Lets take a couple of steps back. Everyone's products have become cheapened over time. If you compare a Toro of today to an MTD of 10-15 years ago you would likely say they are about the same quality. I would say MTD has declined as well but not as dramatically. I think there are only 3 residential gas powered walk behind mower companies left in north America. Someone will correct me if I am wrong. MTD which is owned by Stanley Black and Decker, the largest tool maker in the world. Briggs and Stratton (Murray, Simplicity and Snapper), and Toro. The rest have stopped making them. i.e. Honda, Husqvarna, Deere. Many of the companies being bought were struggling. i.e. Murray was in bankrupcy when Briggs acquired them. There are a lot of Chinese made and branded mowers available now. They are terrible. They may work ok for a while but you can not get parts very easily. I have seen many of them abandoned due to that reason. The American consumer wants less expensive products and most people use price as one of their greatest considerations. To be price competitive the companies know they need cost savings. You all know how they get their cost savings. So we get less robust products than we use to.
It is too bad mowers are no longer made like the Lawn Chief. But the economics of the past 40 years has put pressure on the consumer to want less expensive goods. You can blame the consumer for demanding cheaper mowers. You can blame the economy. You can blame greedy corporations. I think things can be complex and it is a mix of everything. I do not know the answers. Companies are beholden to their share holders. They can do sleazy things but they also try to keep their products competitive. We use to have anti- Trust laws that were enforced. With only 3 manufacturers left it would be nice if there were a few more to allow for better competition to push for better products overall. It is not even clear if Briggs can over time compete with the other two. They went through a Bankrupcy a few years ago and have decided to drop their Simplicity and Snapper brands. The tarrifs have helped them as Toro and MTD dropped most of their Asian engines and went back to Briggs engines.
With all this being said. If you take care of your brand new gas powered MTD, Briggs or Toro it can still last a long time. Use good gas higeine, Change the oil every year, store it out of the rain and snow and change the air filter as needed. Very importantly, clean the deck of debris after mowing damp or wet grass. This is the biggest mistake people make who often do all of the other basic maintenance. Unless you have a stainless steel deck.
MTD did make one sold as an MTD PRO.
