[overthemoon]

I swear I'm not being snarky here, but: isn't this supposed to be something the market can solve? Is there no eg furniture manufacturer looking at the state of things and resolving to make relatively affordable and durable furniture? I want durable shit. I want to buy stuff that's going to last. I know I'm not the only one. Is the only option for this to buy top dollar stuff? If you're buying crap every 2-10 years you may as well be renting, but with extra trash going into the landfill/on a boat to be burned and inhaled by children in a 3rd world dump.

I would also like to know what policy knobs to fiddle with that could change this situation, but I think the answer is probably something like "mumble mumble global finance capital".

[afuchs]

Information asymmetry exists in markets.

Most people are not subject area experts in regards to infrequent purchases. From informal conversation it seems that a lot of consumers have experienced enshittification from brands and products that they previously held in high regard. This has resulted in them losing trust in the market and they now assume that anything they buy will be of poor quality regardless of other factors. As a result, they have given up on making purchasing decisions based on quality and now only purchase the cheapest product they can find.

This seems to have created a situation where consumers are unable to differentiate between different products based on quality and do not trust marketing because they've been lied to before.