Why do manufacturers pinch pennies so badly?

[Mitchell Andrus]

..and many CAN'T pay for quality...it's a sad fact.

Furniture for instance. You need a chair or two, maybe a couch - now. Buying later isn't practical and paying 2x for quality isn't possible. So you pay for a cheap product now.... and again later. Same cost overall, less quality each time.
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[Dan Hintz]

Does it really make sense to purchase a quality piece of furniture that is going to get torn up by your animals and kids (or is that redundant)? In my retirement I'll have a quality couch, chaise lounge, etc., but until the dog stops shedding and the kids stop using it as a jungle gym, I'll stick with the cheaper stuff.

[Dan Duperron]

Don't forget the other option - "pre-enjoyed" stuff. That's how I get around the "but I can't afford to buy quality" argument. Everyone has different preferences and values, but this is how I do it.

Once I had a co-worker who turned up her nose at anything not shiny & new. Wouldn't buy a used car because she "didn't want someone else's garbage". She thought the idea of buying a "used house" was "gross". That's the most extreme example I've encountered and I felt sorry for her. My thought was "I'm driving a used car and living in an old house but I'm that much closer to retirement than you, and that's much more important to me." Plus my house was better built than hers and so was my car, but quality wasn't high on her list of values as much as 'new'.

I agree that if you insist on having shiny new stuff but don't have the budget to buy quality, you have one choice - go cheap. Me, I don't care about things being shiny and new. The level of wear I will accept depends on the item of course, but I'm willing to pay the same or even more for a higher quality used item than a new one of lesser quality. There are a lot of new saws I could have chosen for what I paid for my 5hp USA-Made PM66 (and I got a good deal), but I know I'll never outgrow that saw and it will outlast me.

To me it's about value and usefulness and need, not about impressing the neighbors or breathing the 'new car smell'.

Never bought a new car - and I don't expect I ever will. I have wanted to many times, but can't justify it. if I buy a gently used 3yo Toyota it will still last darn near forever, and I save a ton of money in exchange for not getting to pick the color.

Tools - I would love to have a shop full of Systainers, but as a woodworking hobbyist I don't feel I'd get the value for my money (even for the used stuff). If I made my living with my tools 10hr/day it would be a different calculation and I'd be much more likely to buy the green.

But as I've 'matured' and my income has risen, my standards and priorities have changed. Furniture and clothing for example - when a poor college student I used to haunt the second-hand clothing shops. Haven't done that since I graduated. For the first decade or so out of school we didn't have any new furniture, just an assortment of good-quality used stuff. Now when we buy furniture we buy the good stuff and expect to have it for life.

To each his own, but that's how I roll. You can afford more quality than you think you can if you look around.

Now the fact that real wages in this country have been stagnant forever, the role of trade policy and business ethics in offshoring jobs, and the capture of our system of government by business interests, those are related topics that bear on the question of why so many people are struggling and forced to shop at Wally Mart to survive. But they are also political topics and not suitable for or allowed on this forum so I'll leave them alone.