Knock Off

The other day, I was lamenting (as I sometimes do) that things just aren't made the way they used to be. Nothing in this world is durable any more. Nothing even lasts the full measure of its use; everything breaks, and quickly. 

I was wondering how we got away from quality to where we are now, and the answer is pretty quick: cost. Simply put, we found a way to make things more cheaply and more quickly, so we started doing that. 

But why? The next question I had for myself was: who wants something that is lower-quality? 

The simple answer is: imposters. 

As I thought about this question I was having, I thought about the times I grew up in. We could call them the "brand name" wars. I'm not sure if this was going on before my time, well before my time, or if it really did explode back in the 80s-ish when I entered this world. I suspect that some version of it has been going one for quite awhile, perhaps as long as human history, but that the sophistications in manufacturing and the explosion of mega corporations in our most recent history massively fueled the fire. 

See, I remember what it was like to hear grown folks talking about whether we could have the name brand. Whatever it was. The foods, the furniture, the clothing, the whatever. No, you can't have the Bagel Bites, but you can have the frozen miniature pizza bagels. No, you can't have Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, but we can afford mac n' cheez. You can't get the Levi's, but look over here at these Matthew's. (That's a Bible joke. C'mon, people.) 

As companies got bigger and their products grew with them, there became an increase in what we call "off-brands" - similar, if not exactly-the-same, products at a lower price point. Usually with cheaper ingredients or materials...or more water. And people loved the off-brands because it seemed, at least on the surface, to narrow the gap. 

If you can't see the tag, a pair of Matthew's looks an awful lot like a pair of Levi's. At least, they look more like the real thing than the homemade denim pants of yore. Open and prepare the box of mac n' cheez and put it on the table in a big bowl, and it almost looks just like Kraft. 

You could feel rich without actually being rich, and quick glances from the outside looking in couldn't tell the difference. 

Oh, we loved our knock-offs. 

But the knock-offs became so good that it wasn't worth it to make a quality product any more. It became clear that what the market - most of whom were middle class or lower, statistically - wanted was a cheap product that made them feel rich. And, well, if what they're looking for a cheap product, anyone can do that! So the name-brands started lowering their quality in favor of affordability (aka - cheapness), using cheaper ingredients themselves, then sending out marketing slogans - "New lower price! Come back and try us!" and slowly, but surely, over time, the cheaper versions replaced the quality versions. 

And everyone started to feel rich. 

Do you see, then, how we get there? We trade quality for cost, or what seems to be cost, and it makes us feel rich. 

But cheap stuff actually makes us poorer.