Backpacks got worse on purpose • Hacker News Board

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#181

Post by hayleox » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:17 PM UTC

I wonder if there's an advertising law angle here. If a company sells multiple products in the same product category, they really shouldn't be allowed to have them branded so that they seem like multiple companies. The main name/logo on these products should be required to have something that makes it clear that they're all from the same company.

They can pick one of their backpack brands to keep (and eliminate/sell off the rest), or they can tack "VF" onto the front of each brand name, or something like that. A customer shouldn't have to dig into the fine print or do research to know whether two products are from the same manufacturer.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#182

Post by probably_wrong » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:17 PM UTC

eudamoniac wrote: post #100

MostlyStable wrote: post #55

While I personally find this kind of thing extremely annoying, to me, the main problem is the _difficulty_ of determining quality. The Donut media guys did a (relatively unscientific) video comparing a whole bunch of products from the 50s to modern day across several price points. What they found was that the things that "looked" the same now were simultaneously worse and also much cheaper. They also found that, if i…

> They also found that, if inflation adjusted, you get could, in most categories, the same or better quality for the same price This is what so many don't understand, especially among the youth / reddit crowd. They expect their $25 jeans to be equivalent quality to the $25 or even $100 jeans from 60 years ago, for some reason. There seems to be some implicit feeling that everything ought to be getting better and chea…

> There seems to be some implicit feeling that everything ought to be getting better and cheaper than it used to be.

But so many things did become cheaper and better: computers, availability and quality [1] of the music I can physically buy, the energy efficiency of modern fridges, the speed and safety of modern cars. Even my milk lasts impossibly long without spoiling.

If the replacement laptop battery I can buy today for ~$50 is leagues ahead of anything available in the 70s, then why aren't jeans and backpacks also miles ahead of what was available back then? No wonder the younger crowd is confused.

[1] Yes, CDs are objectively better than vinyl. Whether the audio mastering has kept up is a different topic.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#183

Post by drob518 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

Basically, all the old brands that had great quality were killed by private equity and have become skin suits worn by low-cost imitators trying to squeeze another penny out of customers. There are still good brands, but they are increasingly niche and you certainly pay a large premium for them.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#184

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #171

bluGill wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've got a number of tools in my workshop that I'll probably use less than 10 times ever. I have no need of a high-quality product in these cases. I'd rather pay a fraction of that price to have something that'll survive the light duty that I put it to because I won't demand anything greater. I've been burned too often with this thinking. All too often the cheap tool isn't just light duty so it breaks, it is not go…

Anecdotally my experience is the opposite. I bought an angle grinder from Harbor Freight for something like $10 on sale. It's not something a pro could use every day but it has absolutely been fine for what I do with it: cutting the occasional piece of metal stock, sharpening the lawn mower blade once a year, etc.

[deleted]

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#185

Post by cmoski » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:21 PM UTC

xnyan wrote: post #102

emtel wrote: post #7

I bought a north face backpack for college in 1998. It cost $60. It was an extravagant expense for me at the time and I felt horrible about it for weeks. That backpack is currently at college with my son, who used it all through high school as well. It is by far the oldest and most durable daily-use object I’ve ever owned.

A cheap backpack ended up being the most expensive backpack I have ever owned. In 2004 I was very young and all my income came from summer jobs, so I got a backpack from Walmart. It was one of their nicer models, had a lot of features and looked pretty good. IIRC it cost $20. I had worked all summer to save for an MP3 player, and 2 months after getting that backpack I getting off a bus, when I realized there was alre…

I spent ~$400 on a Deuter baby/toddler backpack two years ago and it still works. Beautiful thing.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#186

Post by vondur » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

I've been buying my bags from Timbuk2. High quality, I had a messenger bag that I gave away after 10 years and it was in great condition. I have a backpack and messenger bag for them. They are also designed to protect laptops/tablets really well.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#187

Post by bradyd » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

34679 wrote: post #170

If you're looking for a backpack, I can't recommend Osprey enough. They are still a independent US company with a lifetime warranty they actually stand by. I had to call their customer service just last week after I ordered the wrong size bag. I was connected to an actual human immediately, and he sent me a prepaid return label, even though it was my fault and I was fully expecting to pay for return shipping myself.…

I have an Osprey backpacking pack that's about 10 years old. I had a squirrel chew through the zipper on the removable pouch. I sent it off to Osprey to be repaired and they sent me a brand new pouch.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#188

Post by mystraline » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

mfro wrote: post #76

CWuestefeld wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Don't post generated comments or AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans.

Its a dumb and toothless rule. How do we detect that?

Counting emdashes? "If not this but that"? 'I am using AI'. (Username with bot or claw or agent)

Where this is headed is a LLM being able to control a KVM connection, and the LLM and associated software doesnt exist on the VM. And naturally, you run anti-VM detection software.

That way theres no API, other than the actual webpage UI. Thats ALSO a API.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#189

Post by ghighi7878 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

> A $35 JanSport that dies in eighteen months: $23 per year. Add the shipping cost when you try the warranty. Add the replacement cost when the claim gets denied. Add your time.

> A $200 bag that lasts ten years: $20 per year. Already cheaper. At fifteen years, which the well-built ones consistently do, you're at $13 per year.

This ignores the money you would earn by not giving money upfront. A 23$ expense every year is cheaper than 200$ upfront over 10 years, because you will earn 15 euros over that 170 Euro first year if you put it in S&P500. And then 12 nect year and and 10 in third year and you are already ahead of the 200 Eurro bag. And you just dont spend time in warranty. Just throw it away dn buy next one for 35 Euros.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#190

Post by jerlam » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

tsimionescu wrote: post #48

cortesoft wrote: post #19

As much as the result for consumers sucks, is this just a result of the quality backpack business not being a very profitable business to be in anymore? The reason they were able to buy all those backpack brands is because each of those brands were not making much money running a backpack company selling quality at a reasonable price. The purchaser makes some money leeching value out of the brand reputation, but then…

It's much more likely to be a result of the modern drive for companies to keep growing. This leads to a need to maximize profit endlessly, which in turn leads to cutting corners as much as you think you can get away with, or just ballooning prices. And this problem goes up and down the supply chain, of course - even if you want to run a non-growth business manufacturing quality backpacks, if your suppliers want to ru…

One silver lining is that backpack industry doesn't have a huge moat. New companies can get started relatively easily as the older ones sell out and decay.

The bags I bought 15 years ago were made locally in San Francisco - Timbuk2 and Chrome - and had a reputation for quality. Now both brands are mainly produced overseas, but have been replaced by two other local brands with ties to the originals - Rickshaw and Mission Workshop.