An additional point: People don't know the quality of the flash they are buying. You're seeing bottom-bin crappy parts made to look better than they are with EC

An additional point: People don't know the quality of the flash they are buying. You're seeing bottom-bin crappy parts made to look better than they are with ECC. You're also NOT seeing data retention; that cheap USB stick may develop unreadable blocks sooner (this is much more likely with TLC and QLC, where the difference between two bit values can be measured in the hundreds or even dozens of trapped electrons).