# Where is all the German stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028 "2018-06-13T15:57:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/41 "2018-06-17T09:41:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Since we’re talking about the US, can’t ever forget about them guns - Heckler & Koch is German and supply guns used by a great many US police precincts, federal agencies, even the US Army. > > I thought Glocks were also German, it turns out they’re really Austrian. But come on, like anybody believes that’s a real country and not just Germany Lite. Anybody ever hear of an \*Unschlüss \*? I rest my case. What guns does Germany supply to US police? SIG Sauer used to be German but the pistol manufacturing (which is what many cops use) is now based entirely in the United States. H&K does sell weapons to the US military but I can’t think of anything they sell to a great many police departments. Looking on Wikipedia you get like a single city’s police force using the USP or the G36 but nothing widespread. The MP5 is of course very ubiquitous but that’s been slowly phased out of many police departments since the early 2000’s for stuff that’s either more compact or has more firepower. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/42 "2018-06-17T12:51:20Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Gummy bears are made in Turkey Haribo did buy a factory in Turkey in 2001. But the also have factories in about a dozen other European countries, including at least six in Germany. Since most of their product line is gummy candies of some sort, I think it would be strange if Turkey had the _only_ factory producing gummy bears. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/43 "2018-06-17T20:12:55Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > What guns does Germany supply to US police? > > SIG Sauer used to be German but the pistol manufacturing (which is what many cops use) is now based entirely in the United States. > > H&K does sell weapons to the US military but I can’t think of anything they sell to a great many police departments. Looking on Wikipedia you get like a single city’s police force using the USP or the G36 but nothing widespread. > > The MP5 is of course very ubiquitous but that’s been slowly phased out of many police departments since the early 2000’s for stuff that’s either more compact or has more firepower. I was thinking MP5s and UMPs ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/44 "2018-06-18T02:37:48Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > German companies are often horrific price-gougers though. > > The “prestige” of contemporary German-made goods is their selling point. There is virtually nothing made in Germany that you can’t get for hundreds or thousands of dollars less from Japan. This can be true in industry, too. I have three potential suppliers of equipment that meets my needs, two of which are in Germany, and the other in the USA but is wholly owned by its Japanese competitor (they really do operate as competitors). One of the German companies is so proudly German that it refuses to outsource anything to anywhere. They’re also horribly expensive. They have control software, however, that makes them truly unique and operationally better than their competitors (however, they’re boutique, so their hardware breaks down more than the others). They’re a price gouger. The other German company is a division of Bosch, which is untypical for a German company, in that they’re responsive to price, their service is excellent, and they do things we need them to do. Pretty much the only thing they’re missing is the magic control software that the small company has. They’re not a price gouger. For another commodity, the Germans just don’t understand out market. They sell us a product at a competitive price, but it requires maintenance – competent maintenance – that their US-based competitor doesn’t require. My company’s German division has no problems with the equipment, because Germans spend money on competent manpower to do that maintenance. Here in the USA, though, we don’t want to waste money on maintenance, thus the product better be maintenance free, which my USA-based supplier understands. Still, I need multiple suppliers to avoid complacency and to promote capitalist cost competition. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/45 "2018-06-18T07:19:52Z")
Would maintenance money **really** be wasted? It just sounds too much like the American company is like a guy who won’t read the manual and won’t ask for help either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/46 "2018-06-18T22:40:26Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Would maintenance money **really** be wasted? > > It just sounds too much like the American company is like a guy who won’t read the manual and won’t ask for help either. 🙂 Actually, that pretty much describes us. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/47 "2018-06-20T09:59:39Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Here in the USA, though, we don’t want to waste money on maintenance, thus the product better be maintenance free D’y’all want a perpetual motion machine to go with that ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028/48 "2018-06-20T10:55:31Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Here in the USA, though, we don’t want to waste money on maintenance, thus the product better be maintenance free, which my USA-based supplier understands. Ah, you’d rather have single-use red Solo machines (the color is important). When it stops working, just throw it away and open the next one. Not-so-funny thing is, of all the places I’ve worked, the one where they had that attitude was a university in Germany. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-all-the-german-stuff/816028.md?page=2)