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Sorry Memphis, cars are NOT made better today. We live in a disposable society now. I used to drive a '64 Chevy. It was built like a tank. I loved that car. While sitting at a stop light a dump truck ran into the back of my car. It was big and scared the **** out of me, but when I got out and looked for damage, all there was, was a small dent in the METAL back bumper.
When a shopping cart hits a car these days, it does damage. Can you imagine a huge, heavy dump truck running into the back of a car made of plastic???
The reason a new car gets more damage in a crash is because it's constructed to deform and lead the forces away from the cabin, it's made to break in a crash, the bumpers a plastic because that makes them more elastic, allowing it to absorb small bumps, plus it makes it cheaper to replace if you get a small ding in it.
In a 50 Mph crash, you'd come out far better in a modern car (be that a BMW, Mini or tiny cars like the Citröen C3) that anything from the 60's, that's been proven time and time again.
And it's not like you can't buy good stuff now too, but it depends what you buy, pay little, and you get the consumer product, pay more to get quality, overall we have it far far better now.
When people talk about how what they had in the 50's and 60's were better quality, they forget that people had a lot less. And the reason things were better quality (if they actually were) was that they couldn't afford to have anything that'd break.
That doesn't mean you cant buy the same quality today, but you'll need to save up for it, like the old days or make due with less stuff.
Overall what we surround ourselves with today is equal or better quality than yesteryear, or it's far cheaper. What we generally do have, is a lot more to choose from.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. The options for quality are still there today (and are often better, as technology improves), but the price will be significantly higher than many people are willing or accustomed to paying,
You're certainly correct that products are engineered to fail so that consumers will continue to buy things just to keep people working.
No, they aren't.
Have you ever worked anywhere that engineered anything? There is no consortium where you agree with competitors to make stuff that fails, you leverage what you can spend to make the best you can, otherwise people buy stuff that is made better from your competitor.
It would make zero business sense in an open market to engineer something to fail.
I have a "new" stereo system, it was $1000 when new, still works flawlessly 10 years later.
And it's not like you can't buy good stuff now too, but it depends what you buy, pay little, and you get the consumer product, pay more to get quality, overall we have it far far better now.
When people talk about how what they had in the 50's and 60's were better quality, they forget that people had a lot less. And the reason things were better quality (if they actually were) was that they couldn't afford to have anything that'd break.
That doesn't mean you cant buy the same quality today, but you'll need to save up for it, like the old days or make due with less stuff.
Overall what we surround ourselves with today is equal or better quality than yesteryear, or it's far cheaper. What we generally do have, is a lot more to choose from.
A friend of mine bought a new Sony system for over $1200. I bought an old 1977 Sansui for $150 from e-bay. I hooked both amplifiers up to the same set of speakers and compared them with an A/B splitter box. The old Sansui blew the Sony away.
I took the tops off the both of them to compare the components inside and the reason why was clear. The Sansui had huge input & output transformers and the output filter capacitors were as big as lantern batteries. The Sony looked anemic by comparison. My friend bought the Sansui and never looked back.
A friend of mine bought a new Sony system for over $1200. I bought an old 1977 Sansui for $150 from e-bay. I hooked both amplifiers up to the same set of speakers and compared them with an A/B splitter box. The old Sansui blew the Sony away.
I took the tops off the both of them to compare the components inside and the reason why was clear. The Sansui had huge input & output transformers and the output filter capacitors were as big as lantern batteries. The Sony looked anemic by comparison. My friend bought the Sansui and never looked back.
And you can compare a brand new base Mazda 3 with a 8-9 year old Merc or BMW, both of which will provide a far superior ride, however, the comparison isn't exactly valid.
If you want to compare quality and cost, you look at the new price of that Sansui system in 1977, then you adjust for inflation and average household income, then you see what the price difference is for a good stereo system now and that Sansui system in 77.
I'm not saying that stereo components isn't one of the very few things that have actually gone up in price for equal quality, but if it has, it's an anomaly, not the trend.
One can buy a home theater in a box for $400 that includes a DVD player and six speakers with a powered subwoofer. It won't win any sound quality competitions for what you get with the price it's quite a lot of value.
For $700 you start getting ones that actually sound really good.
My mother bought a box fan about 53 years ago from Sears. She still uses it. Never had it serviced. Not once.
I have two that are 6 or 8 years old. Both make noises they didn't before. One stopped working for a while until I fiddled with it.
I bought a small fan last year for $6.00. It runs off 2 D batteries and it's a great little fan, albeit it's all plastic. I picked up the same kind of fan for my daughter this spring for $6.00 (Same brand, same style, same fan). The plastic is WAY different. Cheaper. It doesn't work as well as last year's model.
Clothes are made with less quality. Seams come loose, buttons fall off, fabric is cheaper. Even the most expensive clothes are made of cheaper quality.
LOOK AT CANDY BARS. My mother used to say she could get a huge chocolate bar for a nickel when she was young. As kids, we paid no attention to her marvel. Now I tell my daughter that when I was young, we could get a chocolate bar twice the size for a much lower price. What costs $1.10 now is smaller than what cost $.25 then. And none of them are as good as in time past.
Toys that were made 50 years ago lasted through numerous children, sometimes generations. Now we are lucky if they last through one, yet they cost exponentially more.
Even when you buy top of the line of ANYTHING, you don't get the everyday quality of yesteryear.
I don't have any of these things either, poster (I'm 65), and I'm not really sure why I need any of them.
You're certainly correct that products are engineered to fail so that consumers will continue to buy things just to keep people working.
Personally being 63 ;I see many products that are actaully better than in the past. You really need to distinguish between products meant to last until they are outmoded to start with. But like the previous poster;I remmeber the old TVs and their going out many times during their life span and contimuing cost. There has always been junk made.In many consumer products the cost of repair has gotten so high its not worth the cost which has driven repair for many itams out of business.Value has always been a matter of judgement and also what you need/want. Certainly safety is a much larger issue for good reason,most driven by very large numbers of injuries and deaths.Others by libilty. I can remmeber my father talkign about the huge gain in safety at work he observed thru out his career as a blue collar worker. Surprisingly much of it forced on workers who ignored rules.I also remmeebr the first cheaper foreign products I saw which was at Sears called JC HIggins much of it either made by name brand US makers to lessor standards or post war Japan.
And you can compare a brand new base Mazda 3 with a 8-9 year old Merc or BMW, both of which will provide a far superior ride, however, the comparison isn't exactly valid.
If you want to compare quality and cost, you look at the new price of that Sansui system in 1977, then you adjust for inflation and average household income, then you see what the price difference is for a good stereo system now and that Sansui system in 77.
I'm not saying that stereo components isn't one of the very few things that have actually gone up in price for equal quality, but if it has, it's an anomaly, not the trend.
I understand your point perfectly. I'm not a child, I understand inflation. The comparison is valid.
The Sansui was not a high end unit in '77 so your Mazda vs. Mercedes comparison doesn't really work. It was mid-fi stuff that you could find in any consumer electronics store in its day. They went for about $550 back then which would make it a comparable inflation adjusted price match for my friend's $1200 Sony. The only reason that you can get them for $150 on e-bay is that people don't realize that they were made with better components and often have superior sound. In other words, it's old so it must be junk.
I don't want to sound like a know it all, but this has been a life long hobby. I know what I'm talking about.
I haven't waded through all 8 pages, so I'm sure this has been said already...please forgive me.
I don't think it's much different today than at any other point in my life or at least much prior to it...and I'm working on my 6th decade...
You could buy garbage "yesteryear" and you could buy quality. You can buy garbage today and you can buy quality today. Some things are actually made better today than it used to be due to improvements in manufacturing and materials. Some things are made worse today due to cutbacks attempting to keep prices down due to increases in manufacturing and materials cost. I've seen "made in Japan" go from something to avoid to something sought, and in some cases, back to avoid again.
And you know what? It's always been that way. Some people create things with pride and integrity, some don't.
People badmouth today's cars...and some may deserve that. But I remember a day when your car got to 70,000 miles or so, it was time to start looking for another while the old one still had some life and re-sale value to it. Todays autos, in general, last longer.
Now, if I could find a refrigerator that'll last like my now gone grandparent's mid-40s Fridgedair that's still going, I'd be happy.
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