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Comment by user3939382 | Hacker News Reader

> there's a tier of disposable goods

There are some product categories for which no strong options exist. For example, contemporary, top-of-the-line Kitchen Aid mixers have intermittently been produced with plastic motor parts. Go look at the reviews for sewing machines.

Klein tools, which have historically been super high quality, made in USA, has started mixing in cheaper made in china products. Chippewa boots (Warren Buffet company) same.

These are examples in a sea of examples. This is a trend.

MBA types move into companies with brand trust and loyalty built slowly for decades, and mortgage it for shot-term profits by slipping in cost cutting measures. It takes consumers a while to catch on, and by then the execs have a nice line item for their resume. Or the holding company behind the changes divests, leaving a hollowed out husk of a brand behind them.

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I believe some of this comes down to the product category being redefined over time.

Kitchen appliances are really prone to this because the major processes actually needed in the kitchen - heat, cool, cut, stir - are all variations on a theme, and some of the processes have been usurped by "service" versions where the ingredient is pre-processed, e.g. instead of grinding coffee, buying pre-ground or instant.

Where pre-processing works well, it becomes the norm, and then what follows is that the traditional product gets cost-cut into oblivion, until, decades later, some kind of artisanal movement springs up and there's interest in quality options again. Coffee really did follow this pattern, the original instant coffees set the norm for most of the 20th century, even though everyone can tell that they're nothing like freshly ground coffee.

With the biggest, most-frequently needed stuff - stove, refrigerator, knives, pans - you can find good options in any year, especially if you search for the "do exactly one thing well" options in the category, like chest freezers. Once you get into a more specific category the pressure is off, though, and companies are more likely to sell you a disposable "experience".

Kitchenaid, Cuisinart, these are the kinds of brands I'm talking about. They had their moment last century but the brand has been transferred to a new owner, or they've switched to volume sales in a big box retailer, or both.

Kitchenaid is not a good brand. They haven't made top-of-the-line anything in decades

When it came to mixers I got a large Kenwood over a KitchenAid because it has a 10 year warranty vs 1 year for KitchenAid. People claim that modern Kenwood mixers aren't as good since manufacturing was moved to China, but if they're still standing by the products with a long warranty then they can't be that bad.

Yes this. And it is hard for quality to compete with brand equity.

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