On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 11:52:57 -0800, "Fletis Humplebacker" ! wrote:


"Buttonhole McGee"

Moen's Law of Bicycles

"Good customers make for good products". This is my explanation for
why an ignorant customer base causes merchandise quality to decline,
on account of unhealthy market dynamics, e.g., in retail computer
hardware and software. In the mid-1970s, bicycles suddenly became very
popular in the USA. The masses suddenly entered the market, few
knowing anything about bicycles. Many could distinguish poorly if at
all between good equipment and bad; good customer service and bad.
Consequently, poorly made bicycles (which cost less to make) undercut
well made ones (and poor customer service out-earned the good
variety), because their superior value ceased to be perceived. Over
time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably,
almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering
only after the fad ended, years later.

Quality thrives only when people can tell the difference. When they
haven't a clue about products and how they work, schlock merchandise
prevails. One can see this process at work in retail computing gear
and softwa People who know least about computing always insist most
on achieving bottom dollar. In a way, this is understandable: You want
to exercise control over the process, and, if you're dirt-ignorant
about computing, the only place to exercise control is over price.
Gradually, this effect tends to drive good merchandise out of the
market entirely, leaving a generous selection of cheap crud.

Sucks, doesn't it. I've been wanting a combination head square for a
while now, and I was drooling over the Starret LV sells for around
$150- but I don't *need* something that accurate. So, I dug around
for forever and a day, and found that the only other version available
to me (that I could find) was a "Tool Shop" one for $10. I knew it
was going to suck. I came back to look at it at least three times,
and finally thought to myself "it can't be $140 worse" and brought the
sucker home. Turns out I was wrong. It's not only thin enough to
read the paper through, but the inner ring of the protractor is
powder-coated (guess how long that lasted before it started to grind)
and the screw that attaches it to the ruler actually falls right out
if the the head is removed for some reason. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!
Where in the %^&* are the reasonable-quality $60 tools? Guess they're
too expensive for the DiY/Walmart crowd, but not flashy enough for
*pros*. Dammit.


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam