[natmaka]

> bulk data loads that make table stats more stale

This is the usual culprit (cure: "ANALYZE ((tablename))").

Collecting more samples (ALTER TABLE SET STATISTICS...) may be useful.

"Extended Statistics" covers most(?) other cases: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/planner-stats.html#P... https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/multivariate-statist...