USB Flash Drives Will Not Support GUID Scheme or Partitioning Under Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Format

I have several dozen USB flash drives that refuse to be erased (or partitioned) under Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Format with the GUID Scheme. I have tried doing this via Disk Utility on several computers running Sierra through Mojave, including under restoration partitions on those machines. "Forcing" the GUID scheme results in "Erase process has failed..." with details: Unmounting Disk, Couldn't open device, and Operation failed; resulting in the drive being subsequently unmountable (not recognized). I can go back via Disk Utility, see the unmounted drive, and erase using the Apple Partition Map and everything then works fine. I can obviously erase under ExFat format and MBR scheme, and that too works fine, but doing either defeats the objective (below).

I've literally read every Apple discussion and support document even remotely relating to this subject and tried every recommendation (including running First Aid multiple times). And, yes, I always choose the highest level device name, not the volume on the device. Further I've tried partitioning the drive under the Apple Partition Map and then erasing under GUID (as one person suggested), but I can't get these drives to partition under Mac OS Extended (Journaled) at all.

The problem exists on all the drives I've tried (multiple sizes, up to 256GB) and manufacturers. I have no problems whatsoever erasing (or partitioning) external drives (2TB-5TB), rotating media or SSD. I've called two of the manufacturers (SanDisk and Micro Center), each of which simply recommend ExFat/MBR, claiming that Mac OS Extended isn't necessary, even to create boot drives (or "installer disks," which is my primary motivation) for Intel Macs.

Thanks in advance of your considered shouts and advice.