Lil Trucker™ Update: The Survey Results Are in - Made in America Rules!

Dear Lil Trucker supporters:

The results are in: 79% of the respondents to our follow-on survey indicated that Made in the USA was at least somewhat significant in their decision to purchase the Lil Trucker; with ‘quality of American products’ and ‘support for American jobs’ as the primary motivations. 81% said that they were willing to pay more to buy a product made in the USA. Here’s a link to the full data set (including individual comments).

Thank you to the 603 supporters who took the time to complete the survey.

So we’re doubling down on our commitment to manufacturing here in the USA. To the extent that we can produce our premium quality products at large scale, utilizing best practices and maximizing automation, we hope to drive down the costs to near par (with overseas production) while enjoying the domestic advantage of just-in-time manufacturing and the ability to offer ‘mass customization’. At the same time, we’ll leverage our USA bonafides as a critical differentiator to attract and hold customers as well as to command a premium price for our products (to help recoup at least some of the extra costs). As a rule of thumb, the retail price of a successful consumer product (including hand tools) should be 5x the COGS (cost of goods) in order to support extended retail sales and distribution expenses. We are currently at 3x COGS with the Lil Trucker and the difference is the higher costs of USA manufacturing.

We also conducted a Google survey, asking the question "Other than price/quality, what factor is most important to you when purchasing a product?" Here are the interesting results. ‘Made in USA’, came out on top (with 52.1%), followed by ‘Locally Made’ (17.6%) with ‘Eco Friendly’ close behind (at 15.3%). While ‘Union Made’ (6.2%), ‘Veteran owned’ (2.5%) and ‘Woman or Minority Owned’ (at 2.4%) rounded out the factors most important to the respondents.