Backpacks got worse on purpose • Hacker News Board

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#231

Post by echoangle » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

Someone wrote: post #89

josephg wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its got this ... cadence: > Same earnings call. Same margin targets. Same quarterly pressure. The sense that you were choosing between competitors was a fiction that VF Corp had no incentive to correct. > That threat disciplined every material choice, every stitch count, every zipper spec. Once they all report to the same parent, the discipline evaporates. Nobody needs to outbuild anybody. The only pressure left is t…

I don’t see why that would be proof of being written by a LLM. It quite well can be (and I think it is) stylistic writing, hammering the message home by repetition of blows.

How would you ever prove that it’s by an LLM? There’s no text an LLM can produce that I couldn’t theoretically type myself, too. But the style is strong evidence.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#232

Post by CoolThings » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

Seven years ago I bought a Jansport backpack for 50 usd, for daily use. After a year, its zipper broke. Shipping it to Jansport required to pay 15 usd for shipping. So instead, I bought in Walmart a generic backpack for 15 usd, that I still use seven years later. Never bought Jansport again.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#233

Post by helle253 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

man, im feeling EXTREMELY vindicated with buying a backpack from a smaller, independent brand (Epperson Mountaineering)

my backpack hasn't shown any major signs of wear or tear in the.. idk, 5 years since purchase?

I left the shoulder sling in an airplane a couple years ago - it was in virtually perfect condition as well, I'm still pretty bummed at its loss.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#234

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

jeffrallen wrote: post #180

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.…

If you live in Switzerland and vibe with their brand, Freitag bags totally rock and never die.

I don’t think anyone below GenX is allowed to wear them.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#235

Post by seanw444 » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:47 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.…

My favorite bags I've had are from Mystery Ranch, but they're from before the Yeti acquisition, and I haven't tried any since, so I don't know how quality has held up. I do know they've eliminated a ton of their catalog.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#236

Post by rkomorn » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

dfee wrote: post #208

> People who do get warranty replacements report receiving bags that are worse than the one they sent in. Thinner fabric. Cheaper hardware. You mailed back a 2016 JanSport and got a 2025 JanSport, and those are fundamentally different products. This rhymes. Recently, I took my iPhone 16 Pro in to swap out the screen (there was an ever growing dead spot, and they handled it free of charge). Unfortunately, the screen t…

My iPhone 16 Pro's screen got scratched/cracked within weeks of me getting it when none of my other iPhones (5 of them from the 3GS until the 13 mini) ever had any screen issues.

It's hard to not feel like the durability is decreasing.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#237

Post by njovin » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:47 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.…

+1 to that and I'll also add Cotopaxi and AER (quite expensive but built like a tank) to the list.

My year-ish old backpack gave out so I recently committed to extensively researching and buying a new set of travel + tech bags that will last me basically forever, and I've been very happy with my purchases from these brands.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#238

Post by svnt » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

ghighi7878 wrote: post #189

> 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…

The bigger issue for me is these business models prey on the poor and overworked. There are a lot of people who can’t buy a $200 backpack because they need that money for food, but they still need a backpack, only have time to grab something at Wal-Mart, and they get stuck in poverty product churn.

It’s like regressive taxation but carried out by capitalists.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#239

Post by benced » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

The melodrama of this article really rubs me the wrong way, especially when some of the brands they mention do still make good backpacks (like The North Face). The author acknowledges that with "it's a deliberate segmentation" strategy... which is just another way of saying that they make stuff at all price points.

Re: Backpacks got worse on purpose

#240

Post by ctoth » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars.

Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.