RE: Towards Mediocrity: Do Not Tell Me What "The Average Person" Needs!
There are a lot of factors that go into manufacturing considerations, retail pricing, and everything in between. Economic analysis gets messy fast, and anyone with a simple answer to questions like price and quality changes over time is probably either ignorant or arrogant. Why do people buy Harbor Freight drills instead of Hilti? Some don't anticipate needing long-term tools, can't afford better quality, or expect theft or damage before they break. Then there are matters of international trade, domestic fiscal policy, individual time preference, etc.
I wish I had more options to buy stuff "made like it used ta be" though, even though nostalgia also distorts that perception of the past sometimes, too. Tonka trucks were better when they were made out of metal. It is good to have the option to fix electronics. Buttons trump touch screens in cars, and I want a physical keyboard on my phone. It would be nice to not have to wait for updates to download every other time I turn on a device.
Things that fit the average or appeal to the least common denominator are never going to revive quality. An apocryphal story about military logistics comes to mind. Supposedly the military took measurements of recruits to determine what the "average" soldier measured so they could simplify uniforms, and it turned out none of the hundreds measured fit the "average" single standard they calculated. Likewise, just listen to pop music and see how pathetic it is when popular taste is pursued instead of artists fostering excellence and innovation in music.
There are many intangibles in the equation @jacobtothe... like the speed of technology, these days; stuff is obsolete between the time you pick it up at Best Buy and the time you open the box at home; there's our thirst for "novelty," although I suspect part of that is artificially created; there's the societal pressures to always strive to have "the biggest pile of toys," which means sacrificing quality for quantity... the list is long.
I happen to value well-made things, and such ideas as "heirloom quality." I was born and raised in Denmark; people live in 300-year old buildings... they could have been knocked down and given way to modern apartment blocks, but they were built well and instead get renovated over and over. I still have all the hand tools my dad gave me for my 16th birthday.
I'm not saying or suggesting that everyone should think like me, but I am saying that I really would rather not have my way of thinking be made obsolete by the underlying "Wal-Mart-ization" of the world... to use the Harbor Freight example... there should absolutely be a Harbor Freight option, BUT when that approach causes the quality tool maker to go out of business... then I see that as a problem.
Consider also the old schoolhouse in my town. It may be old, but the only major barrier to using it again is the need to renovate it for handicapped access. It is sturdy still. Why demolish it? That would be wasteful.