So often, the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm fromJurassic Parkring true, where engineers and product managers are too preoccupied “with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
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Getting rid of headphone jacks on phones. Getting rid of external SD cards on phones. Getting rid of replaceable batteries on phones. Smartphones used to be a lot better in so many ways.
The change of some products, especially software, from a “you buy it, you own it” to subscription based models, where you lose access once the subscription ends.
While many of the ideas here were at least pitched as “improvements” it doesn’t take an expert to see just how many problems might arise. Indeed, the classic example of a subscription-based model over just owning the item was almost immediately bemoaned in its time. Now, for better or worse, it’s the norm.The truth is, when it comes tomaking money, companies can be pretty unscrupulous about worsening the products we have grown to love. In the past, they may have attempted to swing it using marketing and pitching it like a new feature. Now, some companies will instead hide the corners they have cut. This is most visible through what some economists call “shrinkflation".
While many of the ideas here were at least pitched as “improvements” it doesn’t take an expert to see just how many problems might arise. Indeed, the classic example of a subscription-based model over just owning the item was almost immediately bemoaned in its time. Now, for better or worse, it’s the norm.
The truth is, when it comes tomaking money, companies can be pretty unscrupulous about worsening the products we have grown to love. In the past, they may have attempted to swing it using marketing and pitching it like a new feature. Now, some companies will instead hide the corners they have cut. This is most visible through what some economists call “shrinkflation".
All these smart appliances. I don’t see the use in these washers and refrigerators with touch screens and internet connectivity. They have so many points of failure. Just give me a bare bones fridge that will last longer than me.
Touch buttons replacing physical buttons. Especially in cars.
Tipping culture in US post-COVID. I can’t even buy a coffee without being requested to tip. F**k off.
While it might sound paradoxical, after all, to inflate literally means to expand, shrinkflation covers how inflation has caused many companies, primarily GMCG providers, to “shrink” their offerings. The real issue isn’t your money no longer going as far, that is a sad, yet “normal” part of inflation. Instead, unlike the supposed “upgrades” here, which at least had some marketing behind them, shrinkflation tends to bedone in secret.
The use of QR codes at some restaurants instead of a physical menu.
Customer service and communication with companies and general. Everything is now an app, a faq or a robot. I’ve seen commercials presenting this as a good thing claiming it’s so easy to get an answer to your questions where in reality if you don’t have a standard question you’re screwed as no one any longer lists their phone number. Most large companies are impossible to contact.
The removal of disc drives in laptops. Sure, the laptop is thinner and lighter now, but I can’t use any of my CDs or DVDs anymore.
For better or worse, companies might have made the correct strategic choice. With higher production costs, they could either charge more or shrink the actual item. People tend to not like paying more for the same thing, so they will happilystop buyingit. Unfortunately, this does mean that more often than not, the infuriating “half-empty chip bag” issue now applies to everything fromchocolateto pasta.
Streaming.You buy a movie. Bu you don’t own it. They can take it away from you at any time, but they charge you the same. Total rip off and should be illegal.
My pay rise that is well below inflation.
Windows… F*****g… 11. It’s not an upgrade, it’s a side grade at best.
The worst part about this is that an unwary consumer might end up spending money and getting a lot less than they bargained for. Your daily trip to the grocery store is probably where this is most apparent, but it can happen whenrenovatinga home or just signing up for some software. The only solution, as hard as it can be to accept, is to vote with one’s wallet.
Removing the dislike button on Youtube
Streaming platforms going subscription + ads, lets just combine the old with the new model and do em both worse! hooray
Brexit
Privatization of Rail, healthcare etc
Electric cars. They’re being marketed as a solution to the issue we face with fuel and they really aren’t. They simply open up a whole new bag of problems.
Netflix ditching the star rating for a simple thumb up thumb down system. I stumbled across so many awesome things to watch purely because user rating was so high
Has anyone mentioned wireless headphones yet? Bring back the plug-in ones, no batteries, and saved your phone when you dropped it.
I was promoted to a higher management position that happened to be in the night shift.They DECREASED my salary, because the night bonus “would compensate the difference”…
Open office plans.
Getting notifications about suggested content. Facebook likes to send me notifications now like “Hey that guy who you had one class with in high school and never spoke to just posted something!” Reddit likes to notify me when there’s posts on subreddits I don’t follow. I wish notifications were just for things I actually give a s**t about like someone messaging me or replying to a comment I made.
iphones getting rid of touch ID. It’s faster than face id, it’s easier to wave a stolen phone/police-snatched phone at your face than it is to drag your hand into position and other brands have shown there was no practical need for it.
Pretty much every sale these days. They jack the prices up and then discount to the same price they were before. It’s pretty common here in Australia.
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Google 5 years ago vs now.Seems like its getting worse every day.
Dish detergent/washing up liquid. For the past few years, I was sure all the “New and Improved' and “Now with x More” was false. Newer detergent doesn’t seem to go half as far, or cut through grease as well. I used to buy a bottle maybe once every 5-6 months; now, I’m buying a bottle every 2-3 months – and I’m doing the same amount of washing up. Fast forward to two weeks ago when I found a bottle of Tesco generic washing up liquid in an under stair cupboard from 7-8 years ago, unopened and still perfectly usable. I popped that boy open and did a 1-to-1 comparison with the same liquid I bought last week. I could immediately see a difference. The liquid in the old version was thicker, and obviously much more concentrated. The old stuff took a single pass to clean greasy pans. The same pans took at least three passes with the new stuff, and still didn’t come away with that squeaky clean feel. Insult to injury, the new bottle had 60ml less, and I’m going to guess it cost more. Tdrl: Newer dish detergent is junk, and I have the old stuff to prove it.
Working and finding work with a college degree.
I work for 7-11. We used to sell burritos at 2 for 2.30. One day we had a “sale” at 2 for $3! When that sale ended the burritos were now 2 for 3.40. They raised the price twice but treated one like a sale.
Adverts on Amazon Prime. I’m sure they are trying to make them so annoying that you pay extra to go ad free…
I hate that all 3 major consoles now require you to pay for a subscription to play onlineLiterally all the other features of ps+ are good enough for people to buy it why would you force people to buy it for online that used to be free
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Pensions to 401k
Customer loyalty cards being replaced with an app that sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t when you’re at the checkout. I most recently noticed this with Home Depot, so I stopped shopping there because they couldn’t get my veteran’s discount to work without my app working. Now I see Lowe’s is going that same direction and I am dissapointed.
Anything involving “the cloud”. It was talked about like this great new addition to anything, but really, it’s just been a way to hack apart existing services and sell them back to people to wrench money out of their hands.I get that sometimes it’s useful, but more often than not, it’s just an excuse to be greedy.
Photoshop Cs3.Bought the program, worked it for years, happy as a pig in st.Windows 11, bang! does not work any more.Can’t find anyway to open my bought a paid for program.Can’t afford a subscription.Adobe “closed' the servers or something.Fk Adobe.
Oh yeah, and taking out CD players in cars was a MISTAKE. I miss CD players in cars :-(
Australia have a popular line of cracker-like snacks called Shapes that come in various flavours like BBQ, Pizza, Chedder etc.In 2016 with much fanfare they launched what were supposedly new and improved recipes for the line (but in actuality were a massive downgrade that were almost certainly cheaper to make), replacing the original recipes in the process.The near universal backlash was so fierce they embarrassingly had to walk the move back almost immediately, with “new shapes” disappearing from existence within a few months.
Elon buying Twitter
When Reddit removed home feed sort (miss you, rising!) “to simplify the user experience”
Walmart going from 24/7 to 12/7 during Covid “to clean”
The NFL wildcard game that aired on Peacock instead of a basic cable network.
The Tiny House/Home movement.
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