Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak quality [was Rumor]

Dave Kruger wrote:

>Carey, if manufacturers make crappy gear and people buy it, then they get what they deserve.  If buyers discriminate better and fork out the bucks for better gear, then those who make better gear will prosper.
>
>That's a market-based response:  one where we can vote with our bucks to
>avoid that which sucks.
>  
>
If only it were so simple. Those in the know are out-numbered by those 
not in the know, all creating "the market." To serve "the market" seems 
to mean get the most money from it, and since quality costs more (not 
the zero-defect type of quality, because that costs less, the better 
materials, longer process kind  of quality that costs more)  less 
quality gets more money from the market per unit time. So, that's what 
the market gets - exactly what most people spending money on kayaks 
deserve.

What they deserve? Hmm. Maybe even ignorant people deserve quality. 
Maybe not stupid people, but ignorant ones at least. So they have time 
to become knowledgeable.

Now Mark, don't confuse having a conscience or taking pride in a job 
well done with communism. I don't want any central authority controlling 
things. Or any other seat of power pointing to the one great truth for 
that matter. But it irks me that we have become so enamored by the buck 
"give me the buck, the whole buck, and nothing but the buck" as a way to 
measure and communicate "success" and that all other values seem to have 
been squeezed out of the mainstream. It's here that we're getting what 
we deserve. Not really lowest common denominator, but somewhere close to 
it in the larger market.

And hey, good boats, and good boat companies exist. You can even have 
one custom built if you want. But these are eddies, not the main 
current. My rant here is about keeping score by counting only money. It 
doesn't end in a good place. Yes we need money, and it should influence 
business decisions. But "it ain't personal, it's business" irks me. If 
there's a person involved, it's personal. There's more to it than money 
(eh Matt?)


Carey (The gentleman from Ohio yields the soapbox...)
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