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Some factors on my list of sentiment drags: * Manufacturers reducing product quality without buyers' knowledge. E.g., Pyrex or some SSD makers. * Shrinkflati

Some factors on my list of sentiment drags: * Manufacturers reducing product quality without buyers' knowledge. E.g., Pyrex or some SSD makers. * Shrinkflation: grocery stores selling slightly smaller-sized packages without buyers' knowledge. E.g., containers that used to be square, staying equally wide (for shelf space facing) but less deep. * Widespread Terms and Conditions / EULAs that undermine previously reliable consumer protections. * The sense that privacy-preserving products are now out of my financial reach, due to surveillance capitalism. I guess the main pattern in these things is a sense of failed consumer protections. EDIT: I'm ranting about consumer sentiment, which is probably different from economic sentiment. Apologies for going off topic.

nothercastle 2y ago
I see a lot of stuff decrease in quality and increase in price. Just this year 2024 bikes in the 2k range now are shipping with garage tier SRAM groups instead of last year where they had Shimannos. If you want to good stuff it’s 2700 now. Paying more for less is a real drag
pbhjpbhj 2y ago
Yes, product changes should be logged IMO so that customers can access that information. Companies essentially pass off a new product as the old product now, lying to consumers. Capitalism relies on informed customers to target purchases towards the 'best' products; this breaks that ability. VC firms seem to buy well-established companies, reduce the quality and ride them into the ground, destroying a lot of value that has built up over a long time. Rinse-and-repeat and the overall value of products goes down. This is a point for government to require a detailed account of products. It shouldn't be a mystery whether shrinkflation has occurred it should say it right on the product, and be confirmed in a government verified database. In the UK it feels more like corrupted consumer protections. I suppose that's a type of failed, but it's not because the consumer protections were bad, it's because they were removed by a government who work for (or just are) the capitalists rather than the demos.

nothercastle 2y ago

I see a lot of stuff decrease in quality and increase in price. Just this year 2024 bikes in the 2k range now are shipping with garage tier SRAM groups instead of last year where they had Shimannos. If you want to good stuff it’s 2700 now. Paying more for less is a real drag

pbhjpbhj 2y ago

Yes, product changes should be logged IMO so that customers can access that information. Companies essentially pass off a new product as the old product now, lying to consumers. Capitalism relies on informed customers to target purchases towards the 'best' products; this breaks that ability. VC firms seem to buy well-established companies, reduce the quality and ride them into the ground, destroying a lot of value that has built up over a long time. Rinse-and-repeat and the overall value of products goes down. This is a point for government to require a detailed account of products. It shouldn't be a mystery whether shrinkflation has occurred it should say it right on the product, and be confirmed in a government verified database. In the UK it feels more like corrupted consumer protections. I suppose that's a type of failed, but it's not because the consumer protections were bad, it's because they were removed by a government who work for (or just are) the capitalists rather than the demos.