Uncle Jack, you are to be commended for your idealism in this day and
age of cynicism and the resignation of many consumers to crappy
products. I'm not being a smart-ass, either - I mean it.
Unfortunately, that same acceptance of poor quality and laissez-faire
attitudes has allowed the manufacturing industries to get a long
head-start on those of us who would hold their feet to the fire.
As an example, that's probably why Sears hasn't provided a link to them
on their web site; they'll snow us with a bunch of pablum about quality
and satisfaction, but stop short of inviting our feedback. Can you
imagine it if one of their consumer reps was following this thread on
Craftsman tools?
The difference is in corporate attitudes, as you alluded to re: John
Deere: The companies worth our business will seek and accept our
feedback; those that are resting on laurels from an era when they may
have had a quality product will not look behind them to see how they're
doing, for fear of finding out. Or, they rely upon a fad buying phase,
where the new market is not really knowledgeable of the product, but
desirous of owning it, e.g. Harley-Davidson. Ignorance is bliss, as
they say.
As much as Ralph Nader irritated me, he had the concept right: As an
individual consumer, you can get muffled in the background noise trying
to speak out. As a group of those consumers, the collective noise you
can make will be heard, and cannot be muffled. A simplistic
interpretation, admittedly, but you get the point. (The foregoing
ramble is my humble opinion, the experience of 50 years on this planet.)
Tim
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