You'd be surprised at how many people or even shops for that matter use equipment that aren't cut out for the job.
You are right that your life and limbs ought to be worth more than the few bucks, but that's the way it is. Do you ever wonder how many people price shop? As an example, you can get cheap imported brake pads for most cars or trucks for less than $20 a set these days. How would you like to have them on your tow rig as you are getting ready to descend from 4,000 ft with your new 29' boat in your rear view mirror ??
You know, I often see posts like this in the forums.
My first thought is always, does the poster sell the products talked about in the thread, and is trying to justify his high prices?
Not being argumentative here and really not trying to hassle you, but I have to wonder, do YOU pay retail for everything?
Or, perhaps, retail plus 20%?
Do you ever shop on sale? Or do you wait till the sale ends so you won’t spend less money?
Do you call around for estimates, then pick the highest, in the belief that the guy who charges more, does better work?
Do you only go to restaurants that have valet and even the waiter wears a tux? And that’s just for breakfast?
Do you only buy coffee at Starbucks?
Do you only buy the most expensive wine, even for table wine, because, well, it must be better, it costs more?
Do you have your clothing made? Off the rack is so much cheaper, it can’t be any good, right?
Do you always buy the extended warranty? On a ten dollar item?
Do you see where I’m coming from?
In my life I have found lots of things that were much better in the more expensive grade, but I have found LOTS of things that were just as good for lots less money.
The best furniture I ever bought was from the makers, or special deals at major warehouses. (I don’t mean junk shops like IKEA, but they have their place).
Paying extra almost never assures you of higher quality. Sorry. The economics don’t work that way.
What you often pay for is location, convenience, prestige, a fancy store front, salesman commission, bragging rights. Sorry, you can keep these as far as I’m concerned. Well, convenience I will pay a little more for, as I am old.
Paying extra for work being done ‘may’ give you better quality work, but only if you are into the high end custom work. You get ten estimates on putting up a job and while the bottom two are probably shoddy, the top two will just reflect the higher price on the salesman who sells the product.
Having bought and sold a LOT of stuff, with a LOT of stores over the years, I noticed that the ‘quality tap’ was only sometimes hooked to the ‘price tap’.
Ditto on the quality workmanship.
Nissan and Toyota sold for a fraction of what their competitors sold for in the 80’s. and had twice the quality. Suzuki made a quality car. Many are still on the road at 250k miles. It sold for one fourth what the over rated Honda’s sold for, and had a MUCH higher satisfaction rate.
I have seen 2000 dollar pistols that didn’t perform near as well as a 200 dollar Ruger, sold next to it in the case.
I have bought 800 dollar pistols that I had to send back to the builder to get them to WORK, while I have bought cheap pistols like the Makrov that shoot straight, function every time, for 100 bucks new.
Seen many ‘bargain’ parts that were made on the same line as the ‘deluxe’ parts. I know, I was at the factory and bought the boxcars full. Some went to my stores at discount prices. Others went to VERY high price distributers. Did the people paying 4-6 times as much get a better deal because they sold for more???
I think one of the most scary things in our society is the idea that paying more for something is better.
Houses worth 100k were selling for 400k lately. No reason, just people thought they were 'worth more' right then. Not so much now...
Buying a good product, at a good price, is sound judgment.
Yup, you can bargain hunt till you buy junk very easily. But paying too much is just sad.
