Were Furniture, Appliances, and Vehicles Better in the Past?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Oct. 30, 2023, 8:25 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
My parents have multiple times stated that furniture, appliances, and vehicles were superior when they were younger, because those items were built to last, but furniture, appliances, and vehicles today are made very cheaply, because they are meant to be disposable, and that attitude of theirs really bothers me, because I believe that furniture, appliances, and vehicles today are superior, because science and technology have advanced greatly since the days when my parents were younger. I remember how finicky and unpredictable older computers were, whereas the last several computers that I have used have been nearly flawless in their performance.
Similarly, my parents often say that, when they were young, people were far healthier due to exercising more because of not having television and the internet and also not having as much snack food as what people today have, but I have countered that by saying that people years ago ate butter, whole milk, and red meat with nearly every meal, whereas people today are far more health-conscious than people were in ages past.
What does everyone else say about this? Were food, furniture, appliances, and vehicles better in the past, or are they better, now?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
DoomNoodle, yes, I have heard of it, but, if the term can be easily found via an internet search, consumers shall know which brands employ that practice, and, thus, which brands to avoid.
October 30, 2023 9:17 p.m.
psionictemplar says... #4
I would say the overall answer to this question is yes, but it must be taken with a lot of context in mind. When you compare older goods to modern ones, you have to compare across multiple axis ranging from financial aspects, quality, functionality, and many more things that I am not qualified to or interested in getting into.
Just approaching this from a financial standpoint, companies who make goods have a continual need to increase profits for long-term sustainability, greed, or other reasons. For these reasons making goods that require earlier replacements create a consistent cash flow that businesses rely on to meet the numbers indicating success over time. No business wants to be/appear stagnant as this leads to an inevitable failure given enough time as equipment fails, labor costs go up, etc. So there are ultimately two primary options to increasing profit, cheaper costs or higher prices. Higher prices may lead to lower sales resulting in little/no overall gain making cutting costs the most effective path, which is why we see lower quality materials, smaller bags (shrinkflation) and other potential cost saving options. And this is just a basic overview of things not even considering market competition.
If you want to look at this from a functional standpoint you are correct in realizing the unlocked potential of modern technology. But with that in mind expectations for that technology are also greatly increased as well. And with the inclusion of more technology comes additional ways for things to go wrong as well which is part of the problem of things breaking down more often. As things become more complex the level of knowledge and tools required to fix these modern problems increase leading to potential gaps in being able to fix goods/an increased need to replace them. This doesn't even take into account the vast number of businesses that no longer want you to repair things yourself for financial reasons listed above or the willingness of people to repair things.
One of the other things worth mentioning is the greater number of people in the world which results in a need for increased production. As such, quality commonly takes a backseat since it is easier to test, produce, and market lower quality products at a cheaper price than invest larger amounts of time, money, and other resources otherwise. I suppose the tl:dr would be money is the driving factor behind most of the issues. Food slightly falls into this as well, but the food we eat today has been shown to have lower amounts of nutrients than food grown in previous years as well which ties into overall health as well.
I'll end this contibution for now because I feel like it's too long already and I'm tired :). If there is anything that isn't clear though, feel free to ask for clarification.
October 31, 2023 2:49 a.m.
Well, I feel like everything here falls into the yes-and-no kind of thing : ) Cars now can diagnose themselves but you need a specialized computer and often times trademarked software to get that information, so there is the massive trade off of, a mechanic will take less time to make a more accurate diagnosis, but you will pay more for them doing less because they have to pay for computers, licenses, and all that. It makes an oldschool good mechanic absolutely amazing but a newschool okay mechanic more reliable. I do work on tractors, both old and new, and the only thing that really gets me is that I can get any part for an old tractor and get it running in a few days, but I can't clear a computer code if the manufacturer doesn't make the software available.
Also, because of the internet now and the insane amount of competition it brings to any business, things do get made cheaper because prices have to be in line with the bottom end of the market, because a buyer can stand in the store and price check anything at any time. For example, sticking to mechanical things, if Kubota tractors makes a terrible transmission (they absolutely do) but their price is across the board lower than another company, they don't have a big incentive to make things better because 90% of customers are going to google, price checking, and making a decision. It just was different years ago. You'd go to a dealer, talk to somebody, and shop around some, but in the end the company was much more reliant on you liking your vehicle and telling other people who might be interested in it. Now it is just price, and especially something like a transmission that hasn't changed much in design, quality will only go down until it causes too many problems.
This all being said, availability is very different now. The only way to get furniture at ikea prices in the old days was to do the old yard sale+ wood glue+ sandpaper. Ikea sucks in comparison to old furniture, but furniture at that price simply didn't exist
October 31, 2023 9:33 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #7
Look up the Phoebus Cartel.
From there, the rest is history.
November 1, 2023 12:50 a.m.
Yes and no... innovation and invention have certainly made things great however; Planned obsolescence and crony capitalism really make things bothersome for consumers but can be necessary evils.
November 1, 2023 10 a.m.
Good furniture is still possible to find, but it's just a lot more expensive than what you can get at Ikea.
Appliances are tricky, because there have been many improvements (newer dishwashers are waaaay better for example), they also tend to last a lot less long. So good and bad.
Cars on the other hand are vastly superior in almost every way. What people who pine for old cars are forgetting is how much maintenance those things needed. Car maintenance was a giant pain in the ass with old cars. Sure it's not something you can really do any more, but also cars just need a whole lot less of it than back in the day. Cars are just waaaaay more reliable these days. Add to that how much more fuel efficient modern cars are and it's just not close.
Side note on cars, I still sometimes here people claiming that manual transmissions are more fuel efficient than automatics, but that hasn't been true for decades. Many people have mythologize the past in ways that are disassociated from reality today.
November 1, 2023 10:45 a.m.
Alot of furniture was better in the past. Take into account that "space age materials" were around since the 80's, so you are only going to get so much advancement to improve super utility things like furniture. Now, add in corporate & globalization tactics & your it trickles down from large-end producers to low-level producers. So, instead of getting that sweet mattress with that "space age material" on both sides (which can be very beneficial), bottom dollar tactics allows for them to skimp on materials for a massive cost-cutting when used at large-scale. Now, you suddenly have everyone making dinky mattresses with that material only on one side & consumer choice be damned. Materials cost-cutting is the name of the game now & it allows you to get a lesser product for more.
Same thing happened to a bunch of pizza chains, materials cost-cutting, suddenly your Pizza Hut products were nothing like the commercials, 1/2 the cheese & lower quality cheese mostly... It just so happens that they altered their original product too much & consumers took notice.
There are certainly other factors, but I believe the econ aspects in the modern age do outweigh the advancement benefits on many items, especially utility items.
November 2, 2023 5:13 p.m.
I guess I can clean up the rant by just saying: often in the modern age, economy will trump advancement with many products. Can any company build it better now days? usually yes. WILL they? often no, for economic reasons.
November 2, 2023 5:37 p.m.
Gleeock You're droppin' the truth, but I would add another thing. The race to decrease prices and quality creates a trap for consumers. It's for certain that the cheapest things will last a shorter time... meaning that you need to replace them sooner. It is usually possible to buy higher quality goods that will last longer, but they almost always cost more. If you don't have enough money to buy the better but more expensive version of a thing, you're likely going to buy the cheap model... and then have to pay to replace it with another cheap model when it breaks. This can create a trap for people who can't afford to buy the longer-lasting item in the first place. For example one person might spend $1000 on a dryer that will last 10 years. Another doesn't have $1000, so they spend $600 on a dryer that lasts 5 years. In 20 years the first person has spent $2000 on two dryers while the person who couldn't afford the more expensive dryer has spent $2400 on four dryers.
November 2, 2023 6:48 p.m.
Something no one has mentioned yet is inflation. A fridge cost ~$400 in the 50s. That is ~$5000 in today's dollars. You can bet that if you buy a 5k fridge it will be of good quality and last a long while.
November 2, 2023 7:29 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #14
I truly did not believe you, Epidilius, so I looked up the prices ($250 - $400 average) and used an inflation calculator.
holy shit
November 2, 2023 7:39 p.m. Edited.
"Health" is a marketing scheme. Over half the population are uneducated when it comes to actual nutrition amd exercise, butter and red meat are no where near as unhealthy as Diet soda, or even whey Protein powder, these products exist because people are obsessed with physical appearance, and not actual health and well being. Being aware of your Caloric intake, and making sure you get enough protein and carbohydrates,that are not sugar, fat is only bad if it makes up over 30% of your Caloric intake, and be active, even if it's just a wall once a day
November 12, 2023 7:16 p.m.
Interestingly enough, people will overdose "protein powders", diuretics, even nitrates & antihypertensives. This will usually cause shot kidneys, kidney stones, UTI, unusual liver panels... & it makes it difficult to track why they will have labs tracking with organ failure when they are usually a "healthy person". It really doesn't take that much with these supplements in excess
DoomNoodle says... #2
Indeed! It's called planned obsolescence. Give it a googley!
October 30, 2023 8:50 p.m.