I am not getting a benefit by saying this, but I like Costco but lately it has had some L’s.
Today I read an article of recalls, and while most companies have recalls, due to the sheer size of their inventory they had alot of them. Including products I have both avoided due to quality concerns, and products that I used to buy and loved.
When I was reading the list I was like, right about that one, and then wrong about that one. Unfortunately even good companies make mistakes and can cause health and safety issues. The best you can do is try to support socially conscious companies that care about their customers so they will have a good warranty on it.
One of the items on the list was something that looked interesting but was from China. It was made in both China and Taiwan and Taiwan used to be good quality. However the recall said that they could create mold, and that isn’t a accident it is an ignorant design defect.
As much as possible I try to avoid Chinese products. Almost 99% of the time I am sorry that I used them. I did recently buy one Chinese fan from a company that I had bought a heater from previously that had been reliable. I might still regret the purchase of the fan, but what forced me to do that is that the other options that were available were terrible. I had used all of the fans from the other companies and they were cheap, noisy and in my opinion not worth it. So when you have a choice between something that you know is terrible, and a company that did well with a similar item, well I took my chances.
Now strictly speaking if I was fully comitted to avoiding Chinese goods I wouldn’t have bought that. The problem with that is that sometimes there is no choice. I had a choice here, but many times companies don’t have a choice especially when they buy complex industrial or other systems. Cheap usually wins over quality, and that is unfortunate because it makes IT work more difficult.
Does that make me a hypocrite to buy a Chinese fan? Sure, I don’t like how China is abusing its citizens. I also don’t like wasting money and resourcing buying cheap plastic junk that I know breaks. I will buy the best quality that I can afford and there are many considerations when buying something. I have learned in life that often being unwilling to bend, means that you are unrealistic and not intelligent.
Costco has neat things most of the time and I love supporting them and 99% of what I have bought has worked great. I almost never return something. I can’t remember the last time I returned something. I give it to friends who want it. Sometimes the happy life is not buying junk so we don’t have the stress of having to return to replace it.