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Comment by rnernento | Hacker News Reader

It's almost like we're operating in an economy where it's easier and more lucrative to be a huckster than it is to innovate and create something useful. Maybe part of this is just that we've already optimized so many things - what's left to do with the products in question other than up the price and market the heck out of them?

As they say, "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people"...

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That is all economies, since the beginning of time.

HN readers seem to be under the naive delusion that all of commerce is non stop innovation when the reality is most of it is marketing and logistics. It always has been. Innovation is hard and rare. Most likely what you are working on is not innovation but logistics of some sort repackaging or delivering the same old thing.

Sure, but modern technology makes it far easier to scale such approaches. If you're running a scam (or just really terrible deal) that only one in ten thousand people would fall for, the internet makes it actually practical to find enough marks and do so from a place where they have no legal recourse.

> That is all economies, since the beginning of time.

Doesn't pass the sniff test.

Even knowing how to make an item, was a big factor in what goods were available in the ancient world, see guilds. The Internet especially has changed that.

And until at least the age of sail, getting something from far away was a huge undertaking. Even today, supply chain logistics are hardly a solved problem.

Selling/marketing has always been part of trade, but it's hardly the whole story.

You can make a solid argument that in the last 100 years we became capable of producing more products than we need, causing the pinch point in our economy to move to competitively marketing and delivering them vs original building of them.

However hucksters have existed since the beginning of time to sell without producing. It’s why the Roman guilds and a bunch of other systems of verifying labor exist.

Don’t you know about the guild system? From Rome until the 19th century guilds were in charge of most functions in the European economy and strictly regulated to prevent hucksters. Maybe people don’t learn about this in school any more but when I was a child it was part of standard middle school curriculum.

So your theory is people have fruit of the loom and buy meundies or some other DTC brand with no real brand recognition and they keep doing it BECAUSE its more expensive? You don’t think the do a calculation like: “sure its 10x cheaper but its more comfortable/durable/fits better etc and its still cheap because its still underwear even if it is 10x” Or “im too well off to have a favorite pair of underwear, I like this one more so I am getting 12 of them”

A few years ago (2016-2017 maybe?) I ordered a pair of underwear from several of these brands, like Saxx, MeUndies, 2undr, and Calvin Klein. After some time passed and I had given them all a fair shot, I ordered like ten pairs of my favorite one and I have never regretted it. Only one has not survived to this day and they’re still wicked comfortable.

Exactly, Hanes, Fruit of the Loom etc. all raced to the bottom years ago. I have had Patagonia underwear last 10 years+ and still look new. Maybe life is too short for bad underwear?

I did the same thing, also with undershirts and socks. There is a quality difference in some brands, and others are overpriced junk. You pretty much need to sample test to find out which is which. I paid $80 for an undershirt, and $40 for a pair of underwear, and $15 for a pair of socks, but all of them have been heavily abused and washed for years and are still in fantastic shape and super-comfortable. There were more expensive and cheaper options available that were worse, however, some worse than Walmart brands, for too much money.

I wish there were some truth in advertising to consumers, but caveat emptor is the the rule of the day. All you can do is get one of each, pick what actually works, and invest in your comfort.

They do it because advertising works.

Sure but the product has to meet expectations otherwise you are claiming the person buys it, pays 10x, gets it, realizes it is exactly the same as the product that costs 1/10th and then buys it again?

I don't know that they ever realize it's exactly the same as the product that costs 1/10th the price but that doesn't mean it isn't.

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