We often hear of folks complaining about declining product quality.
The flip side of that is that nobody outside of the producing industries complains about declining product prices.
Let's consider two major and one minor groups of products.
1. Air travel: Everyone including me complains about how small pitch (distance between seats) has gotten as airlines stuff as many rows in an aircraft as its type certification allows, even adding an extra seat to each row where possible. The flip side of this is that commercial air travel has never been cheaper in real dollars, or even in nominal dollars in many cases. Has the product been cheapened? Yes, and travelers have voted with their wallets to make it so. Are there roomier seats available for those willing to pay for them? Sure, but most aren't.
2. Vehicles: A common complaint is that vehicle interiors have come to be dominated with hard plastics and have a much less inviting look and feel than those of a couple of decades back. The flip side of this is that in comparing apples to apples, new vehicles are less costly now in constant dollars than those of a couple of decades back even though there are certain quality improvements that are now universal, like four channel ABS, VSC and side airbags with power windows, central locking and air conditioning found on all but a small handful of models. When considering the marginal cost of an automatic transaxle and alloy wheels, my '12 Accord cost about the same in nominal dollars as my '99 5 spd on steelies, so was actually cheaper in constant dollar terms. The '99 did have a much nicer interior, but lacked side airbags and ABS. Like many, I accepted the de-contented interior in exchange for a surprisingly low purchase price. There was always the option of paying more for an EX with a nicer interior and many others went that route.
In comparing similar models over time, new vehicles are no more costly in real terms than they were back in the day.
3. Motor oil: Many here bemoan the adoption of Grp III synthetics and look with nostalgia at the days when the term "synthetic" meant a Grp IV or V oil. Now, the retail DIY oil market is a small one as compared to most consumer goods, but here again, people have voted with their wallets and select Grp III synthetics at some large multiple over the quantities of Grp IV/V products. M1 costs about the same in nominal dollars as it did two decades ago and nobody seriously avoids it just because it's no longer a mostly PAO oil, although some grades still are. The same is true across this market as a whole. There are still mostly Grp IV/V products available for those willing to pay a premium for them, but most of us aren't.
My point is that in most cases what we all view as product cheapening by evil corporate behemoths has also brought lower prices in constant dollars in competitive markets for all of us price shopping consumers.
Premium products are also always available for those willing to pay a premium price.
IOW, we've gotten what we demanded with our money.
The flip side of that is that nobody outside of the producing industries complains about declining product prices.
Let's consider two major and one minor groups of products.
1. Air travel: Everyone including me complains about how small pitch (distance between seats) has gotten as airlines stuff as many rows in an aircraft as its type certification allows, even adding an extra seat to each row where possible. The flip side of this is that commercial air travel has never been cheaper in real dollars, or even in nominal dollars in many cases. Has the product been cheapened? Yes, and travelers have voted with their wallets to make it so. Are there roomier seats available for those willing to pay for them? Sure, but most aren't.
2. Vehicles: A common complaint is that vehicle interiors have come to be dominated with hard plastics and have a much less inviting look and feel than those of a couple of decades back. The flip side of this is that in comparing apples to apples, new vehicles are less costly now in constant dollars than those of a couple of decades back even though there are certain quality improvements that are now universal, like four channel ABS, VSC and side airbags with power windows, central locking and air conditioning found on all but a small handful of models. When considering the marginal cost of an automatic transaxle and alloy wheels, my '12 Accord cost about the same in nominal dollars as my '99 5 spd on steelies, so was actually cheaper in constant dollar terms. The '99 did have a much nicer interior, but lacked side airbags and ABS. Like many, I accepted the de-contented interior in exchange for a surprisingly low purchase price. There was always the option of paying more for an EX with a nicer interior and many others went that route.
In comparing similar models over time, new vehicles are no more costly in real terms than they were back in the day.
3. Motor oil: Many here bemoan the adoption of Grp III synthetics and look with nostalgia at the days when the term "synthetic" meant a Grp IV or V oil. Now, the retail DIY oil market is a small one as compared to most consumer goods, but here again, people have voted with their wallets and select Grp III synthetics at some large multiple over the quantities of Grp IV/V products. M1 costs about the same in nominal dollars as it did two decades ago and nobody seriously avoids it just because it's no longer a mostly PAO oil, although some grades still are. The same is true across this market as a whole. There are still mostly Grp IV/V products available for those willing to pay a premium for them, but most of us aren't.
My point is that in most cases what we all view as product cheapening by evil corporate behemoths has also brought lower prices in constant dollars in competitive markets for all of us price shopping consumers.
Premium products are also always available for those willing to pay a premium price.
IOW, we've gotten what we demanded with our money.
