You negotiate for one grade of steel, initial runs are that grade, but over time some manufacturers will start substituting a cheaper grade and hope you don't notice ("quality fade"). In most countries employees would see that as unethical, and companies would risk whistleblowing and fraud suits if they went ahead anyway.
Yep, there's a great book "poorly made in china" [0], where they describe the immaculate production facilities, hygene standards, etc... and after a short time, stuff like this:
> Bernie was disturbed by the finger-in-bottle exchange, when I told him about it. “I hope they are washing their hands, at least,” he said. Since the bathrooms had no soap, I told him that it was not likely.
> I explained to Sister how this could be a problem. She told me that she understood and would address the situation.
> “I will tell the workers not to put their fingers in the bottles when you are at the factory,” she said.
....
> The hair gel that we produced at the factory was green. One day, I noticed that the worker who filled the gel bottles had a skin condition. His hands were covered with the slick formula, and beneath the green, shimmery layer, I could see that the skin on his hands was peeling. Small, raw patches of flesh were exposed, and you didn’t have to be a dermatologist to see that his skin was infected.
> “We should probably do something about this one,” I said to Sister, trying to sound calm, while in my head alarm bells were ringing.
> Sister did not see the point. “Why?” she asked.
> “It might be a health issue?”
> “But the worker has done nothing wrong. It’s just an allergic reaction.”
> Trying to press the matter, I suggested that the worker might contaminate the product.
> Sister twisted around the argument. “How can he harm the product when it was the product that caused him the harm?”
We have to be careful to distinguish between capitalism as an ideal, and as a description of what happens in the real world. (The same applies to socialism or any other -ism.)
Otherwise we will just engage in 'No True Scotsman' fallacies.
I agree with that, but not everyone does. So at least being careful about _is_ and _ought_ (or practice and ideals) makes that discussion slightly less unproductive.
You'd probably agree that maximizing profit is a corner stone of capitalism. In practice this principle is way above staying within the bounds of morals or laws.