181–190 of 464 posts
I do this for a living. Setting up a small operation and doing the physical actions of designing, manufacturing and selling the toasters is the easy, fun and obvious part. I figure what your looking for, advice wise, is what's not obvious. A few things you'll need: -Product liability insurance, this isn't isn't easy or inexpensive to get. You need to have a lot of the below in place to get it. - UL certification (or…
I do this for a living. Setting up a small operation and doing the physical actions of designing, manufacturing and selling the toasters is the easy, fun and obvious part. I figure what your looking for, advice wise, is what's not obvious. A few things you'll need: -Product liability insurance, this isn't isn't easy or inexpensive to get. You need to have a lot of the below in place to get it. - UL certification (or…
Sufficient capital is the big thing that turns everything else into a technical detail.
I mean UL certification is only a problem when the venture is under-capitalized.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a theory that anything that takes permanent, visible-realestate in the household has someone of a niche for people wanting tastefully designed things. In essence, things that do not appear "disposable" as so many kitchen appliances do. People pay extra for designer hot water pots. However purely aesthetic upgrade products will need serious work to maintain differentiation. Dyson is a more glaring example (fans…
There are already companies that make nice-looking, higher-end kitchen appliances though - Breville comes to mind, there are probably others. Speaking from personal experience, I have a toaster oven from them that’s lasted close to ten years with zero problems; I’d have a hard time being convinced to pay more for a “made in USA” one unless there was something truly exceptional about it.
Plus, you know, there are some nice Chinese stuff now and they have an economy of scale that the US simply can't match.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - One thing I find amusing is some reviewers are testing these $100,$200 toasters with regular supermarket chorleywood bread. I mean at least toast some actual bread, not foam. If you didn't make the biga, poolish, or starter, it's not really bread. It’s just processed wheat product.
A $200 toaster is already elitist, especially given that they don't seem to actually toast any better than the cheapest models. So why test with 'poor people's bread'? lol. Seriously though, I have a bread machine, maybe the cheapest model (lidl equivalent) which I love because of how easy it is to repair, and I make my own bread with little effort for maybe 1/2 the price of supermarket bread, and a world of differen…
Bread machines don't qualify, unless you're just using them to proof the dough.
I think you are greatly over-estimating how many people would be willing to pay the cost of a North American made toaster. This would require an absolute ton of capital to do it on anything above a craft scale. The challenges of design, testing, certification (very important for a device that could burn your house down), manufacturing, supply chain, and support that are all specialized careers in themselves. I've got…
I think many Americans want to buy Made-in-the-USA products. Some evidence of that are websites, Reddit groups, etc dedicated to helping people find those products. I think it’s generally understood by these consumers that the price will be higher. And I don’t think it needs to be premium either. There’s a market for knit hats made in the USA. I doubt the quality assurance or price could compete with a factory from A…
Don't forget, when you buy a toaster from China, you're basically making them bleed and sweat on it for nothing more than your currency they can only use to buy back stuff from you, if you'll allow it. It's a very good deal, so good US consumers should increase their chinese imports rather than decrease it. Or next thing they know, they'll be the ones sweating in sweatshops soldering around toasters for capital-rich Shanghaiese.
I do this for a living. Setting up a small operation and doing the physical actions of designing, manufacturing and selling the toasters is the easy, fun and obvious part. I figure what your looking for, advice wise, is what's not obvious. A few things you'll need: -Product liability insurance, this isn't isn't easy or inexpensive to get. You need to have a lot of the below in place to get it. - UL certification (or…
Everything is regulated these days and it usually costs a fortune and helps nobody except incumbents. Makes everything feel rigged and makes me not want to participate in the economy. I wish we could go back to a time when everyone takes their own risks and has to do their own research. Manufacturers could optionally pay some standards company to add some safety label to it to help boost customer confidence but it sh…
I do this for a living. Setting up a small operation and doing the physical actions of designing, manufacturing and selling the toasters is the easy, fun and obvious part. I figure what your looking for, advice wise, is what's not obvious. A few things you'll need: -Product liability insurance, this isn't isn't easy or inexpensive to get. You need to have a lot of the below in place to get it. - UL certification (or…
I'm sure I'm missing some things Sufficient capital is the big thing that turns everything else into a technical detail. I mean UL certification is only a problem when the venture is under-capitalized.
It's become somewhat of a litmus test for me. If potential clients are are surprised by the time, cost and effort if these things, it's usually a sign they're not a well thought out venture, and therefore not a great client.
First, you don’t need anyone’s permission here. If you want to build American made toasters, go do it!
Second, before you dive into this I’d recommend a little more due diligence. Around requirements sure (there was a good post in comments on different certs youd need). But more around validating demand: why doesn’t this exist already? As someone mentioned, are there enough consumers that would pay a premium for American made appliance? Or like the article you linked mentioned: no one is going to buy a $300 toaster. So how would you get the costs down?
I do this for a living. Setting up a small operation and doing the physical actions of designing, manufacturing and selling the toasters is the easy, fun and obvious part. I figure what your looking for, advice wise, is what's not obvious. A few things you'll need: -Product liability insurance, this isn't isn't easy or inexpensive to get. You need to have a lot of the below in place to get it. - UL certification (or…
Does the toaster on Amazon have these? If not they are extra.
You can't have quite that level of untouchability as a US manufacturer, so you have to do it right.