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Let's make quality the norm again

forbrukerradet.no

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Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#11

Post by austin-cheney »

There are economic impacts to raising quality:

1. Higher quality requires better trained technicians. That means fewer people will be able to participate due to any of missing experience, costs of training/education, and opportunity costs.

2. Higher quality generally requires third party certification, such as the CE or FCC identifiers on electronic equipment. Certification costs time and money resulting in a form exclusivity.

3. Higher quality means goods/services with increased durability, which requires fewer updates or repurchases. That is great, for the producer, if everything comes with a warranty but is bad if patching is an extra expense.

Now consider what that means for software, a fully unregulated industry. It means some form of credentials for developers instead of frameworks or tech stacks. It means paying money to third parties to validate every patch release. It also means applying a warranty to all commercially licensed software. These things would raise the price of software and eliminate most people currently employed.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#12

Post by eru »

epolanski wrote: post #2

There's few things where the drop in quality is astronomical, one of them being clothing. Clothes used to last a life time till few decades ago. Right now you buy stuff that after the first wash already looks worn out, terrible or starts falling apart. Major known brands are guilty of this too, often regardless of price. So people end up with closets filled of junk that they look terrible in anyway. I wish there was…

You can go to a tailor and get custom stuff, if you want to. In fact, thanks to the internet it has never been easier.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#14

Post by eru »

juleiie wrote: post #4

The way I see it we all have 30-60 modern slaves working for each one of us. More or less depending on the country and personal consumption. So I don’t have such determination in complaining about the quality of the goods that I participated in exploited labour of. It’s all working somehow more or less. Seems like it could stop any moment. The continuous decrease in quality is rather the least of my worries. What wor…

People in poor countries have gotten massively richer over the last few decades. Especially those that participate in global trade, ie those that you could even call 'your slaves'. After all, some poor soul in North Korea who doesn't trade with you can hardly slave away to your benefit.

More specifically, people in PR China have gotten massively richer since the late 1970s. How does that square with your slavery thesis?

I might also add that if anything, goods from China have become better value for money since then. Even as their people have moved further and further away from slave status.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#15

Post by altern8 »

chpatrick wrote: post #9
altern8 wrote: post #7

I think about this a lot because I try to never buy anything Chinese or low quality unless I have to. Unfortunately, from my experience artisans aren't willing to do the work anymore, even if you pay them premium. For instance, a carpenter here in Poland that decided to be a carpenter would rather cut up pre-made cabinets to your specs than make them from scratch using wood, even if I pay them 10x. Then, people aren'…

Spoiler alert, almost everything is made in China, including the premium stuff.

I definitely have to do a lot of work every time I need something, but I can often find products that aren't made in China (normally Germany).

If not, I usually just don't buy it new and just go to the thrift store. I can usually find what I need, made 30 years ago that will probably last me for the rest of my life.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#17

Post by alansaber »

juleiie wrote: post #4

The way I see it we all have 30-60 modern slaves working for each one of us. More or less depending on the country and personal consumption. So I don’t have such determination in complaining about the quality of the goods that I participated in exploited labour of. It’s all working somehow more or less. Seems like it could stop any moment. The continuous decrease in quality is rather the least of my worries. What wor…

Such is the nature of being part of a global supply chain, whilst living in one of the richest countries in the world.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#18

Post by altern8 »

eru wrote: post #10
altern8 wrote: post #7

I think about this a lot because I try to never buy anything Chinese or low quality unless I have to. Unfortunately, from my experience artisans aren't willing to do the work anymore, even if you pay them premium. For instance, a carpenter here in Poland that decided to be a carpenter would rather cut up pre-made cabinets to your specs than make them from scratch using wood, even if I pay them 10x. Then, people aren'…

There's lots of high quality Chinese stuff, too. Why do you say it as if quality and Chinese don't go together?

When I go to any store, the Chinese version is ALWAYS lower quality. I've yet to see the opposite.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#19

Post by prologic »

austin-cheney wrote: post #11

There are economic impacts to raising quality: 1. Higher quality requires better trained technicians. That means fewer people will be able to participate due to any of missing experience, costs of training/education, and opportunity costs. 2. Higher quality generally requires third party certification, such as the CE or FCC identifiers on electronic equipment. Certification costs time and money resulting in a form ex…

Not to mention, it would raise the cost of Software as a Service businesses as the cost of building and maintaining software goes up, as well as the technical expertise to maintain those systems. That would have a flow-on effect of reduced market as low-medium income folks are effectively priced out of the market, no long paying for "cloud services, and so on... It would be a disaster.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#20

Post by eru »

austin-cheney wrote: post #11

There are economic impacts to raising quality: 1. Higher quality requires better trained technicians. That means fewer people will be able to participate due to any of missing experience, costs of training/education, and opportunity costs. 2. Higher quality generally requires third party certification, such as the CE or FCC identifiers on electronic equipment. Certification costs time and money resulting in a form ex…

I don't buy your list. For example, higher quality doesn't require third part certification. Reputation (and warranties) can work without third parties.

I do agree that third party certification is one possible avenue.

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