I’ve spent more time than I care to admit researching for various products and what brand I would purchase. My reasoning to justify the time I spend researching is, I work hard for my money, why create unnecessary waste and I want to feel satisfied with my purchase. In my mind we are in times for quite a while where far too often products are produced for the primary goal to break and be thrown away, so another purchase is done and then so we can repeat this process.
Quality
Products cannot not necessarily last forever and that is understandable, but products have become a problem in itself by not lasting as long as they should within reason and cause one to have issues or even harm that makes one have to purchase another product to solve the problem. There was a time when products and even services for that matter were created for the purchase to solve a problem and provide a solution with quality assurance and then make money from it. Now the new norm is make the highest amount of money first while selling a cheap product that encourages consumers to buy more. A perfect example is our simple, yet necessary home appliances like, stoves, refrigerators, washing machine, etc. use to be manufacture to last 25+ years, now one is lucky to sometimes even reach 5 years. Another example is small appliances like a toaster, used to last 20+ years and now your lucky they even work properly from the day of purchase. Where I live and even online, I’ve noticed that more and more product with quality are only found under industrial or commercial use. Heck some many not even exist anymore. I’m not saying products in general have not improved, what I’m saying is that far too often many quality products either do not exist now or are not obtainable to the average person due to absurd price tag.
Saturation
It’s pretty hard to deny that in the manufacturing market was long ago reached a point of saturation. Which in turn makes it hard for a consumer to make the decision on what brand of product to purchase due endless choices. Due to so many businesses in the market they seem to not have much care or thought. I’ve noticed for many years now that due to this saturation business now have to either acquire other business or try to find an area in the market that is lacking focus in order to survive.
Capitalism
It’s hard to me not to wonder that capitalism is the major part of the problem. At least from a social standpoint. It seems to be viewed in a general sense as work hard, take advantage, and maximize profitability. As a business it makes complete sense to want to maximize profits, but what is missing is balance. There is more to a business then profits.
A company is created to either produce/distribute or provide services for the main reason to solve a problem or need. Then the said product or services is sold based upon the why. Majority of purchases are based upon what the company represents, stands for and their goals which is the why. It just all feels to me that the focus and balance of a good business seems to be lost for a lot that operate today.
My belief is that a company should reflect regularly to ensure that it, solves a problem, provides quality solutions, positively impacts the environment, and fosters healthy treatment of their consumers and employees. The new norm on the other hand, fosters unrealistic industries with false expectations in sales goals, profit margins, throughput, worker environment and treatment, etc. without considering the harm it does to our market, environment, consumers and workers.
Communication & Education
Not all, but many companies now lack proper communication and education. An example of this is, when go to look up a product one is presented with marketing material (communication) that lacks substance and seems to focus on providing useless facts as I call fluff. The fluff draws the consumer away from what matters and what should be taught and educated on. Another is when a product is purchased there is limited or no documentation provided. A really important one that seems lost is the lack of training employees. This part just completely baffles my mind.
It is import to educate and communicate to the consumer in helping them make decisions and have understanding why their brand should be chosen. As well train employees on how they can best do their job to help consumers and follow company processes. Though it is not just the company’s responsibility, but also the consumer, and employee.
Conclusion
In the end of it all, I just want quality product that doesn’t make me feel like I’ve flushed my money down the drain and that I voted for a company that doesn’t deserve it. How we choose to spend our money is an individual’s choice, but just remember each time money is spent we are voting for that company to continue on operating.
This is post 60 of 100, and is round 2 of the 100 Days To Offload challenge.
References
- Broken incandescent light bulb, image by 0fjd125gk87, published Oct 26, 2014, Pixabay
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