Product Quality List

We asked readers to help us compile a list of products whose quality seems to be declining. As one reader pointed out, some of these companies could be experiencing supply chain issues affecting a product’s quality. Others on this list are products that experienced a decline in quality long before the pandemic or recent shortages.

Poor Quality and Supply Chain Issues

I don’t have anything to add to the list, but I would like to say poor quality could be due to supply chain issues.

A couple of months ago, I was dissatisfied with an unusual amount of gristle in pre-packaged sliced deli meat, so I called the manufacturer and politely explained my concern. The customer service representative apologized and said they could not obtain the meat from their usual source. I let her know that I purchase their brand regularly at the deli counter; in fact, I often hear others ask for it, too, so it is well-liked. I also told her I understood their problem. She thanked me, asked me to email a photo of the product and package, and said the company’s president is writing checks to cover customer purchases…I was not the only one they had heard from.

I received the personally signed check within days. I appreciated the acknowledgment of my issue, their honesty, and this fine level of customer service.
Lorraine in NH

Northern Quilted Toilet Tissue

Years ago, it was one of the best, thick 3-ply, soft, etc. It is still 3-ply, but each layer is so thin you can see thru it! I’ve taken it apart. Also, when it gets wet, it’s useless. It used to be great; you could swipe a couple of times….now you can’t even get thru ONE swipe before it falls apart in your hand. I wrote to them about it, and they basically said, oh well use something else.

Lays chips bags aren’t filled anywhere close to the top, only about l/2 filled, and most chips are broken.
S

Smithfield Anytime Ham

Smithfield Anytime Ham used to be premium quality and now has a lot of fat and gristle despite the premium price.
Julie

Poor Quality Services

Hotels: Higher prices but no services. Who wants to pay for a bed when the linens are not changed daily? Who wants to re-use towels? Who wants a plastic-wrapped stale sweet bun for breakfast?

Travel by air: Cattle cars – and everyone is angry

Travel by car: If using gas, paying twice the normal price. If you have an electric car, you can’t go very far, right?

Furniture: I do not want to put my furniture together. I want it delivered whole.

I miss samples of stuff – cheese stores and tastes of jams and preserves. Bits of desserts or store specialties. I miss having sales ladies in department stores and enough waiters in restaurants. I am not happy with drive-throughs for doughnuts or hamburgers. I don’t want to order food from a plastic window.

I agree with the toiler paper complaints, and I don’t care if you planted a billion trees but can’t make a decent roll of toilet paper.

So, even though the world is not as lovely as it was, I am happy that I had it for a while. Lucky.
Kay

Maytag Products

Maytag everything. My parents still have a washer that is over 25 years old. We built a house 12 years ago and purchased high-end Maytag appliances. We have already had to replace the washer, dryer, dishwasher, and microwave. All but the microwave had been worked on by the appliance store we bought them from.

The 2nd time we had to call for repairs, I said, “let’s replace and buy what is cheapest at the big box store. If it goes bad, then I won’t be so upset.”
Heidi

Consider Switching

When I saw the quality of products go downhill, I switched many items – laundry detergent, q-tips, paper towels, etc. Grove Co. carries national products – the quality is way better.
Candi

Goodco Kitchen Matches

Oh, this one I couldn’t resist! My nomination for not only a horrible but also inherently dangerous product is kitchen matches made by Goodco. We light a candle every night for dinner, which is supposed to be (and is marked on the box) as “Safety Matches.” They are made of wood, and what often happens is that they will break after they are lit, thus flying across the table and attempting to set your house on fire. I have personally never seen anything quite as bad as these.
Arlene

Charmin

The item that I feel has really been degraded is Charmin Strong toilet paper. It’s thin (very) and has numerous small holes in the paper as you unroll it—probably every 4th or 5th square. I haven’t purchased Charmin Ultra Soft, so I don’t know if that one has also changed.
Mary

Sparkle Paper Towels

This is not new necessarily, but definitely within the last couple of years. They are much thinner and rougher to the touch.
Jackie

Clorox Disposable Toilet Brushes

For the past three years, my Clorox disposable toilet brush heads have started falling apart, and the spin mop heads last half as long!
Noor

A Number of Quality Issues

You hit a nerve on quality and shrinkage! Q-tips, canned soup (seen any chicken in chicken noodle?), bars of soap, ice cream, parrot food has more and more peanuts as filler, Knorr sides, mac and cheese in a box. I had more quality changes, but forget as I sit here!

Razor blade knives for box opening – I do a lot of online selling. My new box cutter is flimsy! My old one was heavy metal.

Our newer vehicles have more plastic! Furniture, like leather, is limited to where it touches you and is thinner.

Cotton balls and brillo pads are not working like they used to.
Janice

Lawn Sprinklers

A lot of lawn sprinklers these days are made out of cheap plastic or, less frequently, flimsy metal – and you’ll be lucky if they last you one summer season, especially if they are made in China. I buy used American-made “Sunbeam Rainmasters” at estate sales whenever I can find them, and if they still work, I have something that will last for years. They have cast iron bases and aluminum or steel watering “arms.” Sadly, they are not manufactured anymore.

When I was a kid, everyone had ring sprinklers made out of brass; today, they are all plastic, although they’re heavier plastic than most sprinklers. My parents used to have oscillating sprinklers with metal bases; they are now plastic and will eventually crack in the hot summer sun. I had to replace one the other day, and although its construction was cheap, the price wasn’t. It’s the absolute devil trying to get a really good lawn sprinkler that works well anymore!
Lynn

Lays Potato Chips

I’ve noticed that Lay’s potato chips not only have gone up in price, but we’re finding more ‘burnt’ chips in them. So maybe they’ve reduced their quality control standards.
Mary

Seeds

I purchased a package of cucumber seeds. A bit pricey, but it contained six seeds. Six! I could not believe it!
Judi

Shredded Cheese

Packages of shredded cheese – the tear locations no longer are relevant, and the glue goes WAY too close to the ziplock portion of the bag. Every time, every bag.
Dana

Dental Floss, Dental Tape and Other Products

My family uses a lot of dental floss/dental tape. Over the past couple of years, the quality of this product, no matter which brand, has taken a hit in quantity and quality. Dental tape now frays more easily, and dental floss has become thinner and not as strong. I’m pretty sure you can’t use them to cut cheese anymore.

Paper towels on the roll have more resin and less paper pulp, so they are less absorbent. They are stiffer and not as useful. Multifold towels are just as bad and have shrunk in size overall.

Hand soap has changed over time. We used to buy quite a bit from Bath Works, but their soap brand has less scent and almost no color like before. Their packaging is still quite nice, but I don’t think their products are worth the extra money.

Cleaning products have gone the same way. Some costly branded ones by Zep are no longer even being manufactured. 409, Fantastik and some others are the same. My husband thinks they can’t get the right ingredients.

Clorox Bleach is one that we read the label carefully and have found that the potency of this item is different, depending on which bottle you pick up and where. The percentages of active ingredients are lower than before, and I know the bleaching effect is less because I can pour some directly on a stain, and it doesn’t come out. I find that particularly disturbing when trying to bleach WHITE towels, linens, t-shirts, etc.
Amy H.