KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/02/kitchenaid-stand-mixer-durability/677524/

by aarghh • 2 years ago

12 6 2 years ago

olliej• 2 years ago

But people demonstrably don't want things that last, they want cheaper.

I'm not sure what appliance (or really at this point any) manufacturers are meant to do - if you're competing for the overwhelming majority of consumers price is basically the primary discriminator between products. If your competitor uses thinner steel and save $5 on price they end up at the top of all the lists, and the marketing life time for an appliance is far short of the actual product lifetime even for budget products, so by the time the difference in build quality is apparent you're long past the point of anyone writing reviews about it.

The alternative is you target low volume consumers for whom the cost is secondary concern, but that's a niche market where build quality gets even more expensive (due to low volume), and so even with huge mark up you're unlikely to make huge amounts of profit over your entire business.

If you try to target the high end of consumers (prosumer kitchen appliances?) you're competing with either gimmickware (which is low quality and low margin) or the mass producers putting "high quality" shells on their mass produced products, so they're able to make more profit than you while also undercutting you.

I know people like to blame manufacturers for making stuff that doesn't last as long, but it's consumers choosing cheaper products over higher quality ones that created this world.

kazinator2• 2 years ago

People want cheaper because they are used to everything being crap, with price being no indicator of quality. Spending more hoping it will last is a giant crapshoot. Also, sometimes price reflects nicer styling, but the interior is the same crap.

FloatArtifact2• 2 years ago

I would spend more, but how do you find an unknown brand that's has durable products? It is an issue of discoverability amongst a sea of mediocrity or out right trash.

i_play_stax• 2 years ago

Google the item, like so:

itemName ~review reddit

If you're looking at something whose company name is nonsense, e.g. FILBOZE, it's an alibaba reseller/drop-shipper and >50% chance to be garbage.

FloatArtifact2• 2 years ago

Legitimate reviews are also becoming harder to find. There are a lot of bots and high ranked searches that interfere with the end user getting the information they need. YouTube reviewers often don't disclose their sponsorships.

Obviously it's not impossible but point is this is getting worse over time not better. Remember that early online stores...

kazinator2• 2 years ago

That may have been so long ago, but today KitchenAid is only priced as if it had the quality from decades ago. Highly overrated brand.

KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago

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