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Products getting cheaper and lower quality is a spiral I'm not sure how we are going to escape. As production "optimizes" for cost the first place they look at

Products getting cheaper and lower quality is a spiral I'm not sure how we are going to escape. As production "optimizes" for cost the first place they look at is wages. Low wage consumers look for the cheapest thing out there out of necessity. Quality goods are very much a niche product these days. Economics of scale make them even more expensive than they otherwise would be. Even middle class consumers find it hard to swallow the price of a 200$ tshirt so they mostly buy Pakistan made 10$ ones, with all the environment, social, moral, etc, problems that come with that. What's the alternative and how do we get there? I can't even begin to imagine.

kesor 5y ago
The alternative is what we had 50 years ago, quality products, quality mindset, longer term thinking. With how the corporations are set up today, it makes sense for them to reduce wages and quality to the minimum. Corporations only see the profit in the near term, and really don't care about the future of mankind on the long term all that much - those who do get crushed by competition. There is some talk about faking it with ESG mandates, I personally doubt its anything more than lip service.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  I don't think we had a "quality mindset" at the time. We were just limited in technology. Example: Safety features make cars better quality, yet manufacturers haven't exactly lined up to implement them early. We didn't take arsenic fabrics off the market for... well, a long time. I don't know about you, but I expect a quality product not to poison me. We used to sell breads with additives in them if we could. "Quality mindset" is just a scam of nostalgic thinking. The products were simply different back then.
- rosndo 5y ago
  Really been chugging the survivorship bias kool-aid, haven’t we?
- thinkharderdev 5y ago
  50 years ago would be 1972. In 1972 if you were filling up the gas tank of the best-selling vehicle you would be filling the gas tank of a VW Beetle with gasoline infused with a potent neuro-toxin. None of that screams quality or long-term thinking to me.
rosndo 5y ago
>Products getting cheaper and lower quality is a spiral I'm not sure how we are going to escape This is an imaginary spiral. Well, except for the products getting cheaper. That is a good thing.
thinkharderdev 5y ago
I'm not at all sure that this is true beyond some very specific products. Clothing probably fits this model (modern "fast fashion" clothing is really cheap crap that will not last) but for most other products, things are getting both cheaper and higher quality.
sokoloff 5y ago
I would be more likely to buy a Ferrari before I’d buy a $200 T-shirt. “I’ll trade you 2 T-shirts for a month of groceries for my household” seems utterly non-sensical to me. 0 - https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-should-i-spend-on-groceries https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-should-i...

kesor 5y ago

The alternative is what we had 50 years ago, quality products, quality mindset, longer term thinking. With how the corporations are set up today, it makes sense for them to reduce wages and quality to the minimum. Corporations only see the profit in the near term, and really don't care about the future of mankind on the long term all that much - those who do get crushed by competition. There is some talk about faking it with ESG mandates, I personally doubt its anything more than lip service.

Broken_Hippo 5y ago
I don't think we had a "quality mindset" at the time. We were just limited in technology. Example: Safety features make cars better quality, yet manufacturers haven't exactly lined up to implement them early. We didn't take arsenic fabrics off the market for... well, a long time. I don't know about you, but I expect a quality product not to poison me. We used to sell breads with additives in them if we could. "Quality mindset" is just a scam of nostalgic thinking. The products were simply different back then.
rosndo 5y ago
Really been chugging the survivorship bias kool-aid, haven’t we?
thinkharderdev 5y ago
50 years ago would be 1972. In 1972 if you were filling up the gas tank of the best-selling vehicle you would be filling the gas tank of a VW Beetle with gasoline infused with a potent neuro-toxin. None of that screams quality or long-term thinking to me.

rosndo 5y ago

>Products getting cheaper and lower quality is a spiral I'm not sure how we are going to escape This is an imaginary spiral. Well, except for the products getting cheaper. That is a good thing.

thinkharderdev 5y ago

I'm not at all sure that this is true beyond some very specific products. Clothing probably fits this model (modern "fast fashion" clothing is really cheap crap that will not last) but for most other products, things are getting both cheaper and higher quality.

sokoloff 5y ago

I would be more likely to buy a Ferrari before I’d buy a $200 T-shirt. “I’ll trade you 2 T-shirts for a month of groceries for my household” seems utterly non-sensical to me. 0 - https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-should-i-spend-on-groceries https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-should-i...