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I think my most genuinely unpopular take is that a widely held and genuine consumer preference for cheaper, lower-quality goods, not private equity, is driving the decline in quality of consumer goods like clothing and housewares.

Consumers used to select their purchases from what was available at local stores, which were stocked with goods chosen by professional buyers looking for quality and value.

Online shopping eliminated these gatekeepers and disintermediated the market, allowing consumers to express their desires more directly. And it turns out that what people really want is cheap disposable goods, not more expensive but higher quality stuff that lasts a long time.

Blaming this on villainous far-away capitalists is what the kids call “cope.”

Extremely related point: people don’t want to pay more for quality, they want to be cheap and complain!

Costco is the opposite of Amazon because they have a team of professional buyers who stock their shelves with a limited selection of high quality goods that provide good value. And unlike Target and Walmart, they have not opened up their e-commerce platforms to third-party sellers of cheap garbage.

The amount of reading you have to do on Reddit to background check any purchase over $50 is wild. Side note: you absolutely cannot trust Amazon reviews because sellers routinely give away free product and cash in exchange for five star reviews.

I don’t want to pick on this person but you can still buy Dr Martens that are made in their English factory using heritage materials and high quality Japanese-made Levi’s 501s that are just like the ones they made in the 80s. These are less popular than the cheaper, lower quality versions.