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Let's make quality the norm again

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Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#391

Post by fxtentacle »

teh_klev wrote: post #295
hn_acc1 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, not sure I would rely on that.. Sure, they have Knipex and Klein on the approved list (which, AFAIK, is true), but then they list Warby Parker (read reddit - has gone WAY downhill), Cutco (by all accounts, a total rip-off and super low-quality knives requiring you to constantly get them sharpened) and Henkels, which also makes some pretty suspect knives, AFAIK.

There's two Henckels listed: https://ledger.worseonpurpose.com/brands/henckels-internatio... https://ledger.worseonpurpose.com/brands/zwilling The first one is on their watchlist and probably the brand you're thinking of?

The first one, "Henckels", openly says that their stuff is from China.

But the second link, "Zwilling" says "Approved". But boy was I disappointed that their "Zwilling Peak" branded ceramic hybrid frying pan for $100 says "Made in China".

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#392

Post by fxtentacle »

VorpalWay wrote: post #250
jerf wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything has become a lemon market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons Even if a brand stays solid for 100 years, for all I know as I'm standing there in the store deciding whether to buy something, private equity bought them two quarters ago and hollowed them out. Harvard MBAs/private equity sees brand reputation as just another resource to be converted into money. If I were a billionaire my dream…

One signal (not fool proof, but often a good signal): what length of warranty do they offer? If some brand has a warranty significantly above the average for the product type, that can be a good sign. And I'm not talking about offering extended warranty programs or such here. Just the basic warranty everyone gets when they buy the product.

I got 3x Bose QuietComfort 35 2 by buying 1. They did honor their warranty, but my impression was that they plan for people not going through the effort of actually requesting a replacement item, even though the warranty says they can.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#393

Post by LtWorf »

akoboldfrying wrote: post #339
LtWorf wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everybody hates ads, but no-one is willing to pay a penny for a service they use daily. Because paying a penny won't prevent ads or tracking.

Paying for an ad-free service will prevent ads. Example: YouTube Premium.

Amazon prime added the ads back no?

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#394

Post by generic92034 »

VorpalWay wrote: post #380
dghlsakjg wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something to be said for places like Costco that has an absurdly generous return policy (are they the only major retailer left that does this? REI used to, but they got rid of it). I believe Costco requires their vendors to eat the return if they want to remain a vendor. Doesn't meant that Costco is immune to bad products, but it severely punishes vendors that sell garbage and protects customers.

I'm not sure that is such a strong signal. The minimum return policy by law in EU is 14 days. IKEA has a one year open box return policy. I would not argue that modern IKEA is high quality. I'm also sure I have seen other stores with a 1 year return policy, though I can't remember which ones off the top of my head. (That is "return undamaged working product" return policy, not warranty policy. Exceptions apply to per…

> The minimum return policy by law in EU is 14 days.

I do not think that is true for stuff being bought directly in a physical store. The policy is for online purchases.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#395

Post by vladms »

ip26 wrote: post #364
vladms wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see "quality brands" as a potential way to avoid knowing yourself stuff about what you buy. In itself, outsourcing one's expertise about a product might be the root cause of the detrimental effects you mention. As an example: I was once shopping with someone that had experience in fashion. While I don't remember all the details, with one look/touch the person could tell and explain if something was poor or high qua…

We can dream that every human should be self reliant enough to personally inspect a used car, test knife steel for ductility and carbon content, inspect the stitching in a pair of pants, on and on. But if you need vast expertise and extensive product testing just to make a trip to the grocery store, that’s not a fluid market. You are requiring a system with a heavy reliance on unpaid labors by all parties. There’s al…

From an economic perspective I think (more) informed consumers will just accelerate competition and innovation to obtain better results. Would be curious though to see some (academic) analysis on what is the influence on consumer expertise and brand impact over efficiency.

I feel that people "trust" too easy these days. Being it brands, politicians, artists, ideas, online videos, phone calls from a Nigerian prince, etc. I am not naive to think the majority will change tomorrow but I would advocate for the need of change. To make a far fetched comparison maybe 1000 years ago people would have said "learning to read is unpaid labors that does not benefit peasants", but I think more knowledge (and critical thinking) benefits everyone.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#396

Post by jdw64 »

eru wrote: post #375
jdw64 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're all navigating through hard times.

The world economy has never done better in absolute terms. I'm not sure where all those hard times are that I keep hearing about year after year, virtually independent of how well the economies are actually doing.

It's a K-shaped economy, after all. From the way you talk, you seem to be upper class. Usually Singapore is centered on elite schools and technology for certain families, and just from the fact that you can go into the English-speaking and IT industries, it seems to me—based on this conversation—that you're basically upper class. You're probably connected to Lee Kuan Yew's family. Singapore itself is a standard English-speaking country, and there are many Chinese Singaporeans, but even so, considering the basic amount of education needed to learn IT skills in Asia, you're probably upper class.

Then it makes sense that you wouldn't feel it. In fact, because it's a K-shaped economy, the bosses and businesspeople I meet think the business climate is good. But separately from that, for ordinary people who are the actual consumers, it's hard to make a living.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#397

Post by samsari »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #262
pif wrote: post #88

Quality was never the norm: cheap always beat quality with a hand tied behind his back! Western working class has spent decades complaining about cheap imports from China... while feeding that market with their own money. Western frequent fliers keep reminiscing about the grandiose pre-deregulation era or air travel, but cry a river when their low-cost carrier of choice actually enforces the limit on cabin baggage. E…

> Everybody hates ads, but no-one is willing to pay a penny for a service they use daily. I wish they would price the service commensurate to what they earn with ads. My ad watching gives them a few cents, and yet they want $8.99 for a month or some gems.

Individual memberships are priced 1000x higher than individual ad revenue because only 1 in 1000 users will pay for membership.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#399

Post by simonask »

techpression wrote: post #281
jolt42 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, recently Rachel Ray sold her dog food brand. I didn't know until my dog started having digestion issues with it. That's how I found out it had been sold and other dogs were also having issues. Apparently buyer cheapened the recipe. At least we have the internet to quickly get the word out that it isn't what it used to be.

There’s a special place in hell for people who would buy a dog food brand only to make worse dog food…

Let me introduce you to a little thing called Private Equity.

Re: Let's make quality the norm again

#400

Post by WalterBright »

Xirdus wrote: post #372
WalterBright wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad had a Mercedes in the 1960s. It was not a very reliable car. He later bought a Chevy which was much more reliable. I bought a 1963 230SL Mercedes as a young man. It was such a beauty! But it was a terrible car. As an engineer, I could see that it was a patchwork of brilliant design and stupid design. The latter caused lots of problems. Sadly, I gave up on it. Stupidly, I bought a Mercedes wagon some years late…

You are literally calling one car much better engineered than another car. So what exactly are you arguing against? I said that you could pick bad car or good car back in the 60s, and it was easy to tell which one is bad and which one is good by the brand alone (usually). Isn't that so? Unlike nowadays where the brand means absolutely nothing and nearly all reviews are fake, and also most brands are manufactured by t…

My point was the brand was not a determinant of quality. People assumed Mercedes was the quality brand, but it was inferior to Ford.
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