The Off Topic Topic

[crazy canuck]

The other point to consider is that manufacturing a durable product is more expensive.  If consumers were willing to pay more for that kind of product somebody would produce it. The fundamental problem is that people have overwhelmingly preferred cheap and as a consequence, less durable.

If it were otherwise, China would not have become the manufacturing hub for the world.

I always have issue with Vimes Boots Law.
Some of the worst shoes I've bought were really quite expensive. Companies will charge what they can get away with and they know consumers tend not to be great judges of quality.
When quality is such a roll of the dice with cost having a minimal relationship going for the cheaper options just makes sense.

Price is definitely not a guarantee of quality, but a high quality item will typically be more costly to produce than an item of low quality.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - cost isn't a guarantee of quality (you still need taste and to either know your stuff or do research).

But broadly in lots of things there will be decent very affordable items but you can get higher quality that will increase with cost - and different people care about different things.