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I don't think it exists anymore, at least not in the old way I recall which you are describing. I think these days certain brands will become popular and will inspire a form of "loyalty" as long as they are in fashion (eg "gotta line up for the newst I-phone!")

But I don't think it's to do with generation so much as the companies themselves. I remember when "quality" and "longevity" were the main selling points of products, and we're pretty far from that these days. Stuff that was lifelong purchases in the past are now disposable. And I know many companies that flat out value new customers over sustained ones, quite blatantly.
I wonder if disposable is going to be viable going forward. I kind of suspect that disposal costs will start to be added to the purchase price of items in order to improve resource utilization. I could actually see reliability and longevity and serviceability being a marketing pitch that could go well with younger buyers who want to do the most for the environment.
 
I wonder if disposable is going to be viable going forward. I kind of suspect that disposal costs will start to be added to the purchase price of items in order to improve resource utilization. I could actually see reliability and longevity and serviceability being a marketing pitch that could go well with younger buyers who want to do the most for the environment.

I don't see how that won't eventually start to become a thing.

Plastic was semi-sustainable when China was taking our trash and recycling it, but now that even they have decided it isn't cost effective to recycle certain materials where does it go? We either drown in the stuff, or there will have to be some encouragement to focus on materials that are economically feasible to reuse (some plastics are viable but many are more expensive to recycle than using new).
I suspect batteries will be overlooked for awhile to help the industry develop, but eventually battery disposal is going to become an issue when electric accounts for more than 1-2% of car sales.

I think you are already starting to see some of this, as there seems to be a growing interest in hand crafted items. Right to repair laws are also getting some legs, so obviously there is a good sized group of people who want to be able to repair things rather than just toss it and get another.

Add in computer controlled manufacturing, and we could potentially see a return to local shops providing the bulk of goods. Instead of a hundred young immigrant women chained to their sewing machines as we saw 100 years ago, we may see "sweat shops" of CNC garment machines cranking away at custom tailored eco friendly clothing.
 
Agree that it is not just a generational thing, I still see quite a bit of loyalty to companies that treat their customers well. I think that is where the generational part might come in, there are far fewer companies that treat their customers well.
Most companies (especially larger ones) do not seem to understand or value just what really good service can mean to a customer.

Back when George Zimmer ran Men's Warehouse, I had male friends who would joke that they would take a bullet for Zimmer, based on the level of service that they would receive whenever they were at MW.
 
Most companies (especially larger ones) do not seem to understand or value just what really good service can mean to a customer.

Back when George Zimmer ran Men's Warehouse, I had male friends who would joke that they would take a bullet for Zimmer, based on the level of service that they would receive whenever they were at MW.

I bought a suit at Men's Wearhouse in the early 1990s when I was doing lots of job interviews that required a suit. Their service was no joke, even if your budget was buying the cheapest off the rack suit that they had you got treated to the full service as if you were in a film buying a $5000 custom suit. I can only imagine what it was like for a repeat customer who wore suits frequently. Compare that to buying a suit at Macy's or JC Penney, "I want a suit, yeah they are over there" and you paid about the same.
 
I think size and scale can impact customer service. Starbucks used to have excellent customer service across the board back in the 90's but I don't think they can maintain that kind of quality control when there are so god damn many of them. Now I find myself in a situation where there are good Starbucks and bad Starbucks who constantly fuck up your order (and no I am not that guy, our orders are always simple).

For a big corporation I do feel that Costco delivers excellent customer service. Whenever I have a big purchase in mind I always check what Costco is offering because of their stellar return policy and general quality of merchandise. I'm not the kind of person to abuse a generous return policy but I like having the peace of mind.
 
I could see a video store surviving if it has enough people who prefer the tech, a perfect storm of older people who won't adapt to streaming, and younger people who cling to video for their own personal reasons (honestly prefer the video experience, trendy, they have a VCR and don't want to pay a monthly fee etc).

There is apparently a fair market for old DVDs and VHS tapes as decor...

They switched to DVD/blurays a long time ago although they did keep their VHS for films that had yet to get a DVD/bluray release.

I think their core these days are older customers and younger filmnerds who want to rent blus of rare, foreign and cult films still not easily accessible via streaming.
 
I still have my collection of DVDs and Blurays, but I haven't bought any in... well over a year. Avengers Endgame might have been the last one.
 
I still have my collection of DVDs and Blurays, but I haven't bought any in... well over a year. Avengers Endgame might have been the last one.

I find that I mostly buy older b-horror, trash and cult films on blu these days as their content and niche appeal makes them rare on streaming services (Shudder being the exception, as well as Tubi and even Prime to a degree).

Ditto foreign language arthouse films both past and present which I also dig although Criterion's streaming service has been a game changer there.
 
I still get DVDs of movies I like, partly habit, and partly I distrust cloud services. Much less of an issue with rentals, where the convenience of "shopping" without leaving the house can not be overlooked.
 
Yeah, if I like a film, I'm likely to seek out the DVD, because streaming is so unreliable. Even VoD, some services will steal away films you bought because their tlicense runs out or something.

I still prefer DVD to Bluray, but sometimes Bluray is cheaper these days.
 
We have a lot of movie nerds here, maybe somebody can help me identify a film I saw many years ago.

It was a murder mystery, subtitled, I believe French or at least French language (so could be Belgian) and probably early to mid 1970s. It followed a detective who was after a serial killer or possibly a hitman (pretty sure serial killer) who used an ice pick. Not sure but there was possibly a secondary plot where it turns out the detective and killer were romantically interested in the same woman who was somehow connected to the investigation. On the killers side the interest may have been on the stalker end of the spectrum. It wasn't a comedy, but think there were some funny scenes.

One scene in particular another detective, possibly the main characters partner or maybe just another police officer is searching a building not knowing the killer is there. There is a big build up as the killer stalks and (I think) kills him with an ice pick. I have an image of a blond guy with longish hair wearing a white sweater, no idea where that fits in.

My mother used to take me to see foreign movies (mostly French) because she didn't want to go by herself and my dad doesn't like subtitles (or speak French). This particular movie must have been popular, because we saw it more than once over a few years paired with different films.

It has been driving me crazy trying to figure out what it was. I've tried looking at lists of mystery movies, but they don't really provide enough detail, and of course I'm working on fairly skimpy information.

And go I expect an answer by 2200 Pacific time. :grin:
 
Yeah, if I like a film, I'm likely to seek out the DVD, because streaming is so unreliable. Even VoD, some services will steal away films you bought because their tlicense runs out or something.

I still prefer DVD to Bluray, but sometimes Bluray is cheaper these days.
Bluray is often both which is nice. I rip my dvds to make BunchFlix the hyperlocal, hyper targeted streaming service. I'm pretty sure they maxed out their userbase though.
 
Bluray is often both which is nice. I rip my dvds to make BunchFlix the hyperlocal, hyper targeted streaming service. I'm pretty sure they maxed out their userbase though.
Oh and again the thrift store is your friend. $3 for a bluray that often also includes a dvd which if you are so inclined you can often sell on eBay I'm told.
 
We have a lot of movie nerds here, maybe somebody can help me identify a film I saw many years ago.

It was a murder mystery, subtitled, I believe French or at least French language (so could be Belgian) and probably early to mid 1970s. It followed a detective who was after a serial killer or possibly a hitman (pretty sure serial killer) who used an ice pick. Not sure but there was possibly a secondary plot where it turns out the detective and killer were romantically interested in the same woman who was somehow connected to the investigation. On the killers side the interest may have been on the stalker end of the spectrum. It wasn't a comedy, but think there were some funny scenes.

One scene in particular another detective, possibly the main characters partner or maybe just another police officer is searching a building not knowing the killer is there. There is a big build up as the killer stalks and (I think) kills him with an ice pick. I have an image of a blond guy with longish hair wearing a white sweater, no idea where that fits in.

My mother used to take me to see foreign movies (mostly French) because she didn't want to go by herself and my dad doesn't like subtitles (or speak French). This particular movie must have been popular, because we saw it more than once over a few years paired with different films.

It has been driving me crazy trying to figure out what it was. I've tried looking at lists of mystery movies, but they don't really provide enough detail, and of course I'm working on fairly skimpy information.

And go I expect an answer by 2200 Pacific time. :grin:

Sounds like a Spanish or Italian giallo. Being French it may be easier to narrow down.
 
We have a lot of movie nerds here, maybe somebody can help me identify a film I saw many years ago.

It was a murder mystery, subtitled, I believe French or at least French language (so could be Belgian) and probably early to mid 1970s. It followed a detective who was after a serial killer or possibly a hitman (pretty sure serial killer) who used an ice pick. Not sure but there was possibly a secondary plot where it turns out the detective and killer were romantically interested in the same woman who was somehow connected to the investigation. On the killers side the interest may have been on the stalker end of the spectrum. It wasn't a comedy, but think there were some funny scenes.

One scene in particular another detective, possibly the main characters partner or maybe just another police officer is searching a building not knowing the killer is there. There is a big build up as the killer stalks and (I think) kills him with an ice pick. I have an image of a blond guy with longish hair wearing a white sweater, no idea where that fits in.

My mother used to take me to see foreign movies (mostly French) because she didn't want to go by herself and my dad doesn't like subtitles (or speak French). This particular movie must have been popular, because we saw it more than once over a few years paired with different films.

It has been driving me crazy trying to figure out what it was. I've tried looking at lists of mystery movies, but they don't really provide enough detail, and of course I'm working on fairly skimpy information.

And go I expect an answer by 2200 Pacific time. :grin:

It's not Knife of Ice (Il coltello di ghiaccio) is it? Do you remember a mute woman as one of the main characters?
 
Sounds like a Spanish or Italian giallo. Being French it may be easier to narrow down.

Hmmm, not a genre I'm familiar with, but does give me another to check. The posters of the first dozen or so I've looked at look much more action oriented that I would think appropriate. This was much more murder mystery than action flick. There are a couple that the basic plot is at least of the same sort though, so it could be of this genre. I have been searching crime and mystery. It really doesn't help that many of the descriptions are very short and vague.

There are a lot more American style gangster movies than I would have imagined were a thing in Europe.

It's not Knife of Ice (Il coltello di ghiaccio) is it? Do you remember a mute woman as one of the main characters?

This does actually sound familiar, not the film I'm looking for but it may be one I saw around that time. The one I'm looking for was more of an urban setting, maybe not a big city like Paris, but not in the countryside.
 
Hmmm, not a genre I'm familiar with, but does give me another to check. The posters of the first dozen or so I've looked at look much more action oriented that I would think appropriate. This was much more murder mystery than action flick. There are a couple that the basic plot is at least of the same sort though, so it could be of this genre. I have been searching crime and mystery. It really doesn't help that many of the descriptions are very short and vague.

There are a lot more American style gangster movies than I would have imagined were a thing in Europe.



This does actually sound familiar, not the film I'm looking for but it may be one I saw around that time. The one I'm looking for was more of an urban setting, maybe not a big city like Paris, but not in the countryside.

Giallo is just a term for a certain style of Italian (and some Spanish) thriller largely based on the films of Mario Bava and Argento. They are usually convoluted murder mysteries with more sex and violence than was common in the genre in America at the time.
 
An interesting mini-article from a 1989 issue of Comics Scene...

50857858472_0b0aefe3de_o.png
 
An interesting mini-article from a 1989 issue of Comics Scene...

50857858472_0b0aefe3de_o.png

This seems pretty accurate. It is amazing how many successful TV shows have been killed off not from poor ratings but simply because the media execs "didn't get it" and went out of their way to ensure failure, changing times, cutting budgets and putting other road blocks in the way of potential viewers. I'm sure film has similar issues just less visible because of the money involved to get moving.
 
An interesting mini-article from a 1989 issue of Comics Scene...
50857858472_0b0aefe3de_o.png
Now this one is pretty interesting. Today I would think the toy people would have grokked the idea of appealing to all ages and would produce accordingly from cuter kiddy toys to collectable statuettes.
 
Now this one is pretty interesting. Today I would think the toy people would have grokked the idea of appealing to all ages and would produce accordingly from cuter kiddy toys to collectable statuettes.

Big business is pretty fixated on how its always been done and doesn't even like to mess about near the edge of the box, let alone look outside the box.

I saw something a few years ago about toys and the big breakthrough for "dolls for boys" was the term action figure. Even with that GI Joe faced some hurdles because of the prevailing attitude in the 1960s that "boys don't play with dolls, even if you give them a machinegun". Of course poor Joe also took some heat for that little dust up in South East Asia, and he quickly became an "adventurer" instead of a soldier.

Gotta love language. :quiet:


Happy Meals at McDonald's still tend to be separated for boys and girls, although it is more common recently for them to just offer one "acceptable" to both. I lean towards cheaper easier to have one, than any particular enlightenment.
 
Big business is pretty fixated on how its always been done and doesn't even like to mess about near the edge of the box, let alone look outside the box.

I saw something a few years ago about toys and the big breakthrough for "dolls for boys" was the term action figure. Even with that GI Joe faced some hurdles because of the prevailing attitude in the 1960s that "boys don't play with dolls, even if you give them a machinegun". Of course poor Joe also took some heat for that little dust up in South East Asia, and he quickly became an "adventurer" instead of a soldier.

Gotta love language. :quiet:


Happy Meals at McDonald's still tend to be separated for boys and girls, although it is more common recently for them to just offer one "acceptable" to both. I lean towards cheaper easier to have one, than any particular enlightenment.
Oh no. If they only offered girl toys to a good number of boys I can say with certainty those boys would not want a happy meal.
 
Perhaps two decades ago, I ordered a happy meal in the Drive-Thru for my girlfriend's daughter. When I told them I wanted the girl's toy, I saw the words "no nuts" appear on the order screen. I asked about it, and the kid said that's how they differentiated girls' and boys' toys.
 
That's awesome. Pre Covid I ordered more happy meals than I'd like. Never had that happen but I wish I had.
Perhaps two decades ago, I ordered a happy meal in the Drive-Thru for my girlfriend's daughter. When I told them I wanted the girl's toy, I saw the words "no nuts" appear on the order screen. I asked about it, and the kid said that's how they differentiated girls' and boys' toys.
 
I think size and scale can impact customer service. Starbucks used to have excellent customer service across the board back in the 90's but I don't think they can maintain that kind of quality control when there are so god damn many of them. Now I find myself in a situation where there are good Starbucks and bad Starbucks who constantly fuck up your order (and no I am not that guy, our orders are always simple).

For a big corporation I do feel that Costco delivers excellent customer service. Whenever I have a big purchase in mind I always check what Costco is offering because of their stellar return policy and general quality of merchandise. I'm not the kind of person to abuse a generous return policy but I like having the peace of mind.
Size and Scale certainly can, but getting larger means one thing usually, going public. At that point, you can kiss any concern except short-term quarterly profit goodbye and quality goes down the toilet one efficiency and cost-cutting measure at a time.
 
Size and Scale certainly can, but getting larger means one thing usually, going public. At that point, you can kiss any concern except short-term quarterly profit goodbye and quality goes down the toilet one efficiency and cost-cutting measure at a time.
I think you're using hyperbole to make your point but I agree with gist of what you are saying. Good customer service from massive companies is certainly less common than from mom and pops in my experience.
 
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