Airplane door panel fixing bolts…
To be fair, the bolts were never installed, so can we really blame the bolts? 😆
Technician wages, then
It all comes down to poor management (aka: greed). C-Suite execs wanted to squeeze as much as they could out of their employees, which isn’t uncommon (no one likes it, but it’s not uncommon). There’s just a huge difference between a $2 usb drive from aliexpress, and a multimillion dollar aircraft carrying hundreds of lives, thousand of feet in the air. This was an issue years ago when Boeing was delivering KC-46 tankers with parts, debris, and tools found in the fuel tanks, I just don’t think anyone could imagine it was going to spread to their civilian aircraft (the hundreds of MCAS related deaths was supposed to be a one off). This company had a reputation built on over 100 years of excellence, and a few greedy a-holes destroyed that in a decade 😐
The good(?) news is, now that it’s out in the open there should be change, and hopefully no one else will die
Edit: If you’re interested Frontline did a piece on Boeing. It’s nowhere near comprehensive, but covers the more recent events
Storage devices. Usb sticks, external USB drives, power banks.
They all lie about their capacity
I got some cheaper ones and they all corrupted within a few months of using/buying.
Crayons
And by cheap, I mean like playskool or Crayzart, you get better spread from the candle in your dining room
Toilet paper
Tires. They don’t need to be expensive, but don’t get weird off brand tires. I like Generals.
Decent quality tires are way cheaper than a new car when you can’t stop or turn when you really need to.
Michelin, Continental and Kumho are the best value for quality in the EU
Each to their own tho
This so much - dont buy Chinese! Partner’s car had Chinese branded tires on it when we got it, they were actually dangerous, so little grip. Friend of mine runs a tire shop, he says that when he has customers of Chinese origin they often dont buy the Chinese brand tires because they know they dont meet Western standards.
Also, definitely dont buy cheap Chinese tires if you are intending to invade Ukraine
China make plenty of good tires and I would put money on it that they actually manufacture tires for a lot more “western” brands than you would expect.
Tools. I’m not saying you have to buy the most expensive option out there, but buying something from Harbor Freight or random Chinese brand on Amazon is just throwing away your money. I have Ryobi (a mid-ish range brand) power tools that have held up to years of constant abuse, and I’ve used Harbor Freight tools that fell apart within the first few minutes of use.
My personal rule is if I know I’ll only need it once, borrow or rent it. If I know I’ll need it occasionally, buy something in the mid-range of quality. If I’ll need it a few times a week, find the best possible option and buy whatever is one step below that.
Not only do you save yourself from having to buy replacements over and over again, but the quality of your work will be much more consistent when you have something with reliability and/or precision that you can count on.
I like the philosophy of buy the cheap $30 one, if you use it enough to wear it out then spring for the nice one (obviously doesn’t apply to every tool, some types of cheap tools are entirely unfit for purpose)
This is wisdom from Adam Savage, and that dude knows what he’s talking about.
My almost-10-year-old Harbor Freight angle grinder has entered the chat
But FWIW, I did spring for the nice paint spray machine. The quality of the job for the size of the job was worth it on that.
Depends on how much you’re going to use it. I bought the cheapest battery operating oscillating saw (about $19 I think) to cut out some grout and mortar when I was repairing tile before selling my house. I’ve used it a couple of times since I moved. Really the only sucky thing is that all my other battery operated tools are from Makita so charging is easier for all of those.
Depending on the definition of cheap but I will only buy high quality boots as they last much longer.
Footwear in general.
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This is a good one. There’s definitely a point of diminishing returns (looking at you, r/goodyearwelt), but tye difference between a $100 pair of boots and a $300 pair is night and day.
Shoes, bed, pillows, tires, power tools, office chair (if you’re an office worker)
The mantra is always be willing to imvest in anything you are putting between yourself and the ground.
Power tools are a good addition tho
anything you are putting between yourself and the ground.
This, of course, includes safety gear. Sometimes keeping you off the ground is actually more favourable.
power tools
Listen my cheapo Milwaukee drill has lasted me like 8 years of abuse. You don’t want to know where it’s been.
Milwaukee isn’t a cheap brand though.
Yeah haha. Maybe the most expensive brand you can buy off the shelf here. Only thing more expensive is Hilti or Festool
I see Tommy using Festool all the time on This Old House but have never seen it in the stores I go to.
Black and decker drill has lasted me over 10 years now. Bought it at menards.
Lithium batteries
Foot wear. Don’t go cheap. Go quality.
Tires.
And a bread machine. Trust me you go cheap you won’t use it for long. It will either break or produce crap for bread.
Speakers for your home theater. Cheap sucks. Unless you are so hard of hearing that everything sounds like crap.
Computer chair. Trust me forget the gamer chair, go for a good office chair. Your back and your butt will thank you.
Furniture. Unless you like buying couches and chairs and tables. Get quality don’t go cheap.
Tires, Furniture, Shoes, Socks
Always heard it said that you shouldn’t cheap out on anything that goes under you. Among the best bits of advice I’ve been given.
Computer chair
100% this. Office chair companies have been making chairs that people can sit in doing deskwork without issue for literal decades. They are absolute experts in the field. Put some LED strands on a Herman Miller if you desperately need to feel like an elite gamer cool dude. It’ll be the same price as the bullshit racer chair but your ass will be so much more comfortable.
Bruh the prices of a gamerx chair and a HM are not in the same universe. I agree with your sentiment though lol
Damn what an ugly $1k chair lmao
Yeah and expensive doesn’t necessarily mean quality either.
So very true.
I have to say I picked up a free chair that was being tossed from a college campus (the computer lab was replacing the chairs) and it’s pretty damn nice. Much more comfortable than my more expensive one.
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Coffee grinders. Don’t bother getting one of those shitty ones that look like a blender, they hack the coffee beans apart and make them horribly inconsistent. It’s worth investing in a burr grinder. The cheapest ones start around $80.
Can you link an example?
I use the Kinggrinder K6 and it’s pretty good for $100. It makes a pretty even grind and is built very we. Just a tad bit pricey imo but coffee related anything is expensive once you step past generic big brand things and start measuring and grinding your own beans
I used to have a Capresso one I really liked. Right now I have this Bodum one which is apparently only $70, but they go up from there, easily into the hundreds
Burr grinders give a more consistent grind, better flavor, and are easier to clean
Do you just leave beans in the hopper?
You can, some people don’t. Between my partner and I we empty the hopper every 2-3 days or so.
Underwear. I’m not saying all cheap underwear is bad, but it’s highly likely that your junk is going to get tangled and strangled.
Running headphones / ear pods. I tried cheap ones advertising their “Latest Bluetooth 5.2 standard support” and that the charging case could be used as a battery pack. The music cut in and out to the rhythm of my arms when I ran (music transmitted from my watch). I’m running with Shokz now. Four times pricier, but they work.
USB hubs. I tried cheap-cheap, I tried semi-cheap with metal case (IcyBox I think) and ports would just stop working with regularity. Maybe blame those weird USB-to-cinch cables that some of my gadgets use. I now have two industrial USB hubs on my desk and all their ports still work even after years of use.
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