From T-shirts to toasters...

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andrewg

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I'm am going to vent just a bit here and ask if I'm the only one that has noticed the drop in quality of many items lately.

Per my heading...I'll use t-shirts and toasters as an example.

Is it AT ALL possible to purchase some simple work t-shirts for under $20 that
aren't as thin and see-thru as toilet paper? What a joke! Shirts these days are SO darn thin that you can actually see through them. Yes...I can spend a lot more money and buy higher end t-shirts like Carhart, Dickies...etc. But whatever happened to a decent $10-$15 shirt? Even when I looked at more dressy shirts I noticed how cheap and thin they are.

And toasters....what ever happened to a toaster that browns a slice of bread quickly, dark, and evenly? Toasters were better 30 years ago! It's like they are afraid of giving them too much power out of fear of some idiot burning themselves. Toast used to take one or two minutes...tops. Now when I put a slice in a toaster they are so lame it takes three to four minutes to brown. Why is that? I've owned several toasters in the last fews years (trying to find a good one like the old days) and they ALL are like this.
 
Yeah....sometimes I wish all of us consumers would just one day say..."Enough! I'm not spending my money on garbage ANYMORE".

If we all did that then maybe things would change a bit.
 
Depends on your nearest WalMart as I know they all stock and price differently. $9 for Dickies pocket work t-shirts in my local store.
I know what you mean though. Cheap and disposable products are the new norm. More frequent replacement probably makes more money for the manufacturers.
 
Well...I despise WalMart, but if they sell Dickies for $9....I'll have to take a look.

I hope they aren't a "special" cheap line from Dickies that only WalMart sells though.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Goodwill / thrift stores / whatever they are called locally.

I don't buy pants or shirts anywhere else!

Where I live, the "thrift" stores are almost as pricey as the new stuff. It's gotten way out of hand.
 
I agree. This reminds me that our newer toaster is a such a POS. Sure it looks nice (probably why my parents bought it) but the 20 year old one that we had worked awesome. It still works today, and is at my sister's apartment.

I find new things are usually of lesser quality than older things, even those new things that are supposed to be "top notch". They usually still carry the "top notch" price though.

A perfect example for the upcoming season is snowblowers. I've had customers pay close to $900 for a new machine that 2 years later completely falls apart. Even the top of the line Ariens are expensive but not as heavy duty as the older models. I've actually taken quite a few older machines, refurbished them and sold them to happy customers who are still running them today.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Goodwill / thrift stores / whatever they are called locally.

I don't buy pants or shirts anywhere else!


I get most of my shirts from thrift stores. I wear an odd size pant, so I can never find a pair that fits me there, sadly enough.
 
A while back, Target used to sell these beefy t-shirts for around $10 or so. I haven't looked for them in a while though.

You can get Hanes Beefy t-shirts on-line for around $8 each. While I have not bought any, I see the reviews are positive as far as their thickness goes.
 
Originally Posted By: InhalingBullets
Everything seems to be getting thinner; t-shirts, toilet paper, paper towels, and most noticeably my wallet!

Isn't this ^ true!

As a funny side note...at my work the men's bathroom has those tissue paper toilet seat covers...we call them "A** gaskets". Anyway....in the past decade or so they've made them so thin now that you can't even pull them out of the wall container without them tearing apart. I swear they are made out of rice-paper gauze!
 
I guess it depends on the item.

I can't speak for toasters-mine is from the 1940's. I do purchased Carhartt T-shirts (I wear t-shirts 98% of the time) and have no problem finding them on sale on line, or on sale at one of our local farm stores. Last time (maybe a year or so ago) that I purchased some I paid around $12.00/shirt. I have some that are 10+ years old.

Jeans I can always find at Dickies on line site for $20/pair. I also wear Carhartt jeans; not as easy to find on sale but the sales are still out there. Both brands have served me well, but I wear the carpenter style which tends to be geared toward work. I can't speak for the more trendy "fashion" jeans.

The few more "modern" appliances we have are all good quality-I have no complaints about any of them. The newest one that I have is a Keurig coffee maker-no problems and it does exactly what it's supposed to do.
 
Originally Posted By: leeharvey418
Can't speak to what you want in a toaster, but if you're within driving distance of a Jockey outlet, you can get good T-shirts there for under ten bucks.

Thanks...I'll give that a look.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
I guess it depends on the item.

I can't speak for toasters-mine is from the 1940's. I do purchased Carhartt T-shirts (I wear t-shirts 98% of the time) and have no problem finding them on sale on line, or on sale at one of our local farm stores. Last time (maybe a year or so ago) that I purchased some I paid around $12.00/shirt. I have some that are 10+ years old.

Jeans I can always find at Dickies on line site for $20/pair. I also wear Carhartt jeans; not as easy to find on sale but the sales are still out there. Both brands have served me well, but I wear the carpenter style which tends to be geared toward work. I can't speak for the more trendy "fashion" jeans.

The few more "modern" appliances we have are all good quality-I have no complaints about any of them. The newest one that I have is a Keurig coffee maker-no problems and it does exactly what it's supposed to do.


I have not had any luck in my area finding decent quality colored t-shirts for under $15-$20. Including sales. I'll check my local feed store though...maybe I'll get lucky.

Just noticed Carhartt has some as low as $16 online. I wonder if they are preshrunk? Still a bit expensive to me for a t-shirt....but it is what it is. At least they aren't cheapies.
 
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I buy a lot of LL Bean merchandise. It seems to be well made. I pay a bit more, but the stuff just lasts.

For undershirts, I get the Duluth Trader bare naked undershirts as they have a longer tail.

They cost a bit more, but last longer. Since I have to order XLT, I might as well order something that will last rather than order 6-12 cheaply made under-shirts every year.

The upside of the DT shirts is they make good workout shirts as well. I don't find many Tall Dri-Fit shirts, so these work for me in the gym and as an undershirt.

Today's undershirt is tomorrow's workout shirt.
 
You can find good quality items out there - the problem is that you actually have to research and/or inspect each item you buy. Brand loyalty means nothing in this day and age, you really need to research or inspect each individual item.

Online reviews are great for this.

I hear you on the t-shirt frustration, though. Although I don't wear t-shirts to work, I appreciate the differences between quality shirts (t-shirts and button-up shirts alike) and [censored]. Last t-shirt I bough at walmart (~$8, earlier this summer) is thin enough to read newsprint through, and it leaves about 5% of its mass behind in the dryer's lint trap after every wash. On the other hand, I have a ~5 year old t-shirt I bought at Cabela's - which I've worn/washed at least 100 times - that still looks as good as new. Not that all Cabela's shirts are great - I have lots of newer Cabela's t-shirts that have started to weather too quickly. Last one I bought there, the seam at the waist came apart in the third wash?!?! (again, brand loyalty means nothing)
 
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JC Penny and Kohls has shirts for under $20
I buy lots of clothes from there under $20 on the clearance rack.

I recently bought 2 Izod dress shirts for $11 each, that's less than a polo type shirt at Walmart.
 
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