30 yo boomer here. Back when I was a kid in the 90s, it felt like consoomer products had "soul". You would go to radioshack and be excited about random new tech like alarm clocks that could also play CDs. Perhaps it is just that I am older now, but it feels like the variety of "unique products" sold is very limited. I also feel like prices in the west for most stuff are also unjustified considering it all comes from the same place (China).

Back then it was realistically impossible to buy from the manufacturer so you had to resort to middle men stores. Nowadays this is no longer true so why are we even allowing other folks to "have their hands in our pockets" when we barely get by? I get that everyone needs to eat, but why am I paying such ridiculous amounts for basic stuff like socks or plain t shirts to sleep in while I'm also stressing about not being able to afford a decent house mortgage? The worst is also buying from folks reselling you the same rebranded shit from china but with a 500-1000% price increase. I get that not everyone can "learn to code" but to me this is the ultimate cuckery.

I was just browsing ali express and could not believe the amount of "cool" products they have (reminiscent of the 90s) and how lowly priced they are for such comparable quality (if not higher). It genuinely feels like products are properly priced and it also explains how folks from shit holes with no running water even own shit.

So anyways.. my question to you anons is do you buy stuff from stores like ali express or are you also getting robbed like me paying 30$ for braided usb-c cables?