To think the quality of everything has gone down so much in the last few years

YANbeingU at all.

I have started fighting back.

I now have a small container in the hall by the front door and I put every single receipt I get into that.

Everything that is sub-standard goes straight back to the shop for a refund. Sorry but a £3.50 gas lighter clicker should last a year not a month. All non food items should last a year. I've started taking every single thing back - I'm not paying for crap any more. Don't sell me knickers that part from the waistband at the first wash coz this bitch aint taking it no more!

I have this conversation with myself every day. DH and have comparatively high salaries compared to some but we were able to buy much nicer higher quality items in our 20s (in 40s now) things of the same quality now are either unaffordable or don't exist. It's depressing.

Hasn't this been the case since the 90s. Or are you saying that the world have got richer, increasing costs

I picked up a 70s Connect 4 in a charity shop, the counters feel lovely and nest together nicely. It has lasted through all of my kids.

Agreed!! Including the quality of mobile phones and all the shit that's on them these days.

SHIT!

I've just found lovely brushed cotton mens PJ bottoms in Tesco. Proper drawstring and good pockets too, needless to say I stocked up. They wash and dry well.

Like them iPhones you mean?

With decorations I just buy a couple of things a year, Some things I made or the kids made when they were little. There are a few bits that were on the tree when I was little. There are three decorations that were on my grandmother's tree when my DM was little, and she's 85 now.

Totally agree! I see it with board games. My 1970’s Connect 4 could have withstood an earthquake but the new ones are so flimsy the counters randomly fall out!

I know “enshittification” originally referred to online services, but god does it relate to everything else too. I bought some Fat Face socks the other week, because they’ve always been great quality as well as daft and cute. They feel about half as thick as an old pair I still have. It made me think about a Fat Face hoodie I bought when I was about 12 that lasted me 18 years and I still donated it because it was in perfect condition, you’re lucky to get a year out of stuff now!

Electronics are a whole other thing. Customer service! TV writing. Journalism. Every single public service. Transport!!!

I have gadgets and furniture and all sorts that belonged to my grandparents, and even their parents. No one will be using something I bought in Argos in 130 years time, that’s for sure.

I know “enshittification” originally referred to online services, but god does it relate to everything else too. I bought some Fat Face socks the other week, because they’ve always been great quality as well as daft and cute. They feel about half as thick as an old pair I still have. It made me think about a Fat Face hoodie I bought when I was about 12 that lasted me 18 years and I still donated it because it was in perfect condition, you’re lucky to get a year out of stuff now!

Electronics are a whole other thing. Customer service! TV writing. Journalism. Every single public service. Transport!!!

I have gadgets and furniture and all sorts that belonged to my grandparents, and even their parents. No one will be using something I bought in Argos in 130 years time, that’s for sure.

Temu is not excellent quality.

Temu shite is really bad for the planet so I had to stop but actually the quality is excellent nowadays.

If I ever find cotton PJs in the charity shops I snap them up - a thorough wash and they're fine. So much in the actual shops is that slimy polyester stuff.

Many mid-range products have also dramatically decreased in quality. It's pointless telling people with average or below average incomes that you 'have to pay for quality' because often they simply can't. Many secondhand/charity shops are also increasingly full of tat compared to previously - not really their fault, of course.

This! Manufacturers deliberately make things that are unfixable and so you need to replace them after only a couple of years- phones are glued together, you can't actually get to the batteries in airpods without breaking the whole case- they are driving the överkonsumtion by bringing out a new upgrade every few years
We're going to end up like the film wallE
We don't just throw stuff away it just gets put somewhere else

It's utterly crazy. So difficult to get natural fibres at all in the mainstream shops, if you don't want to wash microplastics into the water with every wash. I was disappointed to see that global treaty to curb plastic production collapsed. I try not to read those articles about microplastics in our bodies 😬😬😬

Yep. It’s especially noticeable with clothing. I go into shops and come out with nothing because it’s such poor quality, likewise sending entire online orders back because it feels like tissue paper and the colour is already running while it’s still in the packaging. That horrible ecovero stuff is one of the worst offenders, it pills almost immediately and washes like a rag.

Bedding has degraded in quality massively, all of the set of mugs I got about 18 months ago have chipped or cracked (in one case the mug split apart during use). It used to be that you’d get some decent bits in department stores or eg Dunelm but now it’s rubbish which looks and feels cheap but very much isn’t.

Its also getting harder and harder to find quality items that justify the cost. Engineered obsolescence.

I completely agree and have always abided by the 'Buy cheap, buy twice' principle.
But I also think it's getting harder to buy quality items and many things are just not made to last.

Watch Buy More on Netflix, it covers all these issues.

We have lost the plot with overconsumption, programmed obsolescence (aka deliberate poor quality) and plastic everywhere.

Rather than going on Mars, AI or the Middle East, the world should focus on solving plastic and overconsumption of crap.

If you buy less but buy quality it lasts for a very long time. This is the disadvantage of buying (clothes particularly) online. You cannot feel the quality of the fabric.

I use wire headphones and find myself buying new apple adapters monthly, even other brands like Belkin. The latest was record breaking (one single wire, no adapter) I got it a couple days ago and it’s not working already. It’s insane that this is being normalised. It applies to everything, clothes that are meant to last two washes…everything

Agree and polyester everywhere too, I've been trying to get mens cotton pj bottoms at a reasonable price online but everything is polyester or that sweaty fleece material 🤢. Eventually found some instore in Tesco.