I had some 5/16" paper tape manufactured for use in antique Teletype machines. I tried several US paper tape manufacturers. One quoted me $10 a roll, but made a good roll. One sent me a roll with rough edges that jammed in the machine. Most were uninterested, even for a large order. The US companies were really hard to communicate with, too. Getting emails answered was tough. Phone calls usually went to voicemail. I finally had 1000 rolls made in Fujian, China for $1/roll. They worked fine. Much better customer communication, too.
Some of the decline in US manufacturing comes from this sort of thing.
Any thoughts on why?
The "free" shipping time can take 3-12 weeks to Canada. So I always buy extra and re-sell them on Ebay to recover my costs.
I have 4 micro-businesses for beer money of spare parts people are willing to spend an extra $5-10 to get in ~1 week.
Are you sure it's not the other way around? That the decline in US manufacturing leads to this sort of thing?
Last year a few of my classmates did an "Aggie Challenge" where they designed something for a private party in exchange for some mentorship and a resume bullet.
We usually do small projects for professors/companies that need help with something simple (like a CAD model/Design).
And 2 years later, all the stock on Ebay is still from North America/Europe. I'm a bit surprised.
