Piss and Vinegar

It's not just me: lots of other people are wondering about businesses and how they do things.

One thing that concerns those who care about quality is how little of it there is in today's marketplace. Instead of creating or selling goods that we'd be happy to consume, companies from the very largest to tiny cottage ones aren't taking the time and effort to produce much of anything worth having. There are exceptions, of course, but just like politicians, pretty much everyone is gravitating toward the golden mean and just making stuff that most people will find palatable.

I don't have any solid evidence for this, not even anecdotal, but anyone making anything quickly learns to cut corners to increase profits. Engineers determine just how little strength is necessary for the product and its shipping, which means we get flaky cardboard boxes instead of the stout ones that could be used as a fort that I grew up with. Buttons, levers, and housing are much weaker than they used to be, back when I guess people made things that felt "about right."

There's no need to use costly ingredients such as sugar or specially grown hops when generic or produced replacements will do since few people will notice the difference or refuse to buy the cheaper product. Yeah, you may lose 5% or so of the market, but those numbers can easily be made up through marketing to those who wouldn't know the difference if it was presented in a Power Point presentation.

Worse, even if you want to sell to the discriminating, corners are invariably trimmed. If organically produced ingredients are desired, they'll often save money on wages, shipping, or some other aspect. If some small percent of goods will perish if kept at a certain temperature, that will be considered acceptable and no attempt made to lower the temperature to ensure a higher survival. Bland fillers will be used to bulk up the volume, or the package will contain a lesser amount to stay competitive, and the consumer is always the one who suffers.

Years ago when Microsoft was introducing some collaborative software, some astute writer noticed that, despite its benefits, it took no account of the actual business world that is inhabited by humans. While being able to share information and documents is no doubt beneficial, most offices are filled with politics, petty disputes, and the quickly-learned realization that one only receives rewards for what is done and who knows it. Having the ability to share information is one thing, actually giving it up or doing so is quite another entirely. I've little doubt that more is hidden, kept private, and restrained than is ever divulged no matter how many tools are available for disseminating it.

People are unwilling, unable, or at least reluctant to ever question their own motives. Sadder, most who even take that step comfort themselves with some rationalization instead of looking brutally at their reasons for what they say or do. Even if someone has a great idea for improving a product, by the time it makes it through the bureaucracy, the defining edges have been cut off, the soul compromised, and ways developed to produce a more widely acceptable result.

It's not anyone's fault: it's the way the world works.

[Note: When I came up with the title, I expected to include a deep and meaningful discussion of high-end vinegars to make my point. Instead, I rambled aimlessly, and I'm uncertain if I made any point at all, salient or otherwise.]