The Cost of Deviation

The quality of any widely available good or service will only rise to the level that the median user demands.

Think of something that you think is “terrible these days.” Is television awful? Can’t get a good cup of coffee anymore? No one makes a good microwave now? Well, whatever it is, remember: that’s what the median user of those things thinks is just fine.

For plenty of things, you’re the median user. It will be hard to think of examples because by nature, you don’t think about them. If you just buy a frying pan when you need one and have never given it a second thought, just remember: somewhere out there is a person who thinks that frying pans are garbage these days. And you’re the cause because you’re okay with garbage frying pans.

Consider things from the view of the producer of any of these things. Your market demographic is a big bell curve: there is a small group of people who care a lot about the quality, a small group of people who care very little, and the majority cares somewhat. If I make an amazing television show, maybe fifty million people will watch it. But if I make an okay television show – for a tenth of the price! – forty-eight million people will still watch it because only a small percentage of the audience needs their television to be great. The rest are fine with it being okay.

So from the maker’s perspective, it often makes the most sense to make the okay product. If it costs ten times as much to reach 4% more people, that’s not a great trade-off. That’s why you often see such a huge jump in price for “luxury” or “prestige” brands or products with what might seem like only minimal improvements in quality. In order to justify spending the extra money to reach that slightly larger audience, you need to be able to recoup your costs. The only way to do that is to charge appropriately. And for the small percentage of people who care deeply about the quality of a given product or service, the extra cost is worth it because the quality improvements that seem minor to you are huge deals to them.

So the next time you lament that no one makes a decent car anymore, just remember that it’s the fault of people who buy cars, not people who make them. And you’re ruining something for them, too. When you want to be in the high-quality audience for something, you can be – but you’ll pay for the privilege, one way or another. So choose wisely.