Time to bring the jobs back to America.
I don’t mind paying a higher price for quality, but now it’s higher price for junk.
Look at home appliances. Five years and you need a new microwave or dryer or dishwasher.
Junk.
And you pay a premium price for the junk. Disgraceful.
We could have a new book entitled IN SEARCH OF ADEQUACY.
Without morality, why not make junk and sell it for a high price?
Our house was robbed in April. One of the items taken was my Craftsman Router Table. It was made out of steel and cast aluminum parts. I have a replacement value policy. The insurance company decided I could by a new one for $50 and that mine was now worth $15. Never mind that the new $50 ones are made out of particle board and plastic. So they gave me $15 for Router Table and if I buy a new one for that is similar to what I had for $200 they will still only give me $50 because Sears now puts the Craftsman name on crap that even Harbor Freight wouldn’t try to fool people into buying.
I agree completely.
My father (92) has hung on to his Delta table saw he used to build my bedroom in 1954. I remember going on the train with my Dad into Manhattan to pick it out.
I’ve been through three Chinese pieces of shit, each worse than the last.
Two other quickies: I bought a plastic garden sprayer in June - identical brand and model to one (Chinese, of course) I’ve had for two years. The new one broke in three weeks.
Right now, I’m looking for a mop and mop bucket. Back in the day, I washed a factory floor twice a day with a real mop and real bucket. It would appear that real mops and real buckets no longer exist.
My dad is a woodworker.
He needed a drill press, and scoured the land to find one that met his minimum standard for quality.
He bought a used one from 1947.
19 40 freaking 7!
I asked why and he said it was of a far higher quality, even having been in use for 50 years.
PS: When I house sat for him I used it to drill extra cooling holes in my AR’s hand guard. It was a smooth mechanism, like butter!
If people are replaced by robots it is possible that companies will be able to generate higher quality parts at lower cost. They could choose to continue to use lower quality materials to further save costs, but the products would still tend to have fewer defects if made by properly managed robots.
The problem will be that there will not be enough consumers to purchase the products because far fewer people will be employed.
What the liberals are suggesting is that lots of people will go on the dole and be able to live free and creative lives. I guess governments will tax the profits of businesses to provide dole payments to consumers who will then use those dole payments to buy products. But I don't see how that will work out.
With the kids grown I’ve started doing some updating and redecorating to the house. The price of furniture is ridiculous, especially looking at the poor quality of even some of the good name brands.
I’ve started finding quality used pieces in need of re-finishing, reupholstering etc and I end up with a quality piece with much less cost. I am spending much of my time in doing this but I didn’t realize how much I would love doing it!
Stripping, staining and getting a very smooth finish is my favorite, the sewing and upholstering I don’t enjoy quite as much. Nice upholstery fabric can be quite pricey but it still comes out better than buying new junk furniture.
I’ve learned so much doing this and it’s quite enjoyable and satisfying to have such a nice piece and to know that I had a part of bringing something old and tired— back to life. I miss quality but if you buy used and spend some time, you’ve got something to be happy with and it will last many, many more years.