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See also: Professional chefs with extremely expensive personal knife sets alongside basically disposable $8 tongs and $20 pans.

tomxor 3y ago
This is pretty good advice in general. The cost value curve of different things is different, and as you suggest, for the majority of things the functional value cut off is at quite a low cost point. What I find particularly amusing is when the cost value relationship invert, often after a stupidly high price point, especially when they introduce complexity.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > What I find particularly amusing is when the cost value relationship invert, often after a stupidly high price point See "audiophile" equipment. It's true that you often can't reliably tell quality from the price tag. I remember in marketing classes learning about what companies do when their product doesn't provide value commensurate with the cost. One approach is to reduce the price. Another approach is to increase the price, make it look pretty, and sell it people who are really buying status. That it sucks won't hurt your sales as much as you'd think, because functionality isn't really the reason people buy it.
  - tomxor 3y ago
    > people who are really buying status Yes, this is a huge area of value, which is why I was careful to write "functional value", because there are different kinds of value. There are non-functional value which are tangibly important beyond pure function though. e.g As humans aesthetic is important to us, it affects our every day experience, and at a certain point that can even cross over into art. I will admit for some products I will make a choice based on form, and materials, but it's useful to recognise when you are doing this because even on a personal level it doesn't always make sense. I particularly dislike "status" though, this is a hollow invention of consumerism that intentionally confuses quality and functional value with branding.
munificent 3y ago
There are a also a lot of professional chefs rocking Victorinox Fibroxes which are quite cheap. People like to fetishize knives, but for almost all uses, they really are pretty pedestrian and utilitarian. You don't need some $1,000 Japanese santoku forged from a meteorite to chop a bunch of veg well. You just need a comfortable grip and a little practice putting a good edge on the blade. That being said, if nice knives bring you joy, then go for it. I have a couple of cooking knives that I like a lot.
- crooked-v 3y ago
  Sure, but looking them up, even those knives are noticeably more expensive than the rest of the individual items you'd find in the kitchen, just not by orders of magnitude.
platevoltage 3y ago
And for the car people, 1/4 inch Snap-On ratchet set, and Harbor Freight for the big stuff you don't use often.

tomxor 3y ago

This is pretty good advice in general. The cost value curve of different things is different, and as you suggest, for the majority of things the functional value cut off is at quite a low cost point. What I find particularly amusing is when the cost value relationship invert, often after a stupidly high price point, especially when they introduce complexity.

JohnFen 3y ago
> What I find particularly amusing is when the cost value relationship invert, often after a stupidly high price point See "audiophile" equipment. It's true that you often can't reliably tell quality from the price tag. I remember in marketing classes learning about what companies do when their product doesn't provide value commensurate with the cost. One approach is to reduce the price. Another approach is to increase the price, make it look pretty, and sell it people who are really buying status. That it sucks won't hurt your sales as much as you'd think, because functionality isn't really the reason people buy it.
- tomxor 3y ago
  > people who are really buying status Yes, this is a huge area of value, which is why I was careful to write "functional value", because there are different kinds of value. There are non-functional value which are tangibly important beyond pure function though. e.g As humans aesthetic is important to us, it affects our every day experience, and at a certain point that can even cross over into art. I will admit for some products I will make a choice based on form, and materials, but it's useful to recognise when you are doing this because even on a personal level it doesn't always make sense. I particularly dislike "status" though, this is a hollow invention of consumerism that intentionally confuses quality and functional value with branding.

munificent 3y ago

There are a also a lot of professional chefs rocking Victorinox Fibroxes which are quite cheap. People like to fetishize knives, but for almost all uses, they really are pretty pedestrian and utilitarian. You don't need some $1,000 Japanese santoku forged from a meteorite to chop a bunch of veg well. You just need a comfortable grip and a little practice putting a good edge on the blade. That being said, if nice knives bring you joy, then go for it. I have a couple of cooking knives that I like a lot.

crooked-v 3y ago
Sure, but looking them up, even those knives are noticeably more expensive than the rest of the individual items you'd find in the kitchen, just not by orders of magnitude.

platevoltage 3y ago

And for the car people, 1/4 inch Snap-On ratchet set, and Harbor Freight for the big stuff you don't use often.