And what if I do care about quality? As the consumer, I do not even have that choice to make 99% of the time. This is very much a false equivalency and it isn't even close.

Companies get to choose what products or product qualities to make. If I, a consumer, want or need a product, I can only choose between what is made available to me by the companies.

It certainly doesn't help that it's nearly impossible to tell what is or isn't a quality product before or even after you buy it. What am I supposed to do when I buy a new power tool? Rip it apart and inspect all the parts to determine if it's "quality"? How am I supposed to tell if it even is "quality"? I'm not a manufacturing or engineering expert. Even when you think you're buying quality, it's not most of the time. Companies sell shit products at premium prices all the time because almost no one can tell the difference.

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groundzeros2015 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I can only choose between what is made available to me by the market

The existence of that desire is an untapped market opportunity.

And yes there are ranges of quality in almost every product you can think of from fishing rods, to furniture, to diapers. And theses brands clearly compete with cheaper options and still have strong businesses.

	▲	DangitBobby 9 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It is until the next brand becomes quality, people trust it, and they start riding on the brand name but skimp on quality for higher margin. There is no reliable signal for quality in any market unless you can get your hands on practically the same product someone else has.
	▲	danaris 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> The existence of that desire is an untapped market opportunity. Only if you can outcompete the giant mega-conglomerate incumbents. And you can't. If you start trying to sell in an area, they can drop the prices on their competing products in that area to below cost until you run out of money. Or they can just buy you for more than you'd ever get in profit, then take advantage of your reputation for quality to sell the same crappy quality stuff they were selling before, with your branding on it, for a markup. They'll make enough from suckers who believe it to more than cover the cost of buying you out before the public catch on and stop being willing to pay the extra.

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bradleyankrom 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And you have to keep up with which brands have been private equitied, e.g., Pyrex.