|   More about disposability | grampi
Nov 16, 2003 5:08 PM | | I know this topic has been touched upon in some of the other threads, I thought it might be good expound on the subject a bit.
I agree the market demands less expensive products, but I don't think that neccesarily means consumers want cheaply made products. Do plasma TV's absolutely have to cost several thousands of dollars? Do products actually have to be outsourced and/or built with components of lesser quality?
I think the only reason the answer to these questions is yes is because of greed. It all boils down to the CEO's of all companies only caring about one thing; lining their pockets with as much money as they possibly can. Making $100 million a year isn't enough anymore. They have to make $300-$400 million. In order to do this they set profit margins as high as possible, and cut corners anywhere and everywhere they can. It probably doesn't cost any company more than $1000 to make any plasma TV, yet they sell them for thousands. Why? Because they are still fairly new to the market and companies take as much advantage of consumers as they possibly can by setting the profit margins extremely high on these items. Why do many (most actually) companies outsource the building of their products? Again, it's all about greed. CEO's and their execs don't want to pay their employees anything because this takes money out of their pockets. Why do companies knowingly choose to build their products using inferior components? Because they know this takes money out of the CEO's pockets.
Greed over pride must be the new montra. Thousands of companies have survived for hundreds of years by producing quality products. Am I supposed to all of a sudden believe that businesses can only thrive by putting out the poorest quality products with the highest profit margin? Doesn't anyone take any pride in what they produce anymore? |
| re: More about disposability | woodman
Nov 16, 2003 5:29 PM | | grampi:
Although there's a strong element of truth in what you write, it applies more to the business world in general than it does to consumer electronics specifically. I know about the latter - it's been my life for better than 50 years. The consumer electronics industry became it's own worst enemy several decades ago, when it decided to market it's products based primarily on price rather than VALUE. Of course, the public ate it up for it meant ever more wondrous products, year after year, at ever lower prices! It cannot be argued that "economies of scale" translated into making this possible, but those economies are not a bottomless well, but run out eventually - leaving the mfgs. with nowhere to turn but to start cutting product quality, cutting warranties, cutting advertising, cutting technical support, and finally having to resort to "off-shore" building of product to keep "house of cards" from tumbling down!
I blame our federal government for not stepping in to put a stop to some of the corporate greed and corruption that has become so prevalent and is the basis of your post. It's my belief that although "capitalism" is probably the best system around, it definitely needs some "fine-tuning" and reining in of some of the abuses of the system that are taking place in our country today.
woodman |
| re: More about disposability | grampi
Nov 16, 2003 6:41 PM | | Good point. Capitolism is a good thing, but as with anything, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. This most definitely applies to capitolism. |
| re: More about disposability | karlo
Nov 18, 2003 10:49 PM | | Quick two cent note saw at Best Buy today Polaroid progessive scan Dvd player with built in Vcr 99 bucks |
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