[fierarul]

> Manufacturers have slowly started realizing this circumstance and are obviously able to exploit it by making products cheaper to manufacture down the line.

I believe this is a known technique in mass-produced markets. Called 'debasing' or something like that. Even new cars have more bells and whistles when first released while as the model gets a stead consumer base the manufacturer might reduce accessories or get cheaper versions, etc.

[aspenmayer]

There’s an analogue here in the concept of shrinkflation. To my mind debasing occurs in capital purchase items that last years or for life to take advantage of the only opportunity to double dip on the single sale. Shrinkflation seems more applicable to commodity goods that are often consumable or single use, the hidden price increase of which causes larger impacts to ROI and and profitability as well as cost to the buyer. These factors combined make shrinkflation perhaps more impactful overall to the economy due to the frequency and necessity of such goods.

If you pay too much for too little on your car, oh well. Its probably too late to do anything about that now or you would have returned it to the seller already. For most people they settle for enough car for enough money. You can always add aftermarket parts or customize it, because there is a large secondary market waiting to make your outside investment even more worthwhile to your own judgement. If you pay too much for soap, it’s not even worth it to return it to the store in your time or your money so the market simply wins. It’s a rigged game akin to Las Vegas house games.

As buyers it’s just stressful being so wary all the time. I don’t know what the better way is but surely it must exist, we just haven’t made it profitable enough yet for the right people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation