Hacker News Reader

Comment by Tao3300 | Hacker News Reader

> people tend to ascribe a higher valuation towards self-assembled products compared to objectively similar products which they did not assemble

While I agree with the potential hazards of this kind of thinking, I'd be interested to see some positives in addition to just the "pitfalls".

Better idea of valuation of labor in addition to materials? Reduction of waste? Some intangible "what we learned along the way" factor?

View on HN

Offhand, an understanding of the assembly and internal mechanics of a product from having built it would make me feel like I would be be more likely to be able to fix it if required.

Right and the opposite of "Not Invented Here" can be layers upon layers of magical abstraction that nobody understands.

From my own observations there two general reasons:

  * Assembly is seen as [near] zero value add step, therefore self assembling is seen as an easy opportunity for savings, especially when assembly is actually sold service.

  * People think that assembly is generally done by minimum wage employees coasting through the day and half assing tasks, therefore self assembly with a little bit of focus and dedication is seen to lead to higher than default assembly quality.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com