John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) was, I think, a bit bonkers. Please do read about his marriage if you want to know why. Interesting that both the left & right lay claim to some of his ideas being central to their own political theology.
Anyoo, I love this quote from him…
“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
Disruptive technologies might seem to challenge this. Things become cheaper because they can now be done a better way. I’m sure innovation is a good thing. But I think it still pays to look at value carefully, not just at cost.