Up until now, I think I've demonstrated incredible restraint, not making as many complaint entries as I could have been making. Nonetheless, I'm starting to see a troubling new trend in the things I have to buy—something that other people have been noticing for a while, but it took a long time to trickle down to me here in Armpit, USA. Companies that make things have completely given up on producing a quality item. All across the board it's like this; technology, clothing, food, cars, architecture, whatever. If people buy it, it's not made with care.
I guess I just had to experience it for myself to realise it, but the sheer depth of the problem is absolutely mindboggling. It used to be that, if I needed to buy something, I would go out and buy it, and that would be it. Printer cartridge? Got it. Trousers? Got it. Loaf of sandwich bread? Got it. But now, it's not enough to just buy it. You can't ever get something remotely acceptable on the first go; you have to take it back and try again and hope that something has changed that will make it acceptable this time. Usually, it isn't, but you're so sick of standing on the only customer service queue that you just accept it.
I recently bought a set of Epson 200 printer cartridges online; one of those 4-in-1 packets with all the ink colours in. It was hideously expensive, but I needed to print things for Hanukkah. When I got the ink into my printer, the ink levels only showed 1/4 full. Office Depot still hasn't gotten back to me about a refund, despite the fact they (strangely) sent the bloke over to get the ink to return it. I mean, that was odd enough on its own. Why can't I just take this lot back to the store like I've always done with defective merchandise? "Oh, no, it's better this way, honest. Don't take it back, give it to this rando we're going to send round. It'll be easier on everybody." Yeah, easier to ignore me ringing up customer service when it's taken a bloody month to get my refund sorted.
I also purchased a 2-pack of USB flashdrives, 'cos removeable storage. Different merchant, different company, same results. I plugged one into my computer, verified that the number on the tin was the number on Windows (more or less... you know how it is with computer storage; they say "64 GB" but you only get slightly more than 52), and went to copy a file onto it. "Unrecognised device in drive G." The simple act of attempting to store a file was too much for it. I took it back to the store. Did I get money back? No, I only got store credit. So, everyone involved still had to eat the cost of the intentionally faulty filesticks. The company didn't get any money from the sale, the merchant didn't either, and all I can do now is buy another substandard product.
I put my old Wii up the other week and I got to thinking about the Nintendo Switch. From launch day all the way up to my putting it onto my closet shelf, the Nunchaku and Classic Controller attachments' joysticks worked splendidly. My Nintendo 64 controller's joystick worked perfectly from 1997 to 2014. The Nintendo Switch... As far as I know, Nintendo has never bothered to attempt a permanent fix for their Joy-Con drifting problems. Nearly every Switch ever sold has faulty Joy-Cons, being only a matter of time before drifting sets in. Nintendo used to be the company you looked to for quality, long-lasting equipment that would almost outlive you. But now, they're just like everyone else.
As I said, it's all across the board. Everything that is mass-produced is slipshod. Partially-filled printer cartridges, USB flashdrives that can't save files, game systems with drifting joysticks. Waffles that are so thin, you can almost see through them. Clothing that comes apart in the wash. Dishware with flaking paint. Stainless steel skillets that rust after a week. Suburban tract houses where nothing is square and the doors need to be planed to close properly. Cars that are built with such poor-quality parts that recalls are issued. File servers that fail after 500 hours of uptime. E-bikes immolating their riders because they used refurbished lithium batteries. What is the problem? What has changed? Why is it so difficult to make quality products anymore? There is no such thing as "quality" anymore. "Quality" has come to mean "it lasts a full month instead of breaking down immediately". Who is this benefitting? The company? They can't keep a sale because stuff keeps getting sent back. The merchants? Same problem. Certainly not the customer, who has to actually buy the thing, discover it's shite, stand on the queue to return it, cheeseburger-cheeseburger, do it again. The shareholders? Can't be them, not with profit forecasts in the red. Certainly not the people who actually make the product, who are sent home without pay after 12 hours on the line.
I guess this is what they mean by "end-stage capitalism". The company, in desperately searching for a way to maximise profits, cuts so many corners that they violate human rights just to push a ratty product out the door, only to have it slung back at them like a monkey in a cage. "Maybe if we acquire these 5 smaller companies? Maybe if we shift all our operations to Pakistan? Maybe if we stop paying our workers?" All this and more are tried, only forestalling the inevitable.
--2 January 2024--