4 ms·
> - A high quality manual stapler is really hard to find. I haven't found any equal to my Apsco 2002 stapler which is no longer made. Everything I tried jams mo
by lips 11y ago
> - A high quality manual stapler is really hard to find. I haven't found any equal to my Apsco 2002 stapler which is no longer made. Everything I tried jams more often.
Luckily, the dimensions of a standard staple haven't change in 50+ years, so you can purchase a beautiful used old Ace Pilot for under $15 - http://munk.org/typecast/2014/05/21/stapler-of-the-week-1938-ace-pilot-model-404/ http://munk.org/typecast/2014/05/21/stapler-of-the-week-1938... (Or just get a new-used Apsco 2002 on ebay..)
But I agree. We (?) have a tendency to turn iteratively refined utilitarian items into commodities, and in the process, lose the subtle design aspects that made them remarkable in the first place.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoThat's capitalism in a nutshell. Quality, or "actually working" is not an important value and in time it gets cut out (those who don't get outcompeted by those who do).
- wtbob 11y agoThat's human nature, not capitalism. Remember the socialist republics of the 20th century? Their goods were shoddier still, because they didn't have enough competition to keep them honest.
- benihana 11y agoYeah absolutely. There's definitely no market for high quality items and people are most decidedly not willing to pay extra for quality. Nope, everyone wants the exact same mass produced crap, which is why everyone shops only at the dollar store and why the terms handmade, handcrafted, and artisinal are now in the popular lexicon.
- angdis 11y agoHold on, there's no "mass" market for high quality items. If you want extreme quality handmade stuff you can find it, but you may need to look for it rather than just go to "box store" and you pay a lot more.
- asanagi 11y agoThere sure is, if you have high quality masses. This is the part Americans always forget in their capitalist rhetoric.
- afsina 11y agoBoy that is one of the most inaccurate definition of capitalism I have ever heard. By your definition there would not be any quality product left in US or in any free market. As others state, this is human behavior. Most people does not care about the quality of the trivial items, so they prefer cheap but functioning goods. For niche consumers, prices will be high and production will be less. There are however things block actual capitalism to function well, such as protectionist policies that prevents you importing superb Japanese staples and pens cheaply.