often confused, lost in translation during the internet age. I prefer that a company and it’s representatives appear be confident in their products and the direction of the company. There are not many companies who offer that kind of platform on ask.fm to address customer questions directly, and in a way that is so candid. Personally, I don’t want things phony, for PR reasons or otherwise. I think the reason to create the platform is to give the facts or an honest opinion. The public can be very hypocritical. Some people will go to Yoyofactory ask.fm and ask opinions on other companies and their products. When they get an honest answer, they run off to stir up drama about how YoyoFactory issued a statement. YoyoFactory has posted many, many favorable comments about other companies, but it never gets a mention. I think the problem with some other companies is that they appear to be so phony in their approach to PR. I prefer the real deal. It is okay to like some things, and not like others, and to answer honestly when asked. I have seen owners of other companies on the board making “insults,” but they get a pass. I could quote some too, but no need to stir the pot
I’m with you though, I like YoyoFactory yo-yos too.
There’s a fine line between being un-PC and being anti-PC. I’m glad that YYF are passionate about their products and are transparent about most things but Ben’s passion can get the better of him sometimes and I guess that’s what gets people offside. Doesn’t phase me in the slightest. As long as YYF keep making good yoyos at decent prices, I’ll keep buying.
Honestly, yeah. I’m pretty fine with the idea that a business is in it to make money. I also think it’s alright to come out and say “We can’t make these here or there for the price we wanna charge.”
Sometimes smearing the competition is tacky, but it’s usually funny. I mean think about it. Sega does what Nintendon’t. That has stuck with me for decades.
I like my made in USA throws. I also like my made in China throws.
Chill out homies. The only problem I have with companies manufacturing in China is the treatment of some of the workers, which is pretty bad. I buy from companies like caribou lodge and spyy because I want to support local companies, and YYF does that too with american manufacturing.
In many industries (especially large ones) we don’t have a choice so it’s not really a fair comparison. But in yoyoing there is currently a choice but that will only remain an option as long as people continue to support USA made. If they don’t, then in the future there will no longer be a choice.
You can buy computers made in the US. People just don’t bother to try because it’s not a priority.
The reality is that people like to get preachy about where some of their goods are made, but don’t pay attention to the rest of them. It’s easy for so-and-so to sit back on their Korean keyboard and Chinese computer and talk about how they only buy US-made yoyos because you guys made it easy and obvious for them to do it. But when they go to the store they don’t bother to check where that fruit is from or where that fish was caught or where that lettuce was grown or or or. People complain that YoYoFactory makes yoyos in China without having the slightest idea how many they make in the US. Geographic prejudice + buyer ignorance = every one of these conversations, ever.
There are usually domestic options for pretty much every single thing you could ever want. You can buy sneakers and clothes and food and computers and house wares and everything else made in the US, if you actually try.
Most people just don’t try. But they do love to complain.
I can’t find a CPU made in the USA. Maybe I need to look harder.
But as usual you are missing the point. You are focused (loving) on pointing out others hypocrisy when the real point of this discussion involves the future of the yoyo industry. The hypocrisy not relevant to the decision of supporting or not supporting Chinese made high end yoyos.
Companies like mine cannot compete with the price of Chinese made yoyos so it is up to the players to decide what they want the industry to look like in 5 years and what they choose to buy will decide this. It is an important choice because the innovation comes from the small companies.
In large industries like computers this choice has already long jumped the shark.
From a business perspective, a company that wears the tag, “made in the U.S.A.,” has good news and bad news. The good news is that it can proudly wear that tag, “goods exclusively made in the U.S.A.” As a result, that company will draw in some die hard “pro U.S.A. made” consumers. The bad news, is that the company has locked itself into that image, and if it ever needs to diversify to compete, it might find itself unable to do so. Those die hard “pro U.S.A. made” consumers are a relatively small group, but they are rowdy. So, once drawn in, they would be pretty upset if the company switched from the “made in the U.S.A.” image. I always wondered why a company would want to wear that tag, at the expense of an ability to pursue other lucrative options overseas. When a business is small and local, “made exclusively in the U.S.A.” works. But, as a business grows, I think it is extremely limiting.
I would rather see a business change the image to compete, before it’s too late. I believe consumers are buying the best product, at the best value. That is the reality we live in. I believe it is fine to make some goods in the U.S.A., and others abroad.
Understood, but I think the discussion of where the products are made is less relevant than how, by whom, and to what standards.
Realistically, if One Drop moved half its production overseas to cut the price point in half, I don’t think you’d lose a noticeable piece of your customer base. There are always those who will make the effort to buy local, but the days of that being a defining aspect of a consumer good seem to be long gone.
Wal-mart didn’t become the largest company in the world by selling locally sourced goods. I relish pointing out the hypocrisy because people who jump up and down and shriek about how you make your products in the USA have tons of imported goods in their homes. To me, it’s misplaced loyalty…they should be jumping up and down and shrieking about the fact that they love your products and your brand and your quality, and “it’s also cool that it’s a domestic product”.
A company like Duncan makes pretty much everything overseas, but they are still dumping more money into the industry and domestic economy through their efforts than One Drop is, purely as a matter of scale and volume.
I think that supporting domestic manufacturing is awesome, but I think supporting good brands and good companies is a far more doable and rewarding pursuit. If they happen to be domestic, all the better.
You are conflating the high-end and the low-end markets. I’m talking specifically about the high-end.
I think in your thought experiment that if we outsourced some of our production to China that our quality would suffer. But that will never happen. The basis of One Drop is in house manufacturing -it’s what we are good at and thankfully enough players appreciate it to keep it going. Also enough other companies (including Duncan) appreciate our work enough to source us. I think the difference in quality is undeniable and currently the market agrees because we are still here. Hopefully there continues to be room for both in our small industry.
