doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Done With Cabels.....

I bought several pairs of Rocky boots about 12 yrs. ago. They have a lifetime guarantee on the soles and the Vibram soles are now cracked clear across the bottom on one of the pairs. I wonder if this company, that is no longer an American manufacture, will honor their warranty?

I still didn't see any boot I'm interested in. I'm not looking for a leather boot. I hunt in bowhunting boots made of cordura and gortex most of the time. They are light, waterproof and provide good support and flexibility I haven't found in a heavy soled leather boot. Possibly the kangaroo or ostrich boot would be close in the Russell line, but not sure about waterproofing. I think the kangaroo would be difficult for me to obtain in CA as I believe it's a banned product. The boots I've been buying last 4-5 yrs and that's about when I feel they need to go away for reasons other than wear.

Again, I'd buy a American made boots of same construction if I could. Unfortunately, I haven't found any. While I'm no penny pincher, I do think 5-7 times the price for these boots vs what I'm buying rocks me back a bit. If I thought I was getting better performance, I'd buy them. I'm still not convinced that's the case. I often come home and hose off my boots and scrub them with a brush. I'm sure leathers are not the way I want to go.

Chuck: I highly recommend Russell Moccasin boots. They last much longer and oh so comfortable. If you haven't tried a pair I highly recommend them with Aspen gumlite sole. The soles wear out fast but extremely light wt and Russell will rejuvenate them for modest fee. You should give yourself a treat. I bet you will never go back to cheap boots!! Regards, Buzz

Not any more.

Dave, The soles on my Rocky boots, about the same age as yours, cracked and deteriorated. I called Rocky and they said they would not make any adjustments...take them to a shoemaker. Same thing happened to a pair of Timberland boots and they sent me a new pair.

Where you folks choose to spend your money is none of my business and I don�t really care about Cabela�s one way or another. However, the fact is no retail store could be stocked primarily with American made goods.

28 Bore and others: What you want from Cabela�s (or Wal-Mart) is simply impossible for them to deliver �even if they wanted to. The boot discussion makes this fact clear. Having an in house label hardly makes them manufacturers. All they do is slap their logo on stuff made by someone else. In many instances there is no domestic source. They are just retailers. What really could they do to please you?

RyanF, Your point is a good one. Even a retailer to who has a deal with a foreign manufacturer to sell a boot that costs the real manufacturer $5 to make and another $5 to be sent here on a big boat in a big metal box is only trying to compete in todays retail environment and keep the stock holders happy. The problem with this is two fold. First is the competitve advantage the manufacturer has with his low wage labor, the second is that the retailer sells the foreign boot at a price that is only enough below the price of an American made boot, with a 40% markup, to get people to choose the foreign made one. The quality maybe the same, a bit less or a bit more less, but the price is always less than the American made boot. When someone argues that this is fine they are saying people who make American boots should be paid much less than they are currently so retailers can make a bigger profit on American made boots. This is where you get the "unions ruined American manufactering" line. Or like someone once said to me " those lazy illiterate autoworkers getting paid to much money ruined the American auto industry", but as pointed out, foreign countries make cars here, so maybe something else helped ruin American auto manufacturering? Perhaps over paid executives who thought if assembly line workers would work a little harder the cars would get better gasoline mileage? I just don't understand the hatred for people, in this country, who make things with their own sweat. I have yet to see a CEO of a corporation announce he was quiting his job because he isn't getting paid enough more than the people on the assembly line. I hear about "class envy" but what about "beating up on the little guy"?

I know you were not arguing against American workers, I just wanted to address your arguement concerning retailers. Everybody knows this stuff anyway, if they really think about it. I don't know if Cabela's employees are paid well or if they have health care? I hope so.

Sorry, but we have the same situation here on our side of the boarder. Want to buy a good boot for $99.00, don�t expect it to be made in North America. Expect to buy a bottle of ketchup at Wal-mart for $1.39, don't expect the U.S plant to be open for much longer.

Sorry if I offend anybody or got off topic, but 'Pay less - Live Better' smile, smile ,smile. Will only lead to pay less, and watch your neighbor lose his job.

I paid $239 three years ago, or so, U.S, for an American made boot, on a lovely trip to Hamburg Pen, and was glad to do so, and still have them now.

My local Bass Pro has them now for $99. Doubt they�re made in the U.S anymore at that price (?) I really try to pay a fair price, though it may be higher, to provide a future for my kids and others. It hurts a bit, but the alternative - cheap, cheap cheap, will hurt more, eventually.

Sorry for the rant.
Don.

Thank you, ben-T. I agree with all you said. I never could figure out either why it is a crime for the people who actual make the product to have a fair wage, while those that take Thurs. afternoons to the country club seem to write their own check. This white/blue collar thing is a marriage out of necessity. The people who can sell, design and engineer, know what needs to be done to get their product to market, but really don't have the desire to work in a dirty, hot shop with overtime required to make a good wage. Like wise, many of those in the shop would much rather just hit the time clock and be happy to manufacture what those in the office don't want to do. Neither can be effective without the other. They need each other. It sure appears to me, that the owners overseas are happy to make am income at a certain percentage over construction cost. If they look to the U.S. market the foreign makers can sell their products at an actual inflated price because of those in high U.S. manufacture management have tacked on higher price to their product to insure a higher income for themselves. Remember, I said High manufacture management. In the '70's to early '80's, when I worked in a union machine shop, I remember very well the average white collar was always quietly cheering for those in the shop. If we got a raise, so did they. On the over time idea. Now you know what is wrong America. I remember working 55+ hours a week, day in and day out. Right before one of the layoffs, we went to 40hrs. I thought I was on vacation! Children and marriages suffer when one of the spouses is home only long enough to mow the lawn. I just remembered, what ever happened to COLA?

As the famous and famously successful investor Warren Buffett said: "There is a class war in America. My class (the wealthy) is winning."

FWIW, the not-wealthy class is not even fighting.

I've told this story any number of times elsewhere, but I'll repeat it here. A few years ago, I was browsing for a dining room set in a store near Philly that sold antiques and reproductions. I saw a set of black walnut, ball and claw feet, the whole deal. But, there was something about the carving on the feet that was just off. A bit clunky. If you've seen enough carved wood (I had a client who was a high-end cabinetmaker, so I have seen a lot.), you can just tell when the carving is not right. So, I got the salesman to talking. Asked him "this is a reproduction, right?" "Yes. It is." "Uh-huh. Where'd they get the wood?" "Oh, it's local."
So, I led him into talking more about the piece, and he revealed that while the wood was, indeed, local Pennsylvania walnut, the craftspeople who made it were not. In fact, the wood had been harvested and dried locally, then shipped in a container to the craftspeople who were Vietnamese, living and working in Vietnam. They then proceeded to cut and carve and build the furniture and shipped it back to the USofA for sale at a price better-than-competitive to locally produced. The carvings were clunky in part because the carvers had never seen a real ball and claw foot.
I passed on the set for a lot of reasons, not the least of which that I didn't want to support a system so f'd up it deemed reasonable shipping wood half-way around the world to be made into furniture to be shipped back and sold within 30 miles of where the trees from which it was made grew.

FWIW, when I buy boots, I buy GI surplus. Made in America. Properly broken in, they're the most comfortable I've found. YMMV.