This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 11:43 and is filed under Accessories, Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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Friday, January 12, 2007
When I grew up as a kid — not dating myself here — Tonka trucks where made of metal and bathed in a healthy coat of lead based paints. Yellow paint. Today, you find cheap plastic, flimsy parts, and horrible sticker placement. But it doesn’t even stop there, apparently. Nope.
Not even a month after the opening of my sons Tonka fire truck from his Uncle and Tia, the batteries died with moderate play time. When I flipped over the truck to surgically remove its belly to gain access to the battery compartment, I was stunned to see AA batteries within its haul instead of the C cells specified by the cover! Using some cheesy plastic holders to keep the AA’s centered on the terminals, Hasbro deemed it necessary to save a few cents (maybe a buck,) with the lesser capacity battery than going with it’s recommendations. Incredible.
You know, I don’t mind purchasing products made in China to save a dime or two, but doing something like this doesn’t save me money in the end. It saves Hasbro. That’s weak. Bring back my Tonka, Hasbro!
January 12th, 2007 at 22:01
I loved my Tonka trucks too, but they were Jon-powered. I never had one that used batteries.
They went out of their way to have those plastic AA-C adapters made. Gotta give them points for going the extra mile to cut corners, as contradictory as that sounds.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:03
Tonka toy trucks were excellent quality and durable when they were made in the USA. Hasbro moved manufacturing to China for the same reason(s) almost every other US manufacturer moved: To make more profits by going cheap on labor, cheap on materials, cheap on customer satisfaction. Ross P. was correct–that giant sucking noise you heard was the sound of US jobs leaving the USA.