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Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

danluu.com

521–530 of 542 posts

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could buy products that just work and don’t break, even if they cost 3x as much, they would pay for themselves with longer lifespans and less wasted productivity.

Historically you shd buy Miele then.

Yeah, "historically"... But not any more.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#522
post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no comparable EV in the i10 price range there is now! I'm seeing the Dacia Spring appear everywhere - probably because it starts at only 13k in France including the ecobonus (I think base price is 16-17k). This is an absolute game-changer

I'm curious about it, but let's see how far the uptake goes. Where are you located?

> Where are you located?

Given the GP's

>> it starts at only 13k in France including the ecobonus (I think base price is 16-17k).

I'd guess France.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#524
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House foundations, light switches, and water delivery, along with the professions that install them, are all regulated and licensed. There is somewhat of a trend for the quality of those things to have regional variation, e.g., lower quality in places that have historically had weak code enforcement and weak unions. And yes, the regulation probably did make those things more expensive.

Considering the regulations aren’t universal, but they seem to work fine everywhere, your hypothesis sounds preposterous.

A) Have you really been everywhere to check?

B) There are regulations almost everywhere (especially, almost everywhere that has a profitable market to sell into), so it's probably easiest to just sell regulation-compliant equipment in the rest of them, too.

So it's not at all "preposterous" that the regulations actually work even in most places where they're not legally in force, and that you've just not noticed the few where they don't.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House foundations, light switches, and water delivery, along with the professions that install them, are all regulated and licensed. There is somewhat of a trend for the quality of those things to have regional variation, e.g., lower quality in places that have historically had weak code enforcement and weak unions. And yes, the regulation probably did make those things more expensive.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I live in Alabama where there is virtually NO CODE, and NO ENFORCEMENT, and there definitely aren't any God damned unions, either. My house foundation, light switches, and water delivery are perfectly fine, thanks. Matter of fact, I did the wiring and installed the well pump and a fair bit of plumbing myself. Didn't have to ask anyone's permission to do it, eithe…

How profitable do you think it is to make special non-regulatory-compliant faucets and light switches just for the Alabama market? Probably not very, so manufacturers just sell the same regulations-proof equipment there that they sell to the rest of the US. In effect, you're freeloading on the regulatory work of non-Alabamians.

Enjoy your working non-lethal infrastructure, parasite.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely there are lot of things that are expensive and work very badly. "Designer anything" as for example, designer light fixtures. I've had terrible experiences with these.

It happens to almost anything creative products, stylish, custom made, and services. I guess because there isn't enough time and money to assess the quality and optimize them.

I think it's more that you just simply can get away with it: Artsy-fartsy types that care more about design care less about function and quality, so don't question and check them enough for manufacturers to have to keep high standards in those areas.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot of stuff that works remarkably well even though it’s cheap. I just came from a supermarket. It’s filled with items from around the world, of which most are very inexpensive. The consistent quality of these products is astounding—a bag of potato chips or a box of crackers tastes exactly the same, anywhere in the country where I buy it, year-round. A can of Coca-Cola tastes exactly the same even though th…

Coke and potato chips are not at all inexpensive if you include the health costs. They're pretty good examples of things that are cheap and don't work very well, if your goal is health and not distraction/entertainment.

But health isn't the goal when people consume Coke and potato chips, and conversely if health is your goal you don't consume Coke and potato chips.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#528
post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s not much to disagree with here. I simply stated my experience — I never even said my experience was right or that it is wrong to read the article, or that others should experience HN the way I do. I’m a slow reader and don’t have time to read lengthy articles, and therefore am drawn more to discussion. You are (likely) a quicker reader and are drawn more to articles. There’s room for both of us in the world —…

You said "I often wish HN would just allow titles to get posted and HN folks just have a discussion around that". If there's anything I can wholeheartedly say I disagree with it's that, so yes there's a lot to disagree with here.

I think that was an inadvertent juxtaposition of the words "just" and "allow": the GP probably didn't mean that links to articles should be forbidden, and only subjects for discussion ("titles") should be allowed to be posted.

At least I read their comment as "I often wish HN would allow, besides links, just titles to get posted and HN folks just have a discussion around that".

Would you still wholeheartedly disagree with that, too?

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#529
post #57
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

an aeron chair costs about $2000 dollars (give or take). The construction is sturdy, so i expect it to last at least 10 years, if not 20 (you take care of it etc). So the amortized cost is some 100-200 dollars a year for an excellent chair. If you buy a crappy chair, i bet that the cushion starts failing after a year or so of constant sitting. So you'd probably replace it yearly, or suffer a bad chair for a few years…

This is the Sam Vimes economic theory. But there’s a corollary - if you do not need the thing to last, you may be better off with the cheapest one you can find (which may be used - and which may be better than new). This is the “but it from harbor freight, if it breaks now you know you use it enough to make it worth getting a good one”.

> This is the Sam Vimes economic theory.

I consciously adopted the "poor young constable Vimes" strategy for footwear last year. I like, and would probably prefer, quality shoes -- but it's such a crapshoot what those are nowadays that I just can't be bothered to buy a pig in a poke yet again. I mean, brands that used to be OK when I was younger... Mostly aren't any more.

So last year when Lidl had trainers for sale at 30 € (or was it 20? 25? 15?) I bought five pairs. Still on the first ones, so definitely financially ahead -- "better" brands haven't lasted any longer than that in my recent experience.

Re: Why is it hard to buy things that work well?

#530

Holy wall of text. I'm normally ok with these things but that site could use some CSS.

yeah. Dan Luu's site is the only one where I turn on reading mode just to make it readable( as opposed to hide distracting elements)

Looks quite OK as-is on a phone, though.
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