What are some ways in which expensive products can be worse than cheaper ones? Examples that come to my mind: * Expensive clothes can be much less convenient to clean * In expensive hotel rooms it's often harder to figure out how to turn off all the lights * Expensive restaurants often have less choice in menus
Expensive sunglasses break more easily than cheap ones. Tell me I'm wrong 😎
Expensive cars cost more to maintain than your run-of-the-mill Honda or Toyota.
cheap cryptos usually have much lower fees than those darn expensive & popular ones
hehe btc is more expensive than eth 👀 i'll see myself out
More expensive to use, maintain, and repair, eg owning a BMW vs a Toyota More liable to theft, eg a thief will take an expensive umbrella/laptop/camera but not a cheap one
Expensive dog breeds can have health issues that mutts don’t.
Expensive coffee makers break more easily and coffee grounds are more expensive than capsules
Less choice in menus is a feature, not a bug!
* Sports cars - mostly inconvenient to use when not in a sporty mood * Leather items - mostly expensive than vegan options, guilt inducing and literally costs a life.
Physical books cost more, are heavier, and take up more space than a Kindle
Sometimes its better to go to a concert in the GA area than in far away, more expensive and less fun seats.
Globally, higher tech solutions, while perhaps providing more function, are more brittle. e.g., ice cube tray vs fancy ice machine; post-it note for tracking use vs fancy scheduling system; book vs pdf vs file database.
Purchasing an expensive product is also a larger investment in the company which means a higher risk for yourself. If I purchase an electronic from a niche luxury brand and they go out of business, repairs just got much more complicated. Boosted Board comes to mind with this example.
* Expensive branded luggage is more likely to be stolen * Expensive items are more upsetting to lose
expensive appliances (coffee makers, toasters, etc) often require more maintenance and have feature overkill, and are less reliable than simple cheap ones most of the time
I guess for me it could be really expensive stylists who offer exquisite services but then cant grip my kind of hair properly (4c) defeating the essence of actually going to the salon to braid my hair.
expensive mechanical watches have high maintenance costs relative to their quartz counterparts. eg servicing a rolex is ~15x the cost of a casio g shock despite having far fewer ‘complications’ (features)
A $25 dollar quartz Casio is less likely to get you mugged and keeps better time than a $12k Rolex submariner.
“Expensive” tech products could be buried in tech debt (aka little fox)
“Professional” products in many categories are more expensive yet have less intuitive ui i.e. video cameras, compositing or special fx software, cnc machines. Of course they have positives as well though.
Fear of usage - you don't want to break, or damage something expensive.
* Apple Notes > Note Taking App Subscriptions b/c complex workflows w/ $$$ * Ikea, Wayfair (mostly) > Pottery Barn et al b/c fits all spaces/sizes vs bigger homes * Gas car > Random manufacturer electric car b/c poor mileage defeats electric gains * Australian boots/Blundstone > Highfashion leather boots b/c durable
and the goat: * casio f91 > all watches b/c it never, ever dies on you and looks slick always
ironically, expensive products may not get "used" as much as they're less expensive counter parts (for fear of getting it dirty/worn etc). usability literally suffers.
a lot of veblen goods are fragile. it's part of the flex, like having the latest iphone with no case
Used to sell luxury bedding- once you get above like $300 USD, you're paying for exclusive materials that are usually less comfortable and harder to maintain than simple cotton. Also thread count- if you're looking for a sateen, anything above like 1k TC is extra for no tactile difference, and frays easier.
The most Expensive clubs are full of the least interesting people.
Cheap countries are sometimes better to live in than expensive ones. For example in many countries in South East Asia the people are some of the kindest, the food is amazing, and the weather is always great
Expensive (especially luxury) items that are visible make you more attractive target for scammers/criminals.
Utility is a log function of price. Usually there is a level ($100-$160 for example for shoes) where you get same utility or worse from everything. Worse usually comes from own limitations like buying a $10,000 audio system while having suboptimal hearing.
I'd hope a more expensive restaurant has better quality ingredients and a nice atmosphere. Menu choice should be secondary here. Unless the restaurant is so expensive you're paying for the "experience". (On a different note: I had a hard time choosing between using apostrophes or quotes around "experience".)
- Dishes in expensive restaurants have smaller portions. - You meet frirndlier people in cheap hostels than in expensive hotels.
Valet car parking requires a rando to get into your car
complicating a product or issue/problem more than necessary to convince the higher price tag for the solution complicated: big company consulting services too much hierarchy and regulation
Furniture. The most expensive is not always the most durable, comfortable or best quality.
Expensive cities Can be less convenient and more lonely to live in
* expensive watches stall if you don't wear them for N days * expensive cars tend to break down more frequently * expensive (old) wine more likely to have gone bad
An expensive pen - the item is superbly easy to lose
Passengers in first-class seats on airplanes are more likely to die than those in coach. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-biggest-drawback-to-flying-first-class-2016-1
Knew a guy who had a rolls royce in Singapore. It was so big that he could only park in 3 places comfortably in the country
Jaguar vs toyota (Any1 dealing with maintenance knows what im talking about) Books vs books subscription Ibuprofen vs cbd oil (Cheap and expensive across the spectrum of health)
high-end cars more difficult to fix due to limited/proprietary supply chain/expertise
Expensive watches make you a much bigger target for criminals
when exerting extra effort translates into cultural capital. Example: when collecting old Porsches or old Ferraris, you can be sure it's more difficult to maintain an old/slower/more unreliable Ferrari than a faster/newer model. But this investment translates into intangible Porsche/Ferrari community cultural cache.
CAROLYN: This is a $4,000 sofa, upholstered in Italian silk. This is not just a couch. LESTER: It's just a couch! This isn't life! This is just stuffIt's just a couch! This isn't life! This is just stuff, and it's become more important to you than living. https://youtube.com/watch?v=OKSsWJIW_J0&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
side thought: I often see cars, houses, etc. that I absolutely despise but would be delighted to receive for free even if the caveat was that I have to keep it for ten years before selling.
* but expensive clothes can (not always) feel better because of better fabrics * but are cleaner, smell better, offer more services, better food * but may be the result of an expert making the choice for you. Changing specs may result in increased cost but may come with other improvements.
expensive cars are often a nightmare to maintain and have to be driven and handled (storage etc) more cautiously
TradFi investment products are a prime example. Active & higher fee often lags passive & lower fee.
Expensive clothes = high maintenance + loss of initial investment
Expensive cities… pay more for decidedly worse lifestyle for a few narrow upsides. Many hang on long after the upside potential is gone.
Product by “build to be sold” companies that are semiotically aligned with what “valuable” looks like
Expensive movie productions may tend to less risky experiments so they can at least break even. It may result in less creative, repeated factory-produced popcorn movies.
Clothes: . Risk of kidnapping . Misguided / misunderstood social signaling . Other stuff becomes more expensive in various situations . Risk of causing social anxiety in others
‘When you ain’t got nothin’ ya got nothin’ to lose. You’re invisible now. You got no secrets to conceal’ from the song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
Expensive cars are very expensive to fix
Not a product, but my free college CS education in Greece was immensely better than what the $$$ equivalent in US would have been
I cook breakfast every morning with a mauviel chef-grade brass pan (which are fantastic for everything except this use case)... and every morning my hubby says to me: can I please buy you a non-stick pan for making eggs, the brass pan is a pain in the 🍑 to clean
Aloha idk #not3nough.eth to be able to tell you the difference yet nevertheless I have a room and I'm able to find food.
* Using 5+ different streaming platforms vs pirating content * Using 5+ different game launchers vs pirating games * a lot of OSS software vs paid proprietary software * Small markets that sell local produce are often cheaper than large supermarkets that sell inferior imported produce
Sometimes I feel as though basic UX principles are ignored and sacrificed for glamorous UI (or cosmetics). Eg. The MBP. Apple removed ports that haven't been made redundant globally for the sake of simplistic design (or force the user to purchase adapters at silly costs to compensate) same with the iPhone (headphones)
Any misalignment between the product and the job to be done (requirements). I can imagine an endless list of examples. The better product is the one that's best aligned to the needs of the person who uses it, when they use it.
*crypto conferences with a higher price to attend usually attracts less and less things of what makes a conference actually special *expensive meats usually have more fat and less meat
