Had our furnace evaluated at the house we bought. The guy said it was 30 years old. We said oh that’s too bad we’ll have to replace it. He said no it’s good, he replaces 30 years old furnaces less often than 10 year old ones.
Always cool and never went out of style. BUT, prices have skyrocketed in the past decade at my local thrifts. Definitely not as affordable as they once were. But, from what I can see, still cheaper than buying new.
Yet another result of social media…there’s a swarm of folks on all platforms that make a living (supposedly) foraging thrift shops and selling their finds for many times what they paid. And then bragging about it online. So the shops are clearly wise to it and reacting as one would expect.
Sadly this really screws over the financially struggling folks most of these shops were intended for.
While that can be true, I think there is still the win for struggling folks because the higher prices often mean more resources available for programs run by the charities (the sale of second hand goods that are donated raises revenue for the charity to invest where it is most needed).
Agreed. I used to shop secondhand as a teen, and I’ve always sought out old solid wood furniture instead of cheap composite new crap. I thought my kids might rebel and want new stuff but they’re teens now and go out with their mates round all the charity shops hunting clothes CDs and DVDs.
Anybody who works with tools has known this for years. I snatch up any decent american made tools whenever i find them, bc america used to make some of *the best* shit.
Quantity has surely won out over quality, just about everywhere you look. This is all just so a sliver of the population can get rich. And our inability to pass on a decent work ethic to each generation.
But high quality things will always have a high value. Talented craftsmen should take note, you can make a killing in the near future.
We're trending towards everything being disposable. Thats how we keep this house of cards called the economy viable. But this also has huge implications for our culture and society, which is easily seen already. Wont be long before people are on that disposable list(some might argue thats already, or has always been the case).
And i cant help but notice how every topic leads to this web of shittiness that has infected our world. Cant *imagine* how that came to be..
My 50 year old SNAP-ON Tools are still as good today as they were when they were first unboxed. There is no way I could afford these same tools today if I had to replace them. I have many Kowa Seiki (Japanese) tools as well, very high quality. I look for Made in USA, Made in Germany, Made in Japan for the best quality tools.
Made in Germany, at least, no longer means what it used to. Apparently the auto companies now have the ability to design cars to last for a certain length of time. Prior to the CAD era they didn't really know how long their cars would last, so they overbuilt them to be sure. Especially Mercedes. Now they can be much more precise, because they know. BMW in particular is now known for being hideously expensive to keep driving once the warranty is up, so resale values are nil. New Mercedes, similar. My friend said he was actually told by someone in the shop at his Audi dealer that they were only designing cars to last 150,000 miles. So why would anybody buy them, when for less money you can get a Toyota/Lexus that will last twice as long? Or even better, a used one? We have to stop buying by brand name or nationality, and examine fitness for use. We have to stop buying for status. Maybe pay cash for an older car without an infotainment center in it. We have become a country that rolls up to the drive thru at Mickey Ds, presses a button to roll the window down long enough to get the food, and drives away. We call this "living."
If there are still German tool companies doing well, good for them!
I come from a state (CT) that used to be filled with factories, even factories that made the tools that made the tools, such as the famous Bridgeport machine tool. The remaining manufacturers are mostly in defense-related industries who can afford to build here, and have members of congress pushing for them to stay here.
My family used to own a textile factory, which eventually became impractical to continue because of competition from lower labor costs in the American south, then that dried up too up when the work went to Asia.
It is very very hard to make things here anymore if you have to compete with low cost labor overseas. Look where our money went instead: tech, health care, education, finance. Everything else got squeezed out, including people.
It's not just the labour. It's the regulatory frameworks. With American manufacturers, for every dollar spent on wages there is a dollar spent on regulation. For SME firms the costs are two dollars in regulation per dollar on wages. Between 20-36% of regulations survive cost-benefit analysis.
It affects everything. The neoliberal economists used to argue for the Doha Round. What they didn't know (or didn't care to know) was that in a truly free market world, North America and Europe would wipe the floor with agriculture in most of the developing world with a level playing field in most areas.
Regulatory costs add 20-80% to the price of food, and that's a very conservative estimate which doesn't include reasonable improvements to Western economic systems like tort reform and banning punitive government rent-seeking. One wouldn't need to ban fines, simply pass a federal law preventing government of any kind, or NGOs, from in any way benefiting from fines, for the purposes of budgets or funding. Turn the fines into a rebate for American taxpayers or use the money to add a couple of years to the Social Security fund.
Cui bono?
Still, Americans are lucky. It's much, much worse in the UK. I gather Clarkson's Farm is quite popular in the US
And of course, the regulations don't apply to imports. 92% of imported oats in America have been shown to include chlormequat. A 2024 peer-reviewed study detected it in 80% of U.S. urine samples. Organic oats show minimal or no detection.
Because the green backs are getting weaker, compared to the euro, it makes sense to buy 1980/90ties German cars from the US, and to ship them back to Europe. California, Arizona and Texas cars has no or much less rust. They are better equipped than same models at Europe. And anyway much cheaper than at Europe.
That makes sense if you can find a good car that can be imported and registered in your country. I'm combing the area for a nice SAAB 9-5 myself. These are much harder to find in my part of the US. No late model stuff for me.
100% give me old steel over new steel every day of the week. Half the good quality vintage tools on ebay are there because someone doesn't know how to sharpen them.
Once a storied American brand, Levi’s jeans were the gold standard from the 60-90s. Then they became a public company and started cutting corners and outsourcing manufacturing outside the US.
Now, their jeans aren’t nearly as high quality anymore.
Their vintage jeans from the 60s-90s go for hundreds of dollars and are referenced by many of the Japanese denim brands.
Around 90% of my wardrobe is second hand. There’s no questions that secondhand is better than new.
As a child (late 50s, early sixties), I recall my mother taking me to a clothing store to buy jeans—at that time, they were regarded as working clothes—and great for kids because they were so hard-wearing. The leg length was outsize, so a child could grow into them, or they could be used
for patches. They were so hard -wearing that I was sized by just standing them upright beside me….
Remember, you live in a place where the fashionable jeans come "distressed," with the knees pre-ripped. And $$$. Rich people's jeans, not working people's jeans. Kids are not "cool" if they don't wear them.
But it is not cool to be "cool," and never was. People who feel insecure (like adolescents) want to be "cool." But we have to learn to live our own lives, not somebody else's. We have to be indifferent to whether that makes us cool or not.
And look at all the "cool" people Monsieur Epstein managed to attract to his personal Island of Depravity. Now they are "shocked" to hear of gambling in the casino!
If this is what the cool kids do, OK, then color me uncool!
YES! Bought a pair of Levi's a few years back because I was tired of other brands falling apart, and of course the Levi's fell apart within months. Honestly, for jeans I just buy whatever pair at Winners fits and doesn't smell like formaldehyde. So I've just sort of surrendered to the crap.
I haven't had much luck with good pants buying used or vintage (mostly sizing). And even good stuff wears out over time - we're going to run out of solid vintage.
Yep, because of the delicate electronics and capacitive "touch panel" controls. Plus, everything has an app and requires Wi-Fi connection these days. I had a 15 year old Bosch dishwasher that just died. $400 for a control board, I bought a complete new and very similar BOSCH Unit, the entire appliance dost just a few dollars more than one crappy control board. Underneath, most of the parts inside the unit were IDENTICAL: to the older one. I doubt this one will last as long. Tell me why refrigerators and freezers need internet access and a huge screen on the door?
Yup. I've had 3 fridges that lasted a couple years (all different manufacturers.) My "pandemic microwave" lasted 15 months ---- hey, gotta make it JUST longer than the warranty. I now buy extended warranties on all appliances.
I don't go by brand anymore. The build quality can vary wildly by product series. Two different fridges from the same company can have completely different design teams, and entirely different supply and assembly chains.
I now go by one thing alone. Are the hinges metal or plastic/nylon? It's a simple metric that you can get more mileage out of a fridge with metal hinges.
Here's a top maintenance tip. Make sure there is a fair amount of clearance at the back. The compressor won't have to struggle so hard. Also, the first time you have to do a defrost, it's worth vacuuming/gently removing as the dust off the compressor coils at the back. One of the reason why dust is bad for computers is because it's a heat insulator. This prevents compressors or cooling from working properly. Dust inferences with a lot of things. Dusty coils can add 25-35% to the cost of running a fridge, and that's before one considers the shorter lifespan issue.
Most fridges also have an internal drainage slot for condensed water down the back and near the bottom. If you have problems, it's worth checking to see whether it's blocked with a pin or needle.
Of course, none of this solves the problem of the designed obsolescence in all small top freezer compartments, or the fact that most gasket fails over time.
But buy Frigidaire or Whirlpool, only ones made in US or Canada. You do NOT want to rely on foreign parts. Find and keep a good appliance repair guy. They’re the ones blowing the whistle. Bosch, LG, Samsung - garbage.
Thanks, great information! I would add Speed Queen for those who can afford it. I wised up with my last washer and got as few bells and whistles as possible - I think those cause a lot of problems.
Amana too. My appliance-repair guy was a Sears repairman for years and he’s seen it all. Recommends only the US makes, GEWhirlpool/Maytag/Amana/SpeedQueen. He says the foreign goods are terrible quality and expensive to boot. Good Used appliances are a thing too.
I second speed queen. My grandmothers washer and dryer, at least older than me at 44, are *still* giving good service to my laundry. 3 selector knobs on one, 1 on the other, and none of those controls have *ever* given me a problem.
By far the smart money is on a speed queen. I asked a used appliance guy in town about used ones and he laughed and said we *never* get those in here
Speed Queen is the best! During my first purchase, I didn't fall for those mold-ridden front loading washing machines, thank God. One my second purchase only because of a move. Not sexy but very dependable.
I gotta say, though, in 2009 I bought a 24" Samsung flat screen TV. It was trouble free until recently. I turned in on to no picture at all. I guess I got my $400.00 worth out of it. Doubt if I'll get my $225.00 out of its replacement, though. But I might, considering the quality of programming in recent decades.
Is it? How far back does "these days" go? :-) About 5 years ago I bought a new microwave, washer/dryer, and refrigerator. For at least 5 years, they've been flawless. Zero issues. Still going strong.
I hear so many complaints about new appliances, which appear to be mostly front ends for corporate money extraction machines. They are designed to be cheap to make (in Asia), but expensive to repair (in the US).
Did they get the idea from Apple? Expensive throw away devices? Try not to think of the chemicals leaching from the landfills they will end up going into...our children will be drinking the water.
Glad your micro still works after 5 years. Shouldn't they last for 20-30?
My current micro is 16 years old. Same age as my Toyota.
I have a pair of Fiskar scissors that are at least 50 years old, and they work and look almost like new. My daily driver headphones (Yamaha) are 40+ years old.
I got rid of my electric can opener when it died, tried replacing it with a manual one, but all the ones for sale were junk, finally got a military-type blade opener which has been faultless but takes a little effort to use. So what.
Some things are inherently long-lasting if made right, others change more rapidly. Learning and change are supposed to occur. The river must keep moving.
A friend was visiting in Appalachia and met a local. He asked the fellow if he had lived there his whole life. He was told "Not yet." Another had her car get stuck on a country road. She saw a house nearby, where a lady was sitting on the porch. So she called out to her, asking for help. The response? A blast from a shotgun.
We need to keep our heads, and not jump to conclusions, or onto bandwagons.
There is another interesting side of this phenomenon that I have experienced, and my partner has to a more extreme degree, especially in the realm of jewelry. The rise of videos based on thrifting - "thrift-tok" - has caused a surge in pricing on thrifted items, especially at the larger chains. As these videos have blown up, the stores have started to raise their prices significantly.
Sometimes it's fair, perhaps they realize the piece is designer and sell it for $20 or 30 instead of $5....but it has started to inflate pricing in general, and there are times that I have noticed crazy prices on items that probably wouldn't even fetch that price on depop or some direct-sell website.
These stores get these items donated, and - ideally - sell them to stay open and to continue to help people with less wealth find affordable clothing and household items.
For 20+ years (since my early teens) I have found 90%+ of my favorite pieces at these stores, and have been able to do it on a thin artist/musician's budget. I have the luxury to say, "well I'm just not gonna go for a little bit and save money," but for folks who have multiple children or family members to care for, my heart breaks as I see these stores blow up their prices.
All that said... Pieces made decades ago were made to last. You can fix them if needed. Pieces made today are often garbage waiting to be pitched, and it leads not only to an insane amount of waste, but they just suck to wear.
SO! Go thrifting!! Just maybe....don't post about ALL your best finds...
This problem has been in the UK for years. When I was young I bought a lot of clothing and furniture from thrift stores. I look at prices now and my heart bleeds for people who are struggling to survive. People who are on good money should stay away from at least clothing in thrift stores. Where are the poor supposed to shop??
It does strike me as unethical when people who can afford good quality new products, instead shop secondhand, or worse, fast fashion. We’ve made the upper-middle class feel like they need to cosplay as poor, and these are the unfortunate consequences
There aren't good quality new products anymore. That is the problem. The rich are not cosplaying as poor, they're looking for value for their money, just like everybody else.
Do you really think your Overlords Care where they shop or eat or Die ? Let alone a goodly majority of the everybody's out there ? If I got mine - who cares -right ?
That’s the downside. I wish it had remained a secret for thinking people to discover, rather than blasted all over the internet. It’s not like most of these accounts get compensated for sharing what had been secrets to a mass audience. We need to return to gate keeping or there will be noting of value left in our society
In the service sphere, there's value in patronizing businesses that do it the oldbfashion way and operate as a local independent. Private equity is trying to buy up and corporatize every area of our lives. This not only leads to higher prices, but poorer service. A friend with a chiropractic business got seduced by private equity along with a lot of other local chiropractors. They ended up suing the firm because it didn't deliver on its promises (but are competent with contracts, so the chiropractors lost). Tucker Carlson recently interviewed the owner of a veterinary telemedicine firm who explained how private equity is driving up prices and endangering our pets. With their money, they wield a lot of political power.
Maybe should rename it Pirate "Equity," since there is no equity in it. It's just one of the tentacles of the Extraction Machine that rules our lives. In this "free market," exploitation is Job One. Even the car washes are doing it...
My daughter works at a Goodwill and told me they'd recently raised prices and customers do complain. They've nicknamed it Greedwill. I've noticed shopping there that some of their prices are the same or even higher than you'd find on the great, overstuffed clearance racks at Old Navy.
I buy secondhand clothes, tools, cars and all sorts of other stuff whenever possible. I have a 1930's ATLAS shaper, a 1940's South Bend lathe, Snap On tools that I have had since the 1970s. 25 - 50 year old cars, a 30 year old tractor. Almost nothing made today can hold a light to most old stuff. These tools are not flashy, but they just work, year after year. Just look at the abysmal quality of new home construction, you see why old houses are actually bringing more than new prices. New stuff is mostly crap.
So true! Clothes made of all chemical/synthetic yarns that are horrid. Tailoring (if you can even call it that) that is completely off. I bought a new set of dishes at Williams Sonoma that need to be scrubbed with Bar Keepers Friend to remove the grey marks from silverware!! Williams Sonoma won’t take them back! Who buys dishes to have to scrub them with Bar Keepers Friend? And of course, Williams Sonoma knows of the problem but keeps selling that crap.
Bravo. This general ensh*tification is just part of the ever growing income/wealth gap. Cheaper products for higher prices benefit the stock holders while materially immiserating the rest of us.
It's a little more complicated than that. It's less about 'late stage' capitalism and more about the way incentives play out in weird and perverse ways, especially in terms of culture.
It's a little known fact that the Nordic model countries have very low income inequality, but very high wealth inequality. Why? Because they have high taxes on salaries but low taxes on capital. The Swedes also have tax rebate system which returns a third of any debt interest paid on student loans (obviously related to living costs while studying) and mortgages. The Swedes also have zero inheritance tax.
The Danes are really smart with it. They have very high taxes on anyone earning 60% above the average salary, but if you're an engineer and you've already been stiffed by your unions collective bargaining compromises, then there are really incentives to starting your own company because you will pay a much, much lower rate of tax on your earnings. A few years back, they used to say that the American Dream was alive and well and living in Denmark. Of course, they've screwed themselves with windmills, but that's beside the point.
Back in the nineties, the Nordics worked out that they could make more money out of the income from capital by taxing capital modestly than they could from taxing capital directly. At one point Sweden was taking 2.7% of total GDP from corporation tax alone- that was higher than the combined share of GDP from corporation tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance taxes in the US. Plus, they were getting cap gains revenue as well. Both corporation tax and cap gains for businesses were quite reasonable at the time.
But the far more important factor is that this type of approach makes for a far healthier form of capitalism. Their capital class actually pays their taxes, and they don't offshore- because they think it's a great deal to have a significantly lower rate of tax than the top rate of marginal tax for people on high salaries (over $100K USD). There is a real dividend to not having a 'tax the rich' mentality pervading the culture. Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Finns pay for their larger social safety nets themselves and they are proud to do so, partly because their governments are far less useless and wasteful than those found in the UK and US. And I don't just mean the politicians- I also mean the bureaucratic and institutional classes.
Because they get a fair tax rate relatively to everyone else, they don't offshore. They pay their damn taxes. They also invest in their own countries, and are loyal to their investments. They don't want to see the reputation of their brands burned down to the ground, because they aren't in it for the cheap financial hit. They are value investors.
They do have some problems, particular with the behaviour of the finance sector, but that's true the world over. And in many ways it wouldn't be easy to adapt their system to America. For a start you have a real problem with monopoly/oligopoly. People think it's only 20-30%, but once one includes conglomerates owning more than one company in the same sector, the figure balloons above 50%. You food sector, is a particular problem because there aren't enough competitors. When I lived in the US, food was a lot cheaper than in the UK. Now, you can check out YouTube and find that the situation has reversed.
There is also a real problem with private equity and leveraged buyouts. The buyout a company and then lever it up with debt to pay out the investors. If the employees are lucky, there will be a valuable part of the business which can be sold off. If they are not, the company will be liquidated for scrap, and they will be out of work. Changing the dynamics, structure and incentives of the system won't work. Private equity needs sensible regulating. First, decent regulation is by far the hardest thing to do in government. Most countries would be better off sacking 3/4 of the regulators and paying to 1/4 which are left x4 the level, because it's actuarial level of difficulty.
But more than that. Finance is by far the most powerful lobby in DC and London. Two German engineers did a network analysis a while and found that 200 companies controlled the world. All of them were finance companies. They are more powerful than Pharma, Oil, or the Green lobby. AIPAC is a minnow by comparison. The combined power of the US intelligence community is relatively small by comparison, because finance buries their bodies, financially and from an operational funding perspective. And they really don't like their profit centres being touched. And private equity is a big profit centre- it used to service the pension and medical sectors. Most new business has come from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
Think about that for a second. You are being ripped off so that the bankers can pay generous pensions to Middle Eastern bureaucrats.
Anyway, my point would be that Sweden still has good products. They tried socialism and found it didn't work. So instead, they decided to try supercharging capitalism and changing the incentives so they could at least achieve some of their socialist aims. The Anglosphere cannot do it, because we prefer overly simplistic grand narratives to fine-tuned and well-thought out policies that don't cast anyone as villains or as heroes.
The other problem with finance is that they only pay about half the taxes that other sectors do. Invisibles are insanely difficult to tax, without actually reducing revenue. They also turned housing into a speculative asset by investing in it themselves.
was about the planned obsolesce and enshittification of the streamers. I make a heavy case that this degradation in quality (both for users and businesses) was planned obsolescence. Companies don’t make money when their products perform well. It’s why InstaPot went out of business. In my article I point out that companies spend vast amounts of money on consultants like McKinsey (who was allegedly one of the biggest reason people got hooked on opioids) to find ways to ENSURE people have to keep buying from them. Shein? Clothes fall apart on purpose. Dating apps? Intentionally gamed so you are set up to fail because if you succeed, they stop making money. Doc Martens? Yeah, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. This is an intentional and terrible business practice and I’m glad to see more people calling it out. My article is here if anyone wants to read it.
So just for fun watch Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, a wonderful Cinderella story movie where one can appreciate the downgrade in couture clothing. Women or men who sew have known for decades how to spot quality and fabric. Best defense is to actually gain a skill and learn how to sew, then learn to sew better. It’s fun and creative. Leave all the rest to the thrifts.
It’s not new. The Slow Fashion movement has for years now been highlighting the sins of commercial, global fashion conglomerates, especially unfair working conditions and slave labor. But a big part is simply reducing consumption. There is even the huge industrial waste issue (from crap clothing).
The contemporary version AND the old version starring Angela Lansbury are both excellent. I've got the old version on a DVD,a lucky charity shop find. Both versions have a slightly different emphasis from the different era in which they were made. My one criticism is that the actor who plays the diplomat who helps Mrs 'arris in the new version has no charisma (sorry actor) but Omar Shariff in the old version is totally believable as a suave smoothie!
..and the big thrift shop in the sky, eBay. Most of my sweaters and coats are pre-1990. the only downside? Getting an item soaked, apparently, in Febreeze.
I especially like shopping for used vinyl records. Pretty much, what you see is what you get. They are discreet physical objects, which carry a history and a meaning.
All you have to do with digital music files is buy them in the open MP3 format or WAV (CD) format. Then you back them up to several locations as you should with any other digital files. Nobody can edit them from afar. If your home gets broken into they cannot be lost, nor can they burn up in a fire. You are not just streaming (aka radio), and unlike vinyl records, which I grew up on, they will never wear out or get scratched. They will have a better dynamic range, like real live music, which LPs never had. I download my music from Amazon and it is DRM free. Let us not forget the immensely expanded freedom to discover and listen to music which is possible now. I attach no importance to the form the music is delivered in, that is just like the bottle the wine came in. You drink the wine, not the bottle.
Yes, no editing from afar, but used to work with a reggae record seller and it was amazing what people did to old vinyl to make them last longer, the owner had a real knack for spotting tampering
Hmm...I'm 100% for sticking it to crappy retailers! That said...I dont' think it's as simple as "new products BAD, old stuff GOOD." There's plenty of crappy old stuff out there...and in the past couple years I've bought some cheap stuff on Amazon (I know, evil, but hear me out) that was excellent—every bit as good as name-brand stuff at a quarter the cost...and it's held up really well! (Examples: cheap lycra cycling shorts, cheap iPhone tripods, cheap socks.) I buy plenty of great secondhand stuff too: my kayaks are secondhand, my car is preowned, I have secondhand skis...and much more.
My point being, the truth lies (as usual) somewhere in the middle. Let's definitely keep shopping secondhand, but not all new stuff is horrendous.
ALSO: I'm dubious of the "cold, compressed digital v. warm, beautiful analog" thing. Again, I love analog...but given a choice between listening to Bach preludes and fugues (played by Glenn Gould) in compressed digital form...versus listening to some C-rate pop artist's analog album of crappy music, and I'll take the Bach any day! Context is everything. :-)
Hear, hear! I’m a long-time thrifter so you’re preaching to the converted. In some ways it’s sad—I used to have an embarrassment of riches at Salvation Army. Almost every item I touched was wool, linen, cotton, or silk, and beautifully tailored. Now even the thrift stores are getting the trickle-down garbage clothes. But yes, when you find a good, real object from the past, it just has a certain gravitas. It’s unmistakable.
Slightly contrary take: the thrift store was always cool.
Had our furnace evaluated at the house we bought. The guy said it was 30 years old. We said oh that’s too bad we’ll have to replace it. He said no it’s good, he replaces 30 years old furnaces less often than 10 year old ones.
On the topic of giving that isn't enshittified trash: https://joedonatelli.substack.com/p/snowblowing
Always cool and never went out of style. BUT, prices have skyrocketed in the past decade at my local thrifts. Definitely not as affordable as they once were. But, from what I can see, still cheaper than buying new.
Yes, unfortunately I've noticed this too.
Yet another result of social media…there’s a swarm of folks on all platforms that make a living (supposedly) foraging thrift shops and selling their finds for many times what they paid. And then bragging about it online. So the shops are clearly wise to it and reacting as one would expect.
Sadly this really screws over the financially struggling folks most of these shops were intended for.
While that can be true, I think there is still the win for struggling folks because the higher prices often mean more resources available for programs run by the charities (the sale of second hand goods that are donated raises revenue for the charity to invest where it is most needed).
This would be simple supply and demand, no? There's an absolute limit to how much vintage can exist, and more people are buying it.
Agreed. I used to shop secondhand as a teen, and I’ve always sought out old solid wood furniture instead of cheap composite new crap. I thought my kids might rebel and want new stuff but they’re teens now and go out with their mates round all the charity shops hunting clothes CDs and DVDs.
And it's always been the best place for "booklegging"!
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, 2012: https://youtu.be/QK8mJJJvaes?si=-BmYZEwaeeSbk9IG
And me in 1983, trying to style myself like Madonna. 😜
There you go
Anybody who works with tools has known this for years. I snatch up any decent american made tools whenever i find them, bc america used to make some of *the best* shit.
Quantity has surely won out over quality, just about everywhere you look. This is all just so a sliver of the population can get rich. And our inability to pass on a decent work ethic to each generation.
But high quality things will always have a high value. Talented craftsmen should take note, you can make a killing in the near future.
We're trending towards everything being disposable. Thats how we keep this house of cards called the economy viable. But this also has huge implications for our culture and society, which is easily seen already. Wont be long before people are on that disposable list(some might argue thats already, or has always been the case).
And i cant help but notice how every topic leads to this web of shittiness that has infected our world. Cant *imagine* how that came to be..
My 50 year old SNAP-ON Tools are still as good today as they were when they were first unboxed. There is no way I could afford these same tools today if I had to replace them. I have many Kowa Seiki (Japanese) tools as well, very high quality. I look for Made in USA, Made in Germany, Made in Japan for the best quality tools.
Made in Germany, at least, no longer means what it used to. Apparently the auto companies now have the ability to design cars to last for a certain length of time. Prior to the CAD era they didn't really know how long their cars would last, so they overbuilt them to be sure. Especially Mercedes. Now they can be much more precise, because they know. BMW in particular is now known for being hideously expensive to keep driving once the warranty is up, so resale values are nil. New Mercedes, similar. My friend said he was actually told by someone in the shop at his Audi dealer that they were only designing cars to last 150,000 miles. So why would anybody buy them, when for less money you can get a Toyota/Lexus that will last twice as long? Or even better, a used one? We have to stop buying by brand name or nationality, and examine fitness for use. We have to stop buying for status. Maybe pay cash for an older car without an infotainment center in it. We have become a country that rolls up to the drive thru at Mickey Ds, presses a button to roll the window down long enough to get the food, and drives away. We call this "living."
German tools, not German vehicles. Their cars are maintenance nightmares.
If there are still German tool companies doing well, good for them!
I come from a state (CT) that used to be filled with factories, even factories that made the tools that made the tools, such as the famous Bridgeport machine tool. The remaining manufacturers are mostly in defense-related industries who can afford to build here, and have members of congress pushing for them to stay here.
My family used to own a textile factory, which eventually became impractical to continue because of competition from lower labor costs in the American south, then that dried up too up when the work went to Asia.
It is very very hard to make things here anymore if you have to compete with low cost labor overseas. Look where our money went instead: tech, health care, education, finance. Everything else got squeezed out, including people.
It's not just the labour. It's the regulatory frameworks. With American manufacturers, for every dollar spent on wages there is a dollar spent on regulation. For SME firms the costs are two dollars in regulation per dollar on wages. Between 20-36% of regulations survive cost-benefit analysis.
It affects everything. The neoliberal economists used to argue for the Doha Round. What they didn't know (or didn't care to know) was that in a truly free market world, North America and Europe would wipe the floor with agriculture in most of the developing world with a level playing field in most areas.
Regulatory costs add 20-80% to the price of food, and that's a very conservative estimate which doesn't include reasonable improvements to Western economic systems like tort reform and banning punitive government rent-seeking. One wouldn't need to ban fines, simply pass a federal law preventing government of any kind, or NGOs, from in any way benefiting from fines, for the purposes of budgets or funding. Turn the fines into a rebate for American taxpayers or use the money to add a couple of years to the Social Security fund.
Cui bono?
Still, Americans are lucky. It's much, much worse in the UK. I gather Clarkson's Farm is quite popular in the US
And of course, the regulations don't apply to imports. 92% of imported oats in America have been shown to include chlormequat. A 2024 peer-reviewed study detected it in 80% of U.S. urine samples. Organic oats show minimal or no detection.
Because the green backs are getting weaker, compared to the euro, it makes sense to buy 1980/90ties German cars from the US, and to ship them back to Europe. California, Arizona and Texas cars has no or much less rust. They are better equipped than same models at Europe. And anyway much cheaper than at Europe.
That makes sense if you can find a good car that can be imported and registered in your country. I'm combing the area for a nice SAAB 9-5 myself. These are much harder to find in my part of the US. No late model stuff for me.
100% give me old steel over new steel every day of the week. Half the good quality vintage tools on ebay are there because someone doesn't know how to sharpen them.
One of the best examples of this is Levi’s.
Once a storied American brand, Levi’s jeans were the gold standard from the 60-90s. Then they became a public company and started cutting corners and outsourcing manufacturing outside the US.
Now, their jeans aren’t nearly as high quality anymore.
Their vintage jeans from the 60s-90s go for hundreds of dollars and are referenced by many of the Japanese denim brands.
Around 90% of my wardrobe is second hand. There’s no questions that secondhand is better than new.
The only thing that went up on LEVI's is the price. WRANGLER jeans are the same story.
Levi’s, Wrangler, and Lee
All 3 of them are the same story
As a child (late 50s, early sixties), I recall my mother taking me to a clothing store to buy jeans—at that time, they were regarded as working clothes—and great for kids because they were so hard-wearing. The leg length was outsize, so a child could grow into them, or they could be used
for patches. They were so hard -wearing that I was sized by just standing them upright beside me….
I still wear 100 percent cotton Wranglers, and 99 percent cotton Lee jeans. Both have heft to them. I consider them winter jeans.
Remember, you live in a place where the fashionable jeans come "distressed," with the knees pre-ripped. And $$$. Rich people's jeans, not working people's jeans. Kids are not "cool" if they don't wear them.
But it is not cool to be "cool," and never was. People who feel insecure (like adolescents) want to be "cool." But we have to learn to live our own lives, not somebody else's. We have to be indifferent to whether that makes us cool or not.
And look at all the "cool" people Monsieur Epstein managed to attract to his personal Island of Depravity. Now they are "shocked" to hear of gambling in the casino!
If this is what the cool kids do, OK, then color me uncool!
YES! Bought a pair of Levi's a few years back because I was tired of other brands falling apart, and of course the Levi's fell apart within months. Honestly, for jeans I just buy whatever pair at Winners fits and doesn't smell like formaldehyde. So I've just sort of surrendered to the crap.
I haven't had much luck with good pants buying used or vintage (mostly sizing). And even good stuff wears out over time - we're going to run out of solid vintage.
I love this, thank you. The quality of appliances these days is criminally abysmal.
They say 5 years is what to expect on new appliances😱
Yep, because of the delicate electronics and capacitive "touch panel" controls. Plus, everything has an app and requires Wi-Fi connection these days. I had a 15 year old Bosch dishwasher that just died. $400 for a control board, I bought a complete new and very similar BOSCH Unit, the entire appliance dost just a few dollars more than one crappy control board. Underneath, most of the parts inside the unit were IDENTICAL: to the older one. I doubt this one will last as long. Tell me why refrigerators and freezers need internet access and a huge screen on the door?
Because investors want access to your money.
I’ve experienced less than 2 years more than once!
Yup. I've had 3 fridges that lasted a couple years (all different manufacturers.) My "pandemic microwave" lasted 15 months ---- hey, gotta make it JUST longer than the warranty. I now buy extended warranties on all appliances.
I don't go by brand anymore. The build quality can vary wildly by product series. Two different fridges from the same company can have completely different design teams, and entirely different supply and assembly chains.
I now go by one thing alone. Are the hinges metal or plastic/nylon? It's a simple metric that you can get more mileage out of a fridge with metal hinges.
Here's a top maintenance tip. Make sure there is a fair amount of clearance at the back. The compressor won't have to struggle so hard. Also, the first time you have to do a defrost, it's worth vacuuming/gently removing as the dust off the compressor coils at the back. One of the reason why dust is bad for computers is because it's a heat insulator. This prevents compressors or cooling from working properly. Dust inferences with a lot of things. Dusty coils can add 25-35% to the cost of running a fridge, and that's before one considers the shorter lifespan issue.
Most fridges also have an internal drainage slot for condensed water down the back and near the bottom. If you have problems, it's worth checking to see whether it's blocked with a pin or needle.
Of course, none of this solves the problem of the designed obsolescence in all small top freezer compartments, or the fact that most gasket fails over time.
Uh-oh...if that's true then I'm gonna have to replace everything soon, LOL.
But buy Frigidaire or Whirlpool, only ones made in US or Canada. You do NOT want to rely on foreign parts. Find and keep a good appliance repair guy. They’re the ones blowing the whistle. Bosch, LG, Samsung - garbage.
Thanks, great information! I would add Speed Queen for those who can afford it. I wised up with my last washer and got as few bells and whistles as possible - I think those cause a lot of problems.
Amana too. My appliance-repair guy was a Sears repairman for years and he’s seen it all. Recommends only the US makes, GEWhirlpool/Maytag/Amana/SpeedQueen. He says the foreign goods are terrible quality and expensive to boot. Good Used appliances are a thing too.
I second speed queen. My grandmothers washer and dryer, at least older than me at 44, are *still* giving good service to my laundry. 3 selector knobs on one, 1 on the other, and none of those controls have *ever* given me a problem.
By far the smart money is on a speed queen. I asked a used appliance guy in town about used ones and he laughed and said we *never* get those in here
Speed Queen is the best! During my first purchase, I didn't fall for those mold-ridden front loading washing machines, thank God. One my second purchase only because of a move. Not sexy but very dependable.
I gotta say, though, in 2009 I bought a 24" Samsung flat screen TV. It was trouble free until recently. I turned in on to no picture at all. I guess I got my $400.00 worth out of it. Doubt if I'll get my $225.00 out of its replacement, though. But I might, considering the quality of programming in recent decades.
TVs are all electronic, different than washer/dryers.
Is it? How far back does "these days" go? :-) About 5 years ago I bought a new microwave, washer/dryer, and refrigerator. For at least 5 years, they've been flawless. Zero issues. Still going strong.
I hear so many complaints about new appliances, which appear to be mostly front ends for corporate money extraction machines. They are designed to be cheap to make (in Asia), but expensive to repair (in the US).
Did they get the idea from Apple? Expensive throw away devices? Try not to think of the chemicals leaching from the landfills they will end up going into...our children will be drinking the water.
Glad your micro still works after 5 years. Shouldn't they last for 20-30?
My current micro is 16 years old. Same age as my Toyota.
I have a pair of Fiskar scissors that are at least 50 years old, and they work and look almost like new. My daily driver headphones (Yamaha) are 40+ years old.
I got rid of my electric can opener when it died, tried replacing it with a manual one, but all the ones for sale were junk, finally got a military-type blade opener which has been faultless but takes a little effort to use. So what.
Some things are inherently long-lasting if made right, others change more rapidly. Learning and change are supposed to occur. The river must keep moving.
A friend was visiting in Appalachia and met a local. He asked the fellow if he had lived there his whole life. He was told "Not yet." Another had her car get stuck on a country road. She saw a house nearby, where a lady was sitting on the porch. So she called out to her, asking for help. The response? A blast from a shotgun.
We need to keep our heads, and not jump to conclusions, or onto bandwagons.
Or shoot at strangers!
There is another interesting side of this phenomenon that I have experienced, and my partner has to a more extreme degree, especially in the realm of jewelry. The rise of videos based on thrifting - "thrift-tok" - has caused a surge in pricing on thrifted items, especially at the larger chains. As these videos have blown up, the stores have started to raise their prices significantly.
Sometimes it's fair, perhaps they realize the piece is designer and sell it for $20 or 30 instead of $5....but it has started to inflate pricing in general, and there are times that I have noticed crazy prices on items that probably wouldn't even fetch that price on depop or some direct-sell website.
These stores get these items donated, and - ideally - sell them to stay open and to continue to help people with less wealth find affordable clothing and household items.
For 20+ years (since my early teens) I have found 90%+ of my favorite pieces at these stores, and have been able to do it on a thin artist/musician's budget. I have the luxury to say, "well I'm just not gonna go for a little bit and save money," but for folks who have multiple children or family members to care for, my heart breaks as I see these stores blow up their prices.
All that said... Pieces made decades ago were made to last. You can fix them if needed. Pieces made today are often garbage waiting to be pitched, and it leads not only to an insane amount of waste, but they just suck to wear.
SO! Go thrifting!! Just maybe....don't post about ALL your best finds...
This problem has been in the UK for years. When I was young I bought a lot of clothing and furniture from thrift stores. I look at prices now and my heart bleeds for people who are struggling to survive. People who are on good money should stay away from at least clothing in thrift stores. Where are the poor supposed to shop??
It does strike me as unethical when people who can afford good quality new products, instead shop secondhand, or worse, fast fashion. We’ve made the upper-middle class feel like they need to cosplay as poor, and these are the unfortunate consequences
There aren't good quality new products anymore. That is the problem. The rich are not cosplaying as poor, they're looking for value for their money, just like everybody else.
There are. But nobody wants to spend money, even those who have it.
"Where are the poor supposed to shop??"
Do you really think your Overlords Care where they shop or eat or Die ? Let alone a goodly majority of the everybody's out there ? If I got mine - who cares -right ?
That’s the downside. I wish it had remained a secret for thinking people to discover, rather than blasted all over the internet. It’s not like most of these accounts get compensated for sharing what had been secrets to a mass audience. We need to return to gate keeping or there will be noting of value left in our society
In the service sphere, there's value in patronizing businesses that do it the oldbfashion way and operate as a local independent. Private equity is trying to buy up and corporatize every area of our lives. This not only leads to higher prices, but poorer service. A friend with a chiropractic business got seduced by private equity along with a lot of other local chiropractors. They ended up suing the firm because it didn't deliver on its promises (but are competent with contracts, so the chiropractors lost). Tucker Carlson recently interviewed the owner of a veterinary telemedicine firm who explained how private equity is driving up prices and endangering our pets. With their money, they wield a lot of political power.
Maybe should rename it Pirate "Equity," since there is no equity in it. It's just one of the tentacles of the Extraction Machine that rules our lives. In this "free market," exploitation is Job One. Even the car washes are doing it...
My daughter works at a Goodwill and told me they'd recently raised prices and customers do complain. They've nicknamed it Greedwill. I've noticed shopping there that some of their prices are the same or even higher than you'd find on the great, overstuffed clearance racks at Old Navy.
How about renaming it "Badwill," to reset customer expectations? Be upfront about it, like the politicos are! Shamelessness is in season.
Actually I noticed in our area prices began rivaling retail shortly after Macklemore made" popping tags" popular.
I buy secondhand clothes, tools, cars and all sorts of other stuff whenever possible. I have a 1930's ATLAS shaper, a 1940's South Bend lathe, Snap On tools that I have had since the 1970s. 25 - 50 year old cars, a 30 year old tractor. Almost nothing made today can hold a light to most old stuff. These tools are not flashy, but they just work, year after year. Just look at the abysmal quality of new home construction, you see why old houses are actually bringing more than new prices. New stuff is mostly crap.
So true! Clothes made of all chemical/synthetic yarns that are horrid. Tailoring (if you can even call it that) that is completely off. I bought a new set of dishes at Williams Sonoma that need to be scrubbed with Bar Keepers Friend to remove the grey marks from silverware!! Williams Sonoma won’t take them back! Who buys dishes to have to scrub them with Bar Keepers Friend? And of course, Williams Sonoma knows of the problem but keeps selling that crap.
Bravo. This general ensh*tification is just part of the ever growing income/wealth gap. Cheaper products for higher prices benefit the stock holders while materially immiserating the rest of us.
It's a little more complicated than that. It's less about 'late stage' capitalism and more about the way incentives play out in weird and perverse ways, especially in terms of culture.
It's a little known fact that the Nordic model countries have very low income inequality, but very high wealth inequality. Why? Because they have high taxes on salaries but low taxes on capital. The Swedes also have tax rebate system which returns a third of any debt interest paid on student loans (obviously related to living costs while studying) and mortgages. The Swedes also have zero inheritance tax.
The Danes are really smart with it. They have very high taxes on anyone earning 60% above the average salary, but if you're an engineer and you've already been stiffed by your unions collective bargaining compromises, then there are really incentives to starting your own company because you will pay a much, much lower rate of tax on your earnings. A few years back, they used to say that the American Dream was alive and well and living in Denmark. Of course, they've screwed themselves with windmills, but that's beside the point.
Back in the nineties, the Nordics worked out that they could make more money out of the income from capital by taxing capital modestly than they could from taxing capital directly. At one point Sweden was taking 2.7% of total GDP from corporation tax alone- that was higher than the combined share of GDP from corporation tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance taxes in the US. Plus, they were getting cap gains revenue as well. Both corporation tax and cap gains for businesses were quite reasonable at the time.
But the far more important factor is that this type of approach makes for a far healthier form of capitalism. Their capital class actually pays their taxes, and they don't offshore- because they think it's a great deal to have a significantly lower rate of tax than the top rate of marginal tax for people on high salaries (over $100K USD). There is a real dividend to not having a 'tax the rich' mentality pervading the culture. Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Finns pay for their larger social safety nets themselves and they are proud to do so, partly because their governments are far less useless and wasteful than those found in the UK and US. And I don't just mean the politicians- I also mean the bureaucratic and institutional classes.
Because they get a fair tax rate relatively to everyone else, they don't offshore. They pay their damn taxes. They also invest in their own countries, and are loyal to their investments. They don't want to see the reputation of their brands burned down to the ground, because they aren't in it for the cheap financial hit. They are value investors.
They do have some problems, particular with the behaviour of the finance sector, but that's true the world over. And in many ways it wouldn't be easy to adapt their system to America. For a start you have a real problem with monopoly/oligopoly. People think it's only 20-30%, but once one includes conglomerates owning more than one company in the same sector, the figure balloons above 50%. You food sector, is a particular problem because there aren't enough competitors. When I lived in the US, food was a lot cheaper than in the UK. Now, you can check out YouTube and find that the situation has reversed.
There is also a real problem with private equity and leveraged buyouts. The buyout a company and then lever it up with debt to pay out the investors. If the employees are lucky, there will be a valuable part of the business which can be sold off. If they are not, the company will be liquidated for scrap, and they will be out of work. Changing the dynamics, structure and incentives of the system won't work. Private equity needs sensible regulating. First, decent regulation is by far the hardest thing to do in government. Most countries would be better off sacking 3/4 of the regulators and paying to 1/4 which are left x4 the level, because it's actuarial level of difficulty.
But more than that. Finance is by far the most powerful lobby in DC and London. Two German engineers did a network analysis a while and found that 200 companies controlled the world. All of them were finance companies. They are more powerful than Pharma, Oil, or the Green lobby. AIPAC is a minnow by comparison. The combined power of the US intelligence community is relatively small by comparison, because finance buries their bodies, financially and from an operational funding perspective. And they really don't like their profit centres being touched. And private equity is a big profit centre- it used to service the pension and medical sectors. Most new business has come from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
Think about that for a second. You are being ripped off so that the bankers can pay generous pensions to Middle Eastern bureaucrats.
Anyway, my point would be that Sweden still has good products. They tried socialism and found it didn't work. So instead, they decided to try supercharging capitalism and changing the incentives so they could at least achieve some of their socialist aims. The Anglosphere cannot do it, because we prefer overly simplistic grand narratives to fine-tuned and well-thought out policies that don't cast anyone as villains or as heroes.
The other problem with finance is that they only pay about half the taxes that other sectors do. Invisibles are insanely difficult to tax, without actually reducing revenue. They also turned housing into a speculative asset by investing in it themselves.
My most read post of 2025
was about the planned obsolesce and enshittification of the streamers. I make a heavy case that this degradation in quality (both for users and businesses) was planned obsolescence. Companies don’t make money when their products perform well. It’s why InstaPot went out of business. In my article I point out that companies spend vast amounts of money on consultants like McKinsey (who was allegedly one of the biggest reason people got hooked on opioids) to find ways to ENSURE people have to keep buying from them. Shein? Clothes fall apart on purpose. Dating apps? Intentionally gamed so you are set up to fail because if you succeed, they stop making money. Doc Martens? Yeah, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. This is an intentional and terrible business practice and I’m glad to see more people calling it out. My article is here if anyone wants to read it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/klamediagroup/p/lets-talk-about-the-enshitification
Great news! I’ve been gifting secondhand stuff for ages. Now I’m finally hip!
Lol, i had a similar thought.. oh shit im a trendsetter! Ive *been* doing this!
So just for fun watch Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, a wonderful Cinderella story movie where one can appreciate the downgrade in couture clothing. Women or men who sew have known for decades how to spot quality and fabric. Best defense is to actually gain a skill and learn how to sew, then learn to sew better. It’s fun and creative. Leave all the rest to the thrifts.
The Great British Sewing Bee is an inspiration as well!
It’s not new. The Slow Fashion movement has for years now been highlighting the sins of commercial, global fashion conglomerates, especially unfair working conditions and slave labor. But a big part is simply reducing consumption. There is even the huge industrial waste issue (from crap clothing).
Watching earlier seasons, and loving the crafts-folk-ship of these sewers. It’s definitely pushing me into trying more complex patterns. Love it.
Where can I find that?
I think the Roku Channel has it.
The contemporary version AND the old version starring Angela Lansbury are both excellent. I've got the old version on a DVD,a lucky charity shop find. Both versions have a slightly different emphasis from the different era in which they were made. My one criticism is that the actor who plays the diplomat who helps Mrs 'arris in the new version has no charisma (sorry actor) but Omar Shariff in the old version is totally believable as a suave smoothie!
..and the big thrift shop in the sky, eBay. Most of my sweaters and coats are pre-1990. the only downside? Getting an item soaked, apparently, in Febreeze.
I really dislike that thrift stores like Goodwill spray febreeze all over the clothes - then deny it! I won't buy anything that stinks.
I especially like shopping for used vinyl records. Pretty much, what you see is what you get. They are discreet physical objects, which carry a history and a meaning.
Many of the records are no longer available in a new format.
And can't be 'edited' from afar.
All you have to do with digital music files is buy them in the open MP3 format or WAV (CD) format. Then you back them up to several locations as you should with any other digital files. Nobody can edit them from afar. If your home gets broken into they cannot be lost, nor can they burn up in a fire. You are not just streaming (aka radio), and unlike vinyl records, which I grew up on, they will never wear out or get scratched. They will have a better dynamic range, like real live music, which LPs never had. I download my music from Amazon and it is DRM free. Let us not forget the immensely expanded freedom to discover and listen to music which is possible now. I attach no importance to the form the music is delivered in, that is just like the bottle the wine came in. You drink the wine, not the bottle.
Yes, no editing from afar, but used to work with a reggae record seller and it was amazing what people did to old vinyl to make them last longer, the owner had a real knack for spotting tampering
Older Hand tools are far superior to anything made after the 90's I prefer the 50's quality.
Hmm...I'm 100% for sticking it to crappy retailers! That said...I dont' think it's as simple as "new products BAD, old stuff GOOD." There's plenty of crappy old stuff out there...and in the past couple years I've bought some cheap stuff on Amazon (I know, evil, but hear me out) that was excellent—every bit as good as name-brand stuff at a quarter the cost...and it's held up really well! (Examples: cheap lycra cycling shorts, cheap iPhone tripods, cheap socks.) I buy plenty of great secondhand stuff too: my kayaks are secondhand, my car is preowned, I have secondhand skis...and much more.
My point being, the truth lies (as usual) somewhere in the middle. Let's definitely keep shopping secondhand, but not all new stuff is horrendous.
ALSO: I'm dubious of the "cold, compressed digital v. warm, beautiful analog" thing. Again, I love analog...but given a choice between listening to Bach preludes and fugues (played by Glenn Gould) in compressed digital form...versus listening to some C-rate pop artist's analog album of crappy music, and I'll take the Bach any day! Context is everything. :-)
Hear, hear! I’m a long-time thrifter so you’re preaching to the converted. In some ways it’s sad—I used to have an embarrassment of riches at Salvation Army. Almost every item I touched was wool, linen, cotton, or silk, and beautifully tailored. Now even the thrift stores are getting the trickle-down garbage clothes. But yes, when you find a good, real object from the past, it just has a certain gravitas. It’s unmistakable.