A friend and I were talking the other day and the subject came up about shoddy workmanship in the products we buy nowadays. He was upset because he had to upgrade his phone again. I know it’s easy to place the blame onto the modern day worker or the fact that so much of our consumer product comes from China or Vietnam. But I don’t think the blame that can be put on the workers themselves. I believe the blame lies on the shoulders of the todays
You see, back in the old days, our grandfathers and even our parents had to scrimp and save every penny, sometimes for years to purchase things like cars, houses, televisions or air conditioners. They demanded that the items they bought were of quality construction because they knew that they probably would never buy another one. But with us, even if they did build an item to last a lifetime, we would still want to trade it in every few years because we are always on the lookout for the next best thing. Nothing pleases us more than to be able to use the excuse that the one we have is broken. We can complain about it on the outside but on the inside we give a little smile.
So can we blame a company for knowing that if they make a product that has to be replaced or upgraded every few years means more cha-ching in their pockets? After all, we get what we ask for.