NeoAir XLite no longer Made in USA

[Michael]

Noticed this on a new purchase today … Ireland of all places.

[Franco Darioli]

Thermarest have had a distribution centre/factory in Midleton Ireland for over 30 years .
It employs about 120 people there.

BTW, why Ireland ?

My guess is because :

A major draw for US firms is Ireland’s low 12.5% corporation tax rate and numerous controversial tax breaks. The government has promised to phase out the latter.

[Michael]

Interesting …. if I recall the XLites distributed in the U.S. formerly said something along the lines of  “Assembled in the USA of internationally sourced components”

[Stephen M]

I used to live not far from the Irish factory, I dropped in a few tines to replace faulty pads and bladders.

[Brad Rogers]

Hey at least it isn’t China.

[Michael]

Hey at least it isn’t China.

Agreed!

[Eric Blumensaadt]

The AVERAGE corporate tax rate paid in the USA (after all loopholes and deductions) is only 12.6% as of CNN’s report today.

If The Donald still wants to lower our stated corporate tax rate from 36% he ALSO need to close all the loopholes.

 

Good for theIrish.They need the jobs as badly as we do. Just as long as it ain’t China!

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

I’ve seen Irish-produced Therm-A-Rest pads on and off for a while.

[Jon Almquist]

Did you confirm this with Therm-a-Rest, or just make the deduction based on the COO of your pad?  Seems like an odd statement to make without verifying from the company, especially considering Neo pads have been produced in both the U.S. (Seattle) and Midleton (Ireland) factory for years.  You may be right, but my bet is that they are using excess production capacity in their Midleton factory to help service the U.S. market demand.

[Alex Wallace]

What retailer did you buy from? I recently bought one from REI and it was “Made in USA.” I bought another a week later from Amazon ($20 cheaper) and guess what, “Made in Ireland.”

[Michael]

What retailer did you buy from? I recently bought one from REI and it was “Made in USA.” I bought another a week later from Amazon ($20 cheaper) and guess what, “Made in Ireland.”

Bought it at an REI in NC

[Max Neale]

I toured the Seatle factory a few years ago and asked the same question. Their US demand exceeds supply so they ship some pads over from the other factory. Then (2013), they only had perhaps three NeoAir machines and they were running 24 hours a day. I assume they have more now, but each machine was built by CD from the ground up, which is neither easy nor cheap.

[EndoftheTrail]

Ireland, China, Mexico, whatever — they are all people.

[Jeffs Eleven]

What do you  mean by “they”, Ben??

lol  what’s up man??

[Lizz Roe]

I live in the UK, almost all of the pads and other gear I’ve bought from thermarest were made in Ireland, until a pad I bought last year said made in the USA. I was very taken aback. Ooh not from the EU, weird.

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/blog/made-in-ireland

[Ito Jakuchu]

Good for theIrish.They need the jobs as badly as we do. Just as long as it ain’t China!

Because the Chinese can’t use the jobs. You could argue they need them more.
I know, I know, horrible quality, global ruthless capitalism, even more horrible labour conditions and wages.
Still, like the Irish and the Americans and all the other people on earth, they are humans too – and we all need jobs.

Made in Japan used to be what people now see as Made in China. Give it, or rather, give them a chance.

edit:

I’m not talking about big corporation vs cottage industry by the way. I like that with going cottage industry a lot of your money goes to the actual workers and there is often less outrageous discrepancies between the people higher and lower on the scale.

 

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