On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:14:21 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed
Huntress" quickly quoth:


"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,

I apologise if the title is a bit of a mouthful. But I've been thinking
about this issue for some time, and would like to seek the opinion of
people here. You frequently hear people complain about the quality of
modern products and say things like "They don't make them like they used
to". But it has occurred to me that maybe older products look good today
because only the good products have stood the test of time, and the poor
products have been thrown away years ago. What do people think? Were
products better in general back in the fifties, say, or were there a
mixture of good and bad? I'd be interested to hear people's opinions, as
I'm not old enough to remember myself.

Best wishes,

Chris

No problem. Some people here are so old that we can't remember, either. g

It's a mixed bag. Cars are much better, and fishing reels are, too. But
wooden matches have gone to hell. Toasters today are complete crap compared
to the old ones.

Most appliances are total crap nowadays. If you've moved a washer,
dryer, or fridge since about the year 2000, you'd have noticed that
they're about half the weight of their earlier counterparts; 1/3 the
weight of '50s items (many of which are still kicking.)


What I think you'll find is that the quality of goods has risen or fallen to
match the consumers' expectations and desires, with a strong influence
coming from the fact that people don't really *want* things to last that
long anymore.

I think that's true in a lot of areas. People want to follow the
trends, and all their appliances get swept away, replaced by the new
style/color/feature that's "in" today.

Where it's not true is vehicles, tools, and durable clothing. Everyone
still wants those to last forever. They just don't want to pay the
price for something which does.


Now I'll get out of the way as the blizzard of messages sweeps into this
thread...

Heh heh heh. I just hope it wasn't crossposted to lebenty seben
different groups, too.

--
Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous
delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
--e e cummings