The Quality of Life Today
I am wondering if others see a lowering of quality in just about everything or am I just getting old and cranky? When I say everything, I really mean just about everything we purchase now. The pencils I use in my shop are difficult to sharpen without the lead breaking and the erasers only smear, they don't erase anymore. Milwaukee Tools were among the best. I have several that are 30 years old and have never been in the repair shop. Last year my 20-year old Porter Cable router died and I replaced it with a new Milwaukee router as I wanted the best tools for my shop. Already, at just over a year old, it has been repaired twice! The tool supplier explained they are made in China now. The same can be said for almost everything from cars, TV sets, tools, furniture, appliances, phones, computers, and on and on. Typically the prices on all this merchandise seems pretty good with more bells and whistles every year. But nothing lasts and the repairs cost half the original price. So are we getting such a good deal? I don't think so.
We can buy more stuff now than ever before, but we need to replace it two, three, even five times more often. I have always preferred to buy the best even if that meant waiting longer until I could afford it, but that search is getting a little more difficult. Beautiful and artistically-crafted furnishings, lighting, and other home improvements don't exist in most stores and good-quality craftsmanship only exists from a relatively small number or artists and craftsmen in the world today. This lowering of standards is completely our fault. If we continue to buy inexpensive, poor quality merchandise instead of paying more for quality, we are voting with our wallets that quality does not matter. We perpetuate the poor quality we complain about by purchasing low-quality products over and over again. In the end we don't receive anything of value.
This blog is not a complaint, but more a statement and observation that we are not gaining more with all this cheap stuff but losing quality in our surroundings. I designed and built the carved entry door below for a man in Japan. I was amazed when he said he had been looking for years for someone to carve this door in Japan without success. He had to come to the United States to find a craftsman who would build him a high-quality custom-made entryway for his home that would last his lifetime and longer, someone who would use solid hardwoods and do all the wood and glass carving by hand. He wanted to know his entry would be spectacular in looks and in quality. This is what I do. I hope it's not a dying art.
