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The PROBLEM with Capitalism - Smarter Every Day 316 (www.youtube.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/enshittification@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/41318971

Destin Sandlin examines the systemic engineering and economic hurdles involved in manufacturing a grill scrubber entirely in America. Through a deep dive into sourcing components like injection-molded knobs and specialized chain mail, the project highlights the complexities of maintaining domestic supply chains and preserving vital technical trade skills in a competitive global market.

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[–] 18 points 3 months ago (15 children)

I haven't watched this video yet but I heard him talking about this project on a podcast recently and it was really interesting. It's basically impossible to manufacture something simple (and increasingly often, complex things too) in the US at a competitive price. Yes, he made a "better" grill scrubber completely in the USA, but it costs $60. Yes, it's totally BIFL but the market for people willing to pay that is probably not sustainable for anyone without the "free" marketing of a popular YouTube channel.

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  • [–] 29 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (11 children)

    His last few years of videos has been a deep dive on manufacturing learning everything he can. Basically he's independently come to the conclusion that chasing profit and maximizing it at the expense of product quality and treating people right is the problem we face and no amount of engineering knowhow is going to fix that the system does not prioritize people or quality.

    Him having a YouTube audience already definitely helps a lot but hes also not exactly explicitly advertising it, and even talks about how he doesn't want his science communication channel to become a scrubber advertising channel.

    Edit forgor some words

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    Absolutely. The interesting thing to me was the lack of institutional knowledge remaining in the US. For example, finding a machinist based in the US was one of his biggest challenges as most of them have retired. I think he was only able to locate one still in operation that could make the parts he needed.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    And that person just retired and he ended up buying all his equipment so he didn't have to look for a new supplier.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

    uh...because parts like that are not made by machinists any more, they are made by techs running automated CNC machines. Faster, cheaper, better.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Not always better. In his video about stamping, his host illustrates the difference between a one piece stamping die from China compared to the ones made in house. Basically when the single piece one starts to wear out, you have to replace the whole thing. However; with the ones designed and manufactured in house, all of the wear surfaces are replaceable.

    So the CNC option may be faster and cheaper up front, but in the long run investing in the tooling to last long-term is more cost effective.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I have been saying this for awhile. Often times the us is mentioned as being very efficient. Its a dollar cost efficiency though. Basically a race to the bottom. What germany and japan was known for at one time was efficiently making a high quality product. Its the highest quality that we are missing.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 3 months ago

    The missing piece is that countries like Germany have VERY strong union presence which has a hand in managing the companies. This prevents the race to the bottom since they are specifically accounting for the societal impact, worker impact, and long-term reputation of the product and company (i.e. emphasis on quality).

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  • [–] -3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    talks about how he doesn’t want his science communication channel to become a scrubber advertising channel.

    Then why does his website sell them. Don't fucking trust Christians, they can lie their whole lives and get a Mulligan from God in the end.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    Because his website is not his YouTube channel...? I get being angry at Christians, but be angry at them for things they're actually doing instead of pulling the Conservative move and get angry at some nonsense you made up to justify your dislike of them.

    I'll gladly say fuck the Catholic church and the man who baptized me for protecting the pedo who was supposed to be the principal of my high school. And fuck the Bishop of my diocese for covering up the child rape crimes for decades. I wont be pissed because you think Destin lied about not turning his youtube channel into an advertising channel.

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  • [–] -2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Yes, he made a “better” grill scrubber completely in the USA, but it costs $60

    He copied a scrubber made by Cuisineart for $29-39.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    Was the Cuisinart one around when the first video went up a year ago, or did a major company see a potentially good idea and leverage their resources to mass produce a cheaper version?

    If you watch the original video from last year, they did a lot of design work from first principles, so I doubt they copied from the big company.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    They copied him, which reiterates a fundamental problem with our capitalist model - it's too easy to copy a good design and make a cheaper copy

    He spent a lot of engineering hours on R&D. Cuisinart skipped that by stealing his design. They also save a lot of money by having it made in China

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