Is the quality of products declining?

[Enceladus]

I know this is a common theme that has always existed to some degree among humans. Nostalgia and sentimentality for yesterday. And I'm not saying many things have not improved or many things are not clearly better. But I keep noticing little things when I shop nowadays.

Fast food is somehow even more horrible than it used to be.
Basic consumer products seem shittier than ever.
Appliances last a fraction of the time they used to.

Everything seems so value engineered down to the last bloody cent everything is a minimum viable product.

You get the idea.

Am I full of shit pining for ye olden times or do you see it too?

 

[Larkin N Likin]

You've severely misjudged the purpose of the Q&A board. There are no smart questions, only stupid people.

 

[New Year's Sperg]

Welcome to ((current year)).

It's almost a decade they have been slowly pushing this crap. It's called planned obsolescence, look it up.

Sadly it's here to stay. Apple, E-Vehicles Industry, IOT and Smart-ification of mundane things has only made things worse, in my opinion.
Nobody, politically wise, has done something to combat this issue and the consumertards have their heads too far up their own arses that they can't see the problem.

Buy used things and learn how to repair them, they'll last way longer than this modern crap.

 

[Secret Messages]

there’s only so much money in making something that lasts forever.

 

[Enceladus]

Buy used things and learn how to repair them, they'll last way longer than this modern crap.

Yeah I do whenever it's an option. It is getting to the point where new stuff is universally trash unless you buy commercial grade.

 

[nosferatu]

You can still find quality but it’s certainly expensive. But, yeah. Profits are king and it’s more profitable to sell something shit that has a gay pattern printed on it than to sell something that lasts.
The sad part is that it’s our own fault. They wouldn’t make the shit if we just wouldn’t buy it. Most people are so poor that that’d rather have a shit thing than no thing at all though.

Have you been on any of those fast fashion websites? It’s insane. Not to make this political, but China is the fucking worst.

www.romwe.com
www.shein.com

Both complete trash. You might as well buy a plastic table cloth and fashion it into a robe. They do great tricks with their models though. They make it seem reasonable. Trash.

 

[Billy Beer]

It's majorly been declining since 2008. As companies looked to cut corners and reduce cost on materials to make/save profit, the quality declined.

Just compare any VAG car from 2005 to 2015 to 2022. More tacky gadgets to make them feel new and quality, but the build, engines and general inside are shite compared to 2005, relatively speaking.

 

[XANA]

Yes, because they discovered that stupid people will continue to buy them in large numbers anyway.

 

[Some JERK]

It's a cycle. The trick is to stock up on goods during the "affordable quality" phase and hang onto them for as long as you can, and switch to cheaper consumables during the "everything is garbage" phase since it's all garbage anyway.

 

[Sage In All Fields]

they're not only declining, they're becoming less available and literally shrinking. I realised a couple days ago that mars bars had become significantly smaller since 2020

 

[Enceladus]

they're not only declining, they're becoming less available and literally shrinking. I realised a couple days ago that mars bars had become significantly smaller since 2020

The shrinking thing was happening even before Covid. You definitely see it in a lot of candy and sweets. Stuff like Hershey' bars are waaaay thinner and smaller than they used to be.