The nature of e-commerce, which is projected to reach almost US$6,5bn by 2029, means that consumers oftentimes can determine the quality of their purchase only after they receive the order. And the results aren't always great.
So Reddit user Flaky_Show6239 decided to stir up some nostalgia and asked everyone on the platform to list the products and services they believe were better in the past than they are now.
From fast food to clothing, home appliances, and beyond, continue scrolling to check out the entries that have been mentioned the most.
#1
Politicians. It used to be if you sexually assaulted someone or were a felon your political life was pretty much done.
Image credits: earth_resident_yep
#2
Almost anything that demands a subscription where it could previously have been bought outright.
Image credits: TedTyro
#3
Refrigerators. Washing machines. Hell, any major appliances. Planned obsolescence is built in, so you’re spending the same amount of money, but getting a shittier, more unreliable product that will only last you 2 or 3 years. Because. Because corporate greed, and because corporate dickheads don’t give a f**k about you or the f*****g planet.
Image credits: No-Two79
#4
Pyrex. The old stuff was borosilicate glass, highly resistant to heat stress and therefore great in the kitchen. The new stuff is tempered soda lime glass, which is stronger if you drop it, but can just shatter unexpectedly under certain heat-related circumstances, such as putting a cold Pyrex dish in the oven or a hot one under tap water, which were things you could usually do with old Pyrex with no problems.
Image credits: Dachannien
#5
Search engines: sure, they were wonky and unreliable in the wild west internet era (e.g. HotBot, Lycos, Webcrawler), but Google came along and revolutionized everything. Peak search engine reliability was probably in the mid-2010s, and it's been in a steep decline since then. Nowadays when I search for anything on Google, it omits random key words of mine, gives me irrelevant AI-generated answers, shows me Pinterest images, and pulls up irrelevant PDF files from things I distinctly did not search for.
YouTube search is complete garbage too. After searching for a video, it'll show me three results followed by "people also watched" and "finish watching", then a bunch of irrelevant Shorts and Jimmy Kimmel videos for whatever the f**k reason.
Image credits: baron_von_brunk
#6
Jeans. I can feel how thin the denim is and how much faster they’ve rubbed away in the thighs, yet they’ve nearly doubled in price for some designers.
Image credits: SortedN2Slytherin
#7
Staplers. We lost our ~20 year old solid metal stapler and all the new replacements were cheap plastic.
I finally went on eBay and bought one identical to the one we lost because I couldn't deal with the plastic one.
If it can't be used as a weapon, it isn't sturdy enough ;)
Image credits: Cyt0kinSt0rm
#8
HP Printers - The old grey bricks that you saw 20 years ago in every office that connect via the old parallel printer port were amazing workhorses. Anything from the last 15 years is the epitome of cheap garbage.
Image credits: connerpunk
#9
Freaking strawberries they domesticated them to be bigger and stuff but now theyre wayy less sweet. Like they used to be bright red and very sweet. I would do anything for an og strawberry rn
Image credits: isthisreal19191
#10
When those Magic Eraser foam block scrubbers came out, they were amazing. Just wet one and it scrubbed years of carbon build up from my stove top. I'd get months of heavy use out of each one. Maybe a year or two after they were introduced, the quality nosedived. They tear apart and deteriorate after the first use.
Image credits: paleo2002
#11
Furniture! Used to be solid and worth having for years.
Image credits: ChrisShapedObject
#12
Lifetime warranties were actually for a Lifetime and durability was actually a selling point on most products.
Image credits: Drakenfel
#13
Ads on Youtube...there's more ads to a video than content ??♀️
#14
I have a KitchenAid stand mixer that I was gifted in 1999. The thing is an absolute tank and is still going strong 25 years later! I've used newer ones and they just don't last compared to the old models
Image credits: Lo-Fi_Pioneer
#15
Hand tools.
I just got a giant tool box full of 70s steel tools made before the mills shut down. They are in perfect shape and will last another 50 years.
Image credits: tossaway78701
#16
Tomatoes. When I was a kid in the Seventies they were sweet, flavorful and delicious. You could just cut one open, sprinkle a little salt on it and chomp into it with content.
Tomatoes these days are hard, flavorless garbage.
Image credits: BeanieMcChimp
#17
Music
Lifetime software purchases being converted to subscriptions
Image credits: Space_Rabies
#18
Literally everything on Amazon is made by one of these Chinese 5 capital letter companies that switch names whenever their reviews get too bad. Nothing they make lasts very long if it even does what they day it does.
Image credits: drdildamesh
#19
Washing machines. You’ve done well if yours lasts more than 5 years now.
Image credits: Dannysan5677
#20
Houses.
You used to build houses for you and your family, and had means to invest in materials that would have lasted the test of time.
Now it’s about building to flip or sell, and the corners that are cut in design and execution are astounding.
Image credits: savemesomecandy
#21
TV seasons. You used to get 20-24 episode seasons every single year. Now we get 6-10 episode seasons that feel like long movies, sometimes every few years. It's stupid. I want a show I can binge for a long time and so many shows get cancelled before they get past their first short season
Image credits: TheRealOcsiban
#22
Bad: car windshield are thinner and break more often
Good: brussel sprouts have been bred to be less bitter
#23
My expensive charging vacuum broke. Granted, it lasted 4 years of daily vacuuming due to a dog with a disability. My mom let me borrow her very old Oreck while I was waiting for my new vacuum and it did a better job than mine ever did, honestly.
Definitely at least going back to plug ins.
#24
It's not just one specific item, but I've been saying over the past few years how I miss seeing hand carved designs.
Looking at older buildings, cathedrals, or even furniture, you can see that carpenters used to spend weeks upon weeks hand carving their masterpieces. Everything had intricate designs based upon the region or century / decade they were in.
Now everything just looks mass produced, flat, symmetrical, and lifeless. Everybody's everything looks like somebody else's something, but back in the day, great-great-great-great grandpa was carving cherubs and filigree into works made out of stone / marble / wood.
#25
Cadbury's cream eggs.
Image credits: thrumplewart
#26
Jeans.
I just want 100% cotton denim pants where the tag tells me the waist and inseam measurements.
No poly blend. No stretch fit. No tags that say 34" waistband, but are actual 38".
Image credits: InkyTheHooloovoo
#27
Fast food. Used to be delicious, good quantities, fairly cheap and.. fast. Now for example I sit in a drive thru for 20 mins at taco bell, my burrito supreme is like $8 now and is the size of that tornado thing you get at 7-11 and tastes like bad grease. This is no way an attack on employees, but more on the higher-ups that make these decisions.
Image credits: hallandstoat
#28
Cotton T-shirts. My shirts used to last for years. Now they don't hold up and start getting little holes within six months to a year.
#29
Houses. They used to be stone and wood now they’re cardboard
Image credits: j0hnt0dd
#30
My family had the same GE microwave for 16ish years. It finally stopped making things hot. I found out they still make that "exact" microwave and I bought it.
Within a month the buttons are broken. There are features the old unit had that the new one has had programmed out of it. It is already grinding and clicking and groaning. It won't last a year let alone 16.
#31
My grandpa gave me some of his tools before he died. Have a power sander from sometime in the early 80s. That thing is amazing. Best sander I've ever had. I had one I got in 2018. Piece of s**t in comparison.
#32
I've been repairing appliances in my old house for years, but the new appliances just are not built to last. I replaced a control board in my refrigerator and a control board in my dishwasher in the past year. The dishwasher worked for another 6 months then the replacement control board failed. I started looking deeper into it and these control boards fail way too often.
I'm an EE, and I'm convinced the boards in particular are 'designed to fail' after after a few years
Image credits: Orome2
#33
Plastic “disposable” utensils: the hospital I work for has a cafeteria that only provides plastic utensils, the knives do not cut meat and the bend into a U with hot foods…I am also positive I’ve swallowed a few prong tips from forks that break off in a bite.
#34
Oreos. The Double Stuff is now the thickness of the originals from 20 years ago, while the regular only has a thin white smear between the cookies. Pathetic example of shrinkflation
Image credits: Rough_Idle
#35
Clothing. It’s mostly semi throwaway unless you get higher end stuff.
Image credits: ChrisShapedObject
#36
Anything accessible to normal working people has become cheaply made and poorly designed I feel. Sure you can still find exceptional quality but I don’t like having to pick between feeding my family and getting something nicer for myself. I have a full time job in a school and I work a second job to pay the bills. I have replaced so many things that are just designed for failure. Coffee makers aren’t that great anymore. My old mr coffee was a workhorse. The new one is ok but already wearing out
I will say timex watches still seem to be the same standard. Yes cheap but also reliable
#37
My biggest gripe is blenders. All they need to do is make the seal housing out of metal instead of plastic and they'll last 10+ years instead of 18 months. My mother's blender is over 40 years old and she still uses it daily. Meanwhile, we must have had 10 of them.
Image credits: Separate-Ad-9916
#38
Panera. It used to be so good, now it's like glorified fast food that's way too expensive.
#39
Kids toys. My parents have toys at their that survived their entire childhood AND mine and are still going strong. I buy something for my kids and it’s broken in weeks. I know my kids are high energy, but so were my siblings and we didn’t destroy things at this rate!
Image credits: yunohavefunnynames
#40
Pretty much f*****g everything online. Every physical object sold is garbage now. It used to be most stuff sold in most stores was garbage, but if you did research and bought something specific online you could get something that would last. Now if you do research and buy something specific you still get a hunk of c**p, only now it connects to WiFi for some god forsaken reason.
#41
Craftsman tools. In the 50s-70s, among the best tools available and came with a lifetime guarantee. Now cheap junk, not even as good as Harbor Freight tools.
#42
Mattresses. Used to be solid, last longer, and more comfy. Flippable too.
#43
Doc Martens boots. Still have mine from the 90s, made in the UK. Some I got back in 2010 or so (made in China) are sturdy as f**k but of lesser quality overall.
#44
I bought underwear 2 years ago that is still in great shape. I have been losing weight and needed to go down a size. I bought the exact same brand 2 months ago and half of them are coming apart at the seems.
#45
Pyrex. Used to be made of ultra low thermal expansion borosilicate glass, so you could use it like metal for roasting and baking, but it retained its heat like cast iron.
These days it’s made with cheaper lithium silicate glass, which will still resist heat fine, but is prone to shattering from thermal shock if the temperature change is too sudden.
#46
Shoes. If you're unwilling to spend over $200, you're going to get plastic shoes that if you're lucky will last a year. From sneakers, loafers, to boots, heels. And that woven sneaker material with the plastic molded soles have their analogue in the throw-away slub knit tee shirts: designed to be replaced frequently and destined to create more landfill mountains.
#47
Levis. The pair I had as a teen lasted years. The most recent ones got holes in several places after a few months.
#48
Obscure but skateboard bearings
I have some nmb and nsk bearings that I put in my lad’s skateboard. I got them second hand 40 years ago
#49
Heated blankets. My grandma’s from 1993 is still a fire hazard and mine from 2021 Costco isn’t working on one half side now
#50
My Torrid clothes from the 2000s are still going strong but the stuff I got last year has snags and holes in them.
Image credits: PinkMonorail
