Complaints

They Used To Last 50 Years, piece by Ryan Finlay is a good, and informative read.
Snip:

Now refrigerators last 8–10 years, if you are fortunate. How in the world have our appliances regressed so much in the past few decades? I’ve bought and sold refrigerators and freezers from the 1950’s that still work perfectly fine. I’ve come across washers and dryers from the 1960’s and 1970’s that were still working like the day they were made. Now, many appliances break and need servicing within 2-3 years and, overall, new appliances last 1/3 to 1/4 as long as appliances built decades ago.........

Adding a complaint of my own reflecting, again, how things ain't what they used to be: parcels and packages used to be shipped to the customer simply and efficiently in the USA, using USPS or UPS or, for large and more expensive items FedEx. I've recently discovered, from frustrating experience, that during the last several years a new shipping plan has taken root. This involves more than a single small package carrier. It works like this: the package initially ships with UPS or another, newer, outfit - Newgistics is one I've come across. Once the package arrives in, or close to the buyer's home state, shipping responsibility is transferred to USPS for actual delivery of the package.

This might have seemed like a good idea at the time. Dual-shipper system seems usually to be what happens when the buyer chooses the cheapest shipping method offered by the seller. From my own experience, twice recently, and from commentary online in a number of places, there's universal criticism : "this system sucks!"

Once the first carrier deposits your package at the mid-way destination it can sit there for several days. Tracking goes dead, does nothing but confuse rather than assist, indicates several estimated delivery dates which do not happen. I don't how this system can be seen as efficient for the buyer or cost-efficient for the seller. Small packages that would have been delivered within 3 or 4 days by USPS alone can take anything up to 2 weeks to arrive, and occasionally longer, using a dual-shipping plan. Packages can sit, day after day, after day waiting for attention, and often at a location only a short drive from the buyer's home!

I suspect there's method in their madness (there almost always is!) Once burned by experiencing this two-handed delivery system, when next ordering online a buyer is far more likely to pay a higher price for faster reliable delivery time.

In the case of shorter lives of appliances, and unreliable delivery times for packages - cui bono? Who eventually benefits? It's not ever going to be the customer, is it?