I just went through this when I got tricked into buying an automatic can opener. The damn thing wouldn’t work with certain lids or if the lid had a small defect. I went back to my great grandmother’s 1888 opener. I now appreciate the old relics I got from my great grandparents or grandparents because what I have from them was meant to last. Lesson learned new, shiny product does not mean works better or built to last.
Walter - our toaster recently died. It took me a good deal of investigation and investment to find one not manufactured in China. Our new Dualit carries a superb pride in craftsmanship sticker underneath that reads “Hand Built in Great Britain by Liam. This toaster is fully repairable & fitted with a safety cut-out stat which can be reset by a qualified Electrician.” Happily we will be passing it down to our daughter some day.
THIS!! This subject is my Achilles heel in my life. It is a total affront to my sense of humanity.
Your sentence “the quality of material objects reflects and affects the quality of society, even of the spirit.” encapsulates everything I feel about what is happening to the quality and INTEGRITY of products manufactured today. And to your point - the same is happening to our lives.
The list of things I could rant about is way too long to list. I will share my tactics.
EBAY - since everyone is well aware of this ginormous issue, you can find many products in very good to excellent quality on the site. I recently bought a percolating coffee pot from from the 1970s that is in perfect condition and works great. Cost less than new.
MADE IN USA. It’s still true, what is still made here, is still made well. One caveat. Must be a company at least 30+ years old. I recently bought my husband a trimmer made in the USA. Best trimmer we’ve had in years. Price was competitive. Same with bakeware made in USA. Price is competitive and in some cases, cheaper
EUROPE. The UK makes many wonderful clothing items. Far superior quality. Gloves? England, Ireland, Scotland. Sometimes I’ve bought Canadian clothing goods and they were also quite good. One note. The item will cost more, but it will last.
I believe this quality issue started in the late 1990s when our US corporations were ALLOWED to export our manufacturing and jobs overseas. Then the marketers stepped in and provided the mantra “cheap is better. You can can buy more stuff (junk). Now that EVERYTHING is a piece of junk, the marketers are stepping in and providing the new mantra “you’ll own nothing (because it’s crap) and you’ll be happy” IMO the biggest fraud our American companies have ever created.
My husband was wearing a new pair of sunglasses as we sat on a Lake Michigan beach when we heard a cracking sound. It was his sunglasses breaking, on his face. The Michigan sun is not that direct, even if it makes us squint, and it wasn't a particularly warm day. Potemkin glasses.
Between value engineering and advertising and marketing, our public, I fear, no longer understands aspiration or inspiration. Arete is a stranger. We don't know what future to want. Desire and imagination are constrained. Do we need another Willie Wonka film? The iconic Apple 1984 ad hinted at liberation but delivered a succession of shinies programmed to die so that the next shiny became an object of desire. Comfortable, having settled for less than we should, we seek to quell desire by doing what we're told. Maybe we start by desiring the right things, holding out for the good, the true, the beautiful. Go outside, look out, look up, then look within.
Walter is so right. We should add to the list the useless call centers whenever we need help to fix a problem; that is to say, if you can reach an actual person. Everything seems to be so dysfunctional. Besides afflicting us all with adversities both unnecessary and stressful, this strongly suggests a worsening of conditons. Currently underway, some scientists argue, is the planet's sixth mass extinction. It's the first with humans on the scene, attendant with epochal revolutions in informational technology, personal data gathering, and artificial intelligence. Hmm. What could possibly go wrong?
Not even the rich are exempt from the downgrading of products. I'm not rich, but I admire classic designer handbags. The other day, I watched a youtube review of Chanel's expensive handbags. In recent years, the price has skyrocketed. And their basic handbag, which at the turn of this century went for the low four figures, now goes for five figures. The price of a decent used car.
That would shocking enough. But although the price has climbed astronomically, the once impeccable quality of Chanel handbags has plunged. The leather is inferior, the linings are made of plastic, the hardware is no longer plated in real gold, the stitches are uneven and can quickly unravel. When customers complain about their still new handbags falling apart, the snooty sales associates tell them Chanel handbags are not intended for daily wear. Apparently, you're just supposed to store them, encased in their flannel dust bags, inside your walk-in closet!
Last year, Bernard Arnault, the owner of the company that runs Chanel and dozens of other top luxury brands was briefly the richest man in the world until Elon Musk knocked him out of first place. Arnault raised prices dramatically and cut corners when it came to the materials and manufacturing techniques. Greed is good. Right?
And it's not just Chanel. The quality of top designer handbags by Gucci and Prada, to name just two, has also declined as their prices have risen. The medium size of Gucci's iconic Jackie 1961 hobo handbag now sells for a whopping $3,500, including tax. But as a Christmas present to myself I snagged an authentic, 20 year old, all leather, vintage version of the Jackie hobo handbag in great condition for just over $200 on ebay.
Thank you Walter! That was a tonic for my soul. Your work is truly an antidote, a vaccine even, to the non stop gas lighting aimed at us by our betters.
Potemkin pens. I buy them by the box -- it’s extremely frustrating how quickly they run out of ink. When the Nespresso machine stopped working, we went to a flea market, bought a percolator from the 1970s for $3, fashioned a filter top from a discarded soup can, got some Folgers and the universe was right again. Hard to say if that course of action would work for a washing machine.
Enjoyed reading this in the Free Press last year after I opened up my "family sized" bag of Doritos to find 3 whole chips staring at me. This year I read after opening the same Doritos except I only found 1 chip. I guess they should change their name to Dorito or I'll have to downsize my family.
And all the “smart” products. I bought an oven that touted more functions than I’ll ever use, but some of the basic I could not access until I joined their app. Oh all the questions to get signed in. I was furious at them and more at myself for thinking I could out smart and oven.
I think I speak for all of us when I say you speak for all of us Walter. So much truth. I feel the same way about our leaders.
I just went through this when I got tricked into buying an automatic can opener. The damn thing wouldn’t work with certain lids or if the lid had a small defect. I went back to my great grandmother’s 1888 opener. I now appreciate the old relics I got from my great grandparents or grandparents because what I have from them was meant to last. Lesson learned new, shiny product does not mean works better or built to last.
Walter - our toaster recently died. It took me a good deal of investigation and investment to find one not manufactured in China. Our new Dualit carries a superb pride in craftsmanship sticker underneath that reads “Hand Built in Great Britain by Liam. This toaster is fully repairable & fitted with a safety cut-out stat which can be reset by a qualified Electrician.” Happily we will be passing it down to our daughter some day.
Could this be part of the plan to "own nothing"?
THIS!! This subject is my Achilles heel in my life. It is a total affront to my sense of humanity.
Your sentence “the quality of material objects reflects and affects the quality of society, even of the spirit.” encapsulates everything I feel about what is happening to the quality and INTEGRITY of products manufactured today. And to your point - the same is happening to our lives.
The list of things I could rant about is way too long to list. I will share my tactics.
EBAY - since everyone is well aware of this ginormous issue, you can find many products in very good to excellent quality on the site. I recently bought a percolating coffee pot from from the 1970s that is in perfect condition and works great. Cost less than new.
MADE IN USA. It’s still true, what is still made here, is still made well. One caveat. Must be a company at least 30+ years old. I recently bought my husband a trimmer made in the USA. Best trimmer we’ve had in years. Price was competitive. Same with bakeware made in USA. Price is competitive and in some cases, cheaper
EUROPE. The UK makes many wonderful clothing items. Far superior quality. Gloves? England, Ireland, Scotland. Sometimes I’ve bought Canadian clothing goods and they were also quite good. One note. The item will cost more, but it will last.
I believe this quality issue started in the late 1990s when our US corporations were ALLOWED to export our manufacturing and jobs overseas. Then the marketers stepped in and provided the mantra “cheap is better. You can can buy more stuff (junk). Now that EVERYTHING is a piece of junk, the marketers are stepping in and providing the new mantra “you’ll own nothing (because it’s crap) and you’ll be happy” IMO the biggest fraud our American companies have ever created.
My husband was wearing a new pair of sunglasses as we sat on a Lake Michigan beach when we heard a cracking sound. It was his sunglasses breaking, on his face. The Michigan sun is not that direct, even if it makes us squint, and it wasn't a particularly warm day. Potemkin glasses.
People used to darn socks. You can't with the quality now.
Between value engineering and advertising and marketing, our public, I fear, no longer understands aspiration or inspiration. Arete is a stranger. We don't know what future to want. Desire and imagination are constrained. Do we need another Willie Wonka film? The iconic Apple 1984 ad hinted at liberation but delivered a succession of shinies programmed to die so that the next shiny became an object of desire. Comfortable, having settled for less than we should, we seek to quell desire by doing what we're told. Maybe we start by desiring the right things, holding out for the good, the true, the beautiful. Go outside, look out, look up, then look within.
Walter is so right. We should add to the list the useless call centers whenever we need help to fix a problem; that is to say, if you can reach an actual person. Everything seems to be so dysfunctional. Besides afflicting us all with adversities both unnecessary and stressful, this strongly suggests a worsening of conditons. Currently underway, some scientists argue, is the planet's sixth mass extinction. It's the first with humans on the scene, attendant with epochal revolutions in informational technology, personal data gathering, and artificial intelligence. Hmm. What could possibly go wrong?
Welcome to the third world. Watch your step when exiting the bus.
Not even the rich are exempt from the downgrading of products. I'm not rich, but I admire classic designer handbags. The other day, I watched a youtube review of Chanel's expensive handbags. In recent years, the price has skyrocketed. And their basic handbag, which at the turn of this century went for the low four figures, now goes for five figures. The price of a decent used car.
https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/p/A01113B14953NS838/small-classic-handbag-shiny-grained-calfskin-rainbow-metal/
That would shocking enough. But although the price has climbed astronomically, the once impeccable quality of Chanel handbags has plunged. The leather is inferior, the linings are made of plastic, the hardware is no longer plated in real gold, the stitches are uneven and can quickly unravel. When customers complain about their still new handbags falling apart, the snooty sales associates tell them Chanel handbags are not intended for daily wear. Apparently, you're just supposed to store them, encased in their flannel dust bags, inside your walk-in closet!
Last year, Bernard Arnault, the owner of the company that runs Chanel and dozens of other top luxury brands was briefly the richest man in the world until Elon Musk knocked him out of first place. Arnault raised prices dramatically and cut corners when it came to the materials and manufacturing techniques. Greed is good. Right?
And it's not just Chanel. The quality of top designer handbags by Gucci and Prada, to name just two, has also declined as their prices have risen. The medium size of Gucci's iconic Jackie 1961 hobo handbag now sells for a whopping $3,500, including tax. But as a Christmas present to myself I snagged an authentic, 20 year old, all leather, vintage version of the Jackie hobo handbag in great condition for just over $200 on ebay.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/p1IAAOSw~wdlUPul/s-l1600.jpg
Thank you Walter! That was a tonic for my soul. Your work is truly an antidote, a vaccine even, to the non stop gas lighting aimed at us by our betters.
Entropy wins, ennui is just a waypoint
Potemkin pens. I buy them by the box -- it’s extremely frustrating how quickly they run out of ink. When the Nespresso machine stopped working, we went to a flea market, bought a percolator from the 1970s for $3, fashioned a filter top from a discarded soup can, got some Folgers and the universe was right again. Hard to say if that course of action would work for a washing machine.
Enjoyed reading this in the Free Press last year after I opened up my "family sized" bag of Doritos to find 3 whole chips staring at me. This year I read after opening the same Doritos except I only found 1 chip. I guess they should change their name to Dorito or I'll have to downsize my family.
And all the “smart” products. I bought an oven that touted more functions than I’ll ever use, but some of the basic I could not access until I joined their app. Oh all the questions to get signed in. I was furious at them and more at myself for thinking I could out smart and oven.