The continuously declining quality of consumer goods [rant!]

I just need to let off some steam because I'm quite pissed off right now. I am sick of these god damn corporations producing lower and lower quality products, made from crappier and crappier materials, which are designed to break faster and faster, while we are forced to pay more and more! Screw that, where is the logic in that?!? You tell me...

This especially pisses me off when it comes to food. For a long time I've been purchasing many of the same food products, but they are slowly reducing the amount of food in each package, yet they have the balls to charge me the same, or some times even more! Meanwhile the quality of the food is also getting lower. It's completely infuriating.

How the hell does this crap happen? Are your insane profits not enough?!? You have to continuously make the products lower in quality, contain less bang for your buck, yet you have the audacity to keep raising prices? Show some god damn morality you life sucking leeches!!! When is enough enough huh? Where is the line?

Your equipment gets faster and more efficient, your manufacturing techniques become more streamlined, your production costs are continuously going down as a result... yet you still raise prices as if it's costing you more and more to produce the goods which you are in fact getting better and better at producing, in terms of costs!

Screw you bastards! End rant.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder

This especially pisses me off when it comes to food. For a long time I've been purchasing many of the same food products, but they are slowly reducing the amount of food in each package, yet they have the balls to charge me the same, or some times even more! Meanwhile the quality of the food is also getting lower. It's completely infuriating.

I hear ya!

Ever since I was a tot...many moons ago, Chocolate bars have always been advertising "Bigger than ever!, Now 50% more!, 1/3 more! Now Double the size!" And so much more for 50 yrs!!!!

My Oh Henry bar should be 6 ft long and 235 lbs by now!

But sadly, still the same as far as I can see.

Peace

Morality is not good for profit. Remember we are a disposable society. So we are just as much to blame as greedy companies that make things that break a couple of months after the warranty runs out. Look at how many people that has a perfectly good working I phone wait in line because they just have to have the new model.

Ego and greed are the reasons why we have to live with cheap crap.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Star and flag...you'll probably get called a socialist, anti-american, crazy libtard, etc.. even though you don't say anything about politics.

What you're saying is so true and so disturbing yet the people are too brainwashed to realize it. The bottom line is what matters now, if their profits don't go up enough they are a failure somehow. The thing that sucks is the companies involved in the behaviour you described are mainly very large corporations and a person or small business doesn't stand a chance against them so no one can rise up and create competition in order to keep them honest(ex. General Mills, Sony, and GE)

There used to be something called business ethics, there used to be something called respect.

Great rant!

reply to post by buster2010


Yes I know we are to blame too, you get a star from me because you make an important point. But I don't think us buying all their new models does anything which would force them to keep raising prices, and your argument certainly doesn't hold when it comes to food. It is the endless greed of these companies which is the main reason, they simply don't know when enough is enough, and it freakin pisses me off.

reply to post by buster2010


I just had an infuriating experience with the cell phone thing. My battery was wearing down a bit so I went to Staples to get a new one. The sales girl told me that they didn't sell batteries because most people just get a new phone by the time the battery gets worn down.

I could rant in stereo with the OP on all of this. She's absolutely right.

Yep. Simple things that should last forever like toilet parts... designed to fail/piss you off/be a PITA yet again within a few years.

On my car, there's some kind of tech in the pipe that goes to the gas tank that does *something* fancy (I can't remember what). Anyways, it has gone to crap, and for some reason I can never fill my gas tank more than 3/4 full without the gas pump swearing it's full.

What was wrong with a simple PIPE?! Too convenient and elegant, I guess.

reply to post by Epirus

The bottom line is what matters now, if their profits don't go up enough they are a failure somehow.

Here you have hit the nail on the head. It's all about business GROWTH. If the business isn't growing then it isn't doing well. When I was studying business I found it disturbing that so much emphasis was put on growth. There always needed to be a plan to achieve future growth, positive sales forecasts which predicted an increase in sales. If you don't make more profit than what you made the month before you aren't trying hard enough. If you want to maintain a healthy stable small business then you're a loser in the business world, if you have no plans to grow into a large multinational corporation then your business is a failure. Like David Icke says, the real god of the modern world is economic growth.

It insists every year, that we take more from the Earth even quicker, turn it into even more things, sell even more things, consume even more things, throw away even more things - to worship the real god of the modern world: economic growth.

~ David Icke

Yes, and speaking of mechanical parts, we have the lawnmower.

These days, even the upper-end lawnmowers, weed whackers and lawn tractors are made with plastic parts that not only break, but actually disintegrate with normal use (the poor quality gasoline we have now destroys the inner gaskets).

And shall we talk steel? Steel quality has gone way down. A mechanic I know had a brand new wrench snap in two when he was loosening a bolt, and another mechanic who rebuilds axles says that most of the new ones are made of such cheap steel that they can't be rebuilt at all.

Oh- I hope this thread goes on for a long long time. It'll take many pages indeed to list all the shoddy, overpriced, overpackaged rubbish on the market these days.

I think part of the proiblem is that the modern consumer is obsessed with cheapness.
If there's a cheaper option available, good quality goods will go unsold; therefore, naturally, producers will give up providing them, and focus on the quality level that people are willing to buy.
The long-term result is that you won't be able to spend a little more and get good quality even if you're willing, because it won't be available any more

reply to post by DISRAELI


That would be true if it weren't for the fact that they are continuously making decent products crappier and crappier while at the same time charging more and more for their product which is continuously declining in value. Many good products which I'm more than willing to pay for constantly degrade in quality, yet their prices actually go up instead of going down with the quality! It has nothing to do with providing what consumers want, and everything to do with cutting costs and maximizing profits.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
reply to post by buster2010

 

Yes I know we are to blame too, you get a star from me because you make an important point. But I don't think us buying all their new models does anything which would force them to keep raising prices, and your argument certainly doesn't hold when it comes to food. It is the endless greed of these companies which is the main reason, they simply don't know when enough is enough, and it freakin pisses me off.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Now that I've established that--let me enlighten you because this is nothing new.In fact--if you go to the link I'm gonna provide and watch the video,I guarantee that your anger will multiply tenfold.It's a highly revealing history of consumerism and how they regulate things and plan things in such a way that we keep buying...keep CONSUMING.S&F

Planned Obsolescence

this is a great thread . we keep driving the machine with cheap plastic trinkets. I wish I could afford a pair of shoes or pants or something that would last a lifetime. Nowadays if you want something like that, for the common man anyway, its an expensive investment.

I remember when we watched TV for free. Sure we only had ABC, NBC, CBS and a Public Channel, but the cost of advertising on these stations paid for the broadcasting. Now with cable or satellite, they have a multitude of stations, and a lot more advertising. Yet our monthly bills keep increasing almost on a yearly basis!

The combination of corporate greed and government taxes, is squeezing the life out of consumers. People are living from paycheck to paycheck just to provide the basics for their families. It's one of the major reasons why we have so much consumer debt.

Originally posted by WeRpeons
I remember when we watched TV for free. Sure we only had ABC, NBC, CBS and a Public Channel, but the cost of advertising on these stations paid for the broadcasting. Now with cable or satellite, they have a multitude of stations, and a lot more advertising. Yet our monthly bills keep increasing almost on a yearly basis!

The combination of corporate greed and government taxes, is squeezing the life out of consumers. People are living from paycheck to paycheck just to provide the basics for their families. It's one of the major reasons why we have so much consumer debt.

Yeah, I hear ya,

It sucks that I have to pay for 700+ channels to get the 2 or 3 dozen I actually want to watch.....

On another note, When I find something that is well made, I'll buy 2!
That way, when the first one wears out, I'll have a brand new one as a back up.
I've learned, that I'll never be able to replace something that's served me well, with the same quality item when it does eventually break....

I believe, that the underlying cause is material availability vs demand.
ie, Too many people wanting, and fewer and fewer resources....

When I was born 50 odd years ago, the world population was just a little over 2 billion.
We are now over 7 billion strong!

I don't envy anyone who will be here 50 years from now, And I hope I'm not one of them....

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Oh I completely and 100% agree.

To add further, they have the gall to then say because of this "consumerism", that "we" are ALL responsible and must pay high taxes because we all share a part in "global warming". To be fair, people do buy this # so it makes sense that someone there will produce it. However the spin and blame on the people is screwed up logic as well. If liability rested with the companies 100%, you would see some hope and change.

I totally agree! Electronics seem to last only a year or two anymore and overall quality on everything stinks.

I love Neil Young for helping release my frustrations many a time!
youtu.be...

Excellent rant! Couldn't agree with you more.
Another reason (with food anyway) to shop locally; shop the farmer's markets, what ever road-side fruit/veggie stands are left.. the quality will be better, the local economy will benefit more directly.

We don't need 3/4 of the stuff they tell us we do - food or otherwise.
And here's a 27 sec. example of just 1 facet we have been royally hosed on for decades:
Wow - dude smacked the trunk lid a few times with a - hammer? Didn't make a scratch, dent, nothin'.
The auto body industry would be almost non-existent.
And I would have had a few more thousand in my pocket, over the years...

I am with the OP. Most consumer goods are crap.
There are stil a few products I trust:

1. Leatherman (made in Portland!).
2. Kitchenaid.
3. Lowe backpacks.
These three companies still make products that last.
And a new refreshing addition:
New balance shoes.

Cheers

S&F
Your rant was enough to get me out of my hidey-hole today.

Immediately made me think of the old Nintendo products. The Gameboy was nearly indestructible, there's an image from Nintendo Power showing a Gameboy running Tetris that had survived a Gulf war bombing. Going on that theme, Nintendo Power decided to test their products for durability.

I can't remember the exact results, but it was surprising that most products survived most things they dished out. The one I remember the most was a Gameboy Color that they named Jesus, because they drowned it in the toilet and after 3 days it came back to life.

Personally, I have a second hand N64 that had been thrown against a concrete floor, busting off most of the outer shell. The damned thing still works. Actually, that one works better than my intact N64; the intact one freezes up randomly.

The thing is, that's where it seems to end. I never owned a gamecube, but I would imagine being smacked against concrete wouldn't be good for the optical laser. I owned a Wii, but it mysteriously went kaputski one day and I don't know why. It turns on but won't load into anything, whether it's in memory or on a disc. I owned two DS's. First one fell from my TV stand and broke. Wasn't a large fall either, but it cracked the case and the device wouldn't stay on for more than a minute or two. The second DS went the way of my Wii. Mysteriously kaput.

So that's what gamers these days have to deal with. Mysteriously kaput devices. I have a few friends who had 1st generation Xboxes or PS3's that went kaput. The really odd thing is that they conveniently seem to crap the bed right after the warranty runs out..