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In addition, there's been a large shift towards price not actually defining the quality of the item. There are a ton of cheap goods that perform as well or bet

In addition, there's been a large shift towards price not actually defining the quality of the item. There are a ton of cheap goods that perform as well or better than more expensive goods of the same kind. And a lot of expensive goods that actually don't perform well at all. The first example that comes to mind is power tools. I can buy a cheap trim router at Harbor Freight and it'll work as well or better than many of the top brands at Home Depot. Not all of them, but if I can't otherwise determine which is the best, it doesn't make sense to spend the extra money. IIRC, I've heard people say the same about shoes on HN, too. And IME, My $50 shoes have lasted just as long as the $110+ shoes that I used to buy, and were as comfortable or better. In addition, like you, I hate reselling things. We had a yard sale a couple months ago and just let everything go really cheap because it wasn't worth the effort to try to get more. At the end of a yard sale, we generally pack the rest up and donate it, anyhow.

scotty79 6y ago
That's pretty much my reasoning for not buying more expensive stuff than necessary. I noticed very little correlation between the price of a thing and the value it provides to me.
Ardren 6y ago
By design it's hard to work out the cost/performance ratio of many consumer items. Why pay for the brand name item if the consumer knew it's actual value. Just tracking down what an item really is to find reviews can be hard, and then you really never know if the underling product has changed in the meantime. It feels so anti consumer.
throw0101a 6y ago
> I can buy a cheap trim router at Harbor Freight and it'll work as well or better than many of the top brands at Home Depot. Generally buy cheap first. Odds are it'll will get the job done for what you need. If you do actually manage to work it hard enough to break it, then you know that it may actually be worth spending a little extra.

scotty79 6y ago

That's pretty much my reasoning for not buying more expensive stuff than necessary. I noticed very little correlation between the price of a thing and the value it provides to me.

Ardren 6y ago

By design it's hard to work out the cost/performance ratio of many consumer items. Why pay for the brand name item if the consumer knew it's actual value. Just tracking down what an item really is to find reviews can be hard, and then you really never know if the underling product has changed in the meantime. It feels so anti consumer.

throw0101a 6y ago

> I can buy a cheap trim router at Harbor Freight and it'll work as well or better than many of the top brands at Home Depot. Generally buy cheap first. Odds are it'll will get the job done for what you need. If you do actually manage to work it hard enough to break it, then you know that it may actually be worth spending a little extra.