Daily Blog – John E. Johnson, Jr. – March 17, 2008: WHAT PRICE JUNK?

I went into a consumer electronics supermarket yesterday to browse while my wife was in a clothing shop next door. I hadn’t been in one of those supermarkets in a few years because I get all of my equipment direct from manufacturers during the review process.

I was shocked to see how much of the stuff in that store was simply junk.

We have really gotten ourselves into a “Wait until the price comes down before I buy,” tragedy. DVD players for $99, “100 watt x 5” receivers for $179.95, even some digital video cameras that look like they came out of cereal boxes as prizes.

What the hell are we doing to ourselves? Does anyone truly believe they will get quality when they purchase that kind of equipment? The manufacturers are not at fault here. We are, because we have insisted over the years that we are only interested in one thing: the price. So, quality has spiraled down to the point that just about everything out there is built with the lowest priced parts. Maybe the top two items on the shelf are good quality, and the rest  . . . well, you probably should purchase the extended warranty, but if you do that, you will have paid a total dollar amount that would have been the same if the product had been high quality to begin with and you didn’t need the extended warranty.

As for myself, I have never been a “got to have it right now” kind of person. I don’t mind waiting until I put away enough cash to buy what I really want: the good stuff. Problem is, the good stuff is getting harder and harder to find. It’s out there alright, but I have to look for it.

Sometimes I wonder if we are losing our self respect.