The quality of goods is getting worse. Illusion or reality?
How often do you hear that something used to be better before? It is believed that people tend to say so as they get older, that our memory idealises things from the time when we were young, that it is a normal illusion and there is no problem. Or is there?
The problem
From time to time I catch myself saying “this became worse”, and I have not even reached my thirties. Moreover, I remember saying the same 10 years ago, when I was a teenager. It means the illusion of quality degradation does not only appear to old people.
To decide whether it is an illusion or not, I simply had to find some tangible proof. It was quite easy; I just had to think of what I was about to throw away. A three-year-old can opener.
For as long as I remember, my family has had an old can opener. However, because its cogwheel and blade became less sharp with time, I bought a new one 3 years ago. You can see in the photo how they both look now.
The rusty one is the new one! They were kept together in exactly the same drawer in the kitchen and used by the same people. Of course, there is no sharpness or good performance of the new can opener anymore.
I did not keep the new can opener’s receipt and the packaging that promised many years of warranty. Even if I did, nobody would believe that I have not stored the can opener in a bucket of water somewhere in the garden. So, the relatively new can opener is about to proceed to the rubbish bin without letting its manufacturer to know that they have produced a reject.
Luckily, I did not throw the old can opener out. It works much better that the rusty one. I will be using the old can opener until I find a quality substitution. If I ever find it.
Then, I have another recent example.
A few days ago I bought a new saucepan. The pervious one became rusty and, not willing to poison my family and friends with the rust, I bought a new saucepan. Remembering an old saying “I am not rich enough to buy cheap stuff” and that the old $17 saucepan rusted in 6 months of gentle use and good care, this time I decided to spend more. With a hope that higher price in a good shop will guarantee a better quality I brought home the new $69.95 saucepan. Considering that better quality must last longer, the costs were expected to be justified.
The new saucepan came with a lifetime warranty and promises of “professional quality” and “customer satisfaction” and... showed spots of rust after 20-minute use on low heat! I was shocked.
Being so happy that the extreme unreliability of my new acquisition did not give me any time to throw the receipt or the package away, I took an advantage of the promised “lifetime warranty” and returned the faulty thing back to the shop. Besides return of my money, I had another goal – to let the manufacturer know that they should maintain appropriate quality of their production and be responsible for their promises.
Can anybody advise on where to get a good quality saucepan? I hope not to end up asking grand parents if they have a spare old one.
These examples may look petty and insignificant, but they are just the most recent. I could move on and discuss the old furniture made of real wood, old cars that run for 50 years, old houses that remain standing for centuries; or modern shoes and clothes that fade, pill and wear out quickly, that it is becoming more and more difficult to find quality natural fabrics, that food these days is full of preservatives, chemicals and genetically modified objects, but it just will take too much time and space.
The point is that the quality does degrade, and somebody who says that everything is getting worse may be quite right.
Well, not everything, of course. Medical and dental equipment become more advanced, the Internet becomes faster (files for download and websites become heavier, though), artists’ paints become less toxic... Technology is progressing, making the manufacturing process faster, safer, cheaper and more accurate.
In this case we face a mystery: if industrial equipment and technology is more advanced these days, how is it that the quality of goods that are produced on this equipment may be worse than years ago? How is it possible that instead of getting better goods and services at lower price, we get constantly rising prices and quality degradation?
How No.1: Saving on raw materials and taking short cuts
The manufacturers’ desire to make a bigger profit encourages saving on quality of raw materials and taking manufacturing short cuts.
Example:
It may not make a big difference for a customer to pay $100 or $101 for a widget X. However, it easily makes a million dollar deal for manufacturers if they reduce the real cost of each widget X by $1, produce a million of widgets X and sell them for the old price. Or, what is even more profitable, reduce the real cost and raise the price at the same time, and then call the changes “new & improved” to mask the degradation.
Illustration:
How No.2: Deliberate erosion of quality
Regardless of how ridiculous it may sound, the transformation of the population into a “throw-away society” can be very profitable. We buy things, use them for a short amount of time before they fail, throw them out and... buy the new ones, because we still need those things.
Example:
A manufacturer produces 10 millions widgets X per year. There are 100 millions people who want to buy widget X. It means that in 10 years everybody, who wanted to buy widget X, will have it.
If widget X is a perfect quality and lasts for 20 years, the manufacturer will have no market in 10 years anymore. If widget X is good quality and lasts for 10 years, the manufacturer will always have a stable demand, but without any opportunity to grow. However, if the manufacturer lowers the quality of widget X to last for 5 years, they can double their size and profit.
Now, what if widget X will last only for 3 years? 1 year? 6 months? Throw away, buy a new one, throw away again and buy the next one... That is how we have become the “throw-away society” with over-pollution and global warming. After this, the politicians can meet and talk about climate changes as much as taxpayers’ money can pay for those meeting and visits, there will be little effect from such talks. The environmental problem is not the disaster on its own; it is a consequence of the disasters of greed, waste and throwaways.
How No.3: Quantity over quality
We can often hear that the population of the planet is growing, so there is a desperate need to produce more, cheaper and faster, regardless of the quality.
If people wish to have quality life, they should stay in a constant number. Everywhere.
Solutions
- Choose what you buy carefully and thoughtfully. Commit your own pre-purchase research. Ask people who already tried those products. Decide which properties of the product are important for you and look for them when you are making your choice.
- Talk to others, word of mouth is a big thing! However, be aware of Word-of-mouth marketing and who you are listening to.
- Remember your consumer rights and make use of manufacturer’s promises. The promises of 100% satisfaction, money back guarantee or lifetime warranty are not just means of attracting customers; they must also be a responsibility. Return faulty things. Doing so, you will get your money back, let the manufacturers know that you do not tolerate the lack of quality, and reduce the amount of rubbish.
- Always read the label, list of ingredients and check the expiration date. Sometimes there are products with better and more natural ingredients available for the same price, as their manufacturers save on fancy packaging or advertising instead of the quality. Check the weight or volume, don’t get trapped by tricky packaging when things look bigger than they really are. Your health is mostly what you eat.
- Remember the saying “I am not rich enough to buy cheap things”, but also keep in mind that the price does not always dictate the quality.
- Prefer quality over quantity.
14 July 2009. Updated on 20 January 2010
Australia |