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The answer is competition. Quality declines when companies no longer have to meaningful compete in the marketplace. The only other solution is regulation and fo
by Eddy_Viscosity2 19d ago
The answer is competition. Quality declines when companies no longer have to meaningful compete in the marketplace. The only other solution is regulation and force quality through punishment for noncompliance. Competition works better.
- Gigachad 19d agoCompetition partially causes this though. When you have 100 brands selling the same thing it became a race to the lowest price.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 19d agoMy experience is competition invokes two races happening at the same time, one for lowest price and one for highest quality. You can get a cheap car or really high quality car. Same goes for clothes, restaurants, basically anything where there is lots of market choices and competition.
- steinvakt2 19d agoAn Audi typically requires more maintenance and repair than a Toyota though. You’re not paying for quality (as in durability/longevity)
- nradov 19d agoThat doesn't make any sense. The most expensive cars are also the least reliable. Rich people have multiple cars so when the Bentley has an electrical glitch they just drive the Porsche.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 19d agoQuality means different things to different people. But the fact that Bentleys and Porsche exist support that case that not everything in a competitive markets drives things to the lowest cost product.
- nradov 19d agoExactly. The whole notion of "quality" is so subjective that it never was and never can be a norm.
- asdff 19d agoAt the end of the day, people still end up sucking it up and buying it, so the market can only be so efficient. Every hobby I've had, all sorts of different stuff only anchored in the fact you have to buy gear, the common theme is everyone is constantly pissed off at the companies making the gear. It is very much an abusive relationship.
- AlexandrB 19d agoThe upper end of a lot of these product categories is often populated with overpriced junk that's popular for conspicuous consumption reasons. Clothing is the prime example, but a lot of modern fine dining is also trash (who actually enjoys eating flavoured foam?). So there's actually three races: lowest price, highest quality, and highest brand value.
- gamessucknow 18d ago> You can get a cheap car or really high quality car. That’s the problem, I want something in-between.
- jjk7 18d agoLuxury is another dimension than price <-> quality.
- switchbak 19d agoDepends- i care about the quality of power tool I buy. There’s plenty of competition, but most of it I won’t touch because it’s some “Zissbou” brand off of Amazon. The competition on the high end is great! Makita, Milwaukee, and others battling it out. Better materials, batteries, designs. But I’ll only pay for actual performance, so there’s no where for bad actors to hide.