Tariffs have been in the news a lot lately. New customers and long-term industry partners have asked how tariffs might impact Werever Outdoor Cabinets.
We do not anticipate any price changes from tariffs.
Let us expand on that statement and explain more regarding how tariffs impact our industry.
Made in the U.S.A. is a founding principle at Werever
This is not a small matter. At every decision where there is an option, Werever picks supplies and materials made in the U.S.A. Some companies loophole this by doing some final assembly in the U.S.A. When we say Made in the U.S.A., here is what we mean:
- Every bit of the HDPE we use is sourced domestically. Werever outdoor cabinets are made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). It starts as natural gas. It’s turned into HDPE resin, It gets formed into sheets. Finally, we fabricate the sheets into the best outdoor cabinets in the world. Every bit of this happens in the USA. We do not source HDPE from foreign suppliers.
- Our manufacturing is based in the U.S.A. We are very proud to create jobs here. We hire the best and the brightest. We have employees that have been here 10+ years. A couple that have been here 20 years.
- We buy American Made CNC equipment. There are some really great European brands, but we don’t buy them. We only buy US made equipment.
- We promote the best grills and appliances, which happen to be made in the U.S.A.
Does it seem like you have to replace everything in your home every few years? Your fridge doesn’t last more than about 7 years, but the one you grew up with lasted 20 years or more. There has been a collective cheapening of almost everything we buy, all driven by the goal to squeeze every cent out of every product. We’re different. We think our company will be stronger if everyone becomes our customer ONCE, not every 5-10 years. We’ve backed this with a lifetime warranty.
What about the rest of the industry?
We can out-spec, out-customize, out-service, out-warranty, and have out-lasted every competitor in the market. There are competitors that offer very poorly made “outdoor cabinets” that come from China. They’re pretty cheap. They’ll certainly cost more. But they won’t last like Werever cabinets. There are competing brands based in Canada. Again, they can’t do what we can do cabinet-wise, so we don’t really care what they’re up to. They’re announcing price increases.
Will there be any supply issues or cost increases due to tariffs?
There will be increases in some costs to Werever, but not to you. Hardware is already going up in price, again. There is hardly a part of Werever’s business or any other business that hasn’t increased in cost dramatically over the last 4 years. That said, we haven’t raised prices since 2022. Back then, material costs skyrocketed surrounding COVID. The global supply of HDPE was disrupted due to closures and insane demand for plastics. Every fleck of metal and other construction inputs cost more. The global HDPE industry (and other suppliers) have not given those prices back, so they have largely stuck. A one-time corrective price change was necessary, but not since 2022. Werever has continued to innovate and has found new efficiencies to offset these prices. The price changes are NOT for the major components listed above. We are extremely proud that we are able to adapt and absorb price increases.
Quality-Driven Approach
It should be apparent that Werever has a quality-driven approach to everything we do. There is a reason we aren’t in big-box retailers. At one point during negotiations with one of the two largest home improvement warehouses, they asked specifically if there was anything we could do to lower the price. Was there any material we could omit. This led to an impasse, and we happily continued down the path of building the best cabinets. In another meeting with a prominent national home builder, we were bragging about our warranty. An executive said, “We don’t care about that. We only put a 1-year warranty on our homes.” I was shocked. Would you put that on your marketing literature? I guarantee that homebuyers buying a $1 million+ home expect things to last longer than a year.
Werever’s philosophy wasn’t born out of a tariff-avoidance strategy. It just so happens that our Made in the U.S.A. approach is paying real dividends that are directly identifiable right now. We did it because it was the right thing to do. It had nothing to do with politics or strategizing. Werever is not a political organization. We make cabinets. Our leadership comes from a diverse background and shares very divergent political ideas. So we talk about cabinets instead. All day, every day. We can all agree that building quality outdoor cabinets is our primary mission. It’s our only mission. We don’t make anything other than outdoor cabinets. It’s our passion, and we’re the best at it.