Why do manufacturers take cheap-ass shortcuts?

OK, that's a mostly rhetorical question.

I'm not talking about making cheap shit overall, but little crap that seriously screw up otherwise decent products.

Yesterday, I was putting up a Game Winner feeder on my property. Just a couple of little things made about 10% of the job result in 80% of the effort, plus a long-term problem I'll have to fix.

The motor housing has no mounting for the controller or battery. So these rather important parts connected with delicate wiring are free to bounce around, with a motor right above generating vibrations.

Instead of a hinged door on the housing, it slides, and not very well due to poor fitting. Aligning the screw holes on the door and housing literally requires pounding the door in to place. Very good for the motor, controller, and wiring, which, as described, are already free to bounce around. I decided it was fine without the screw.

Building these feeders with battery/controller mounts and better access woukd add maybe $20 to retail price. I'd be perfectly willing to pay to avoid spending time and money to secure the battery and controller, plus some more robust wiring connectors.

Yes, they're built in China, but the Chinese are capable of buikding a better product. It's up to the company they're building it for to design it and demand tighter specs.

Today, it was my Hornady LNL AP. Primers were not seating deep enough, causing light strikes in my 625.

After checking and cleaning the plunger assembly, I was about to call Hornady when I spotted the problem. The plunger bears aganst the press body, and there's a nice divot in that spot where the plunger was chewing a hole in the soft cast iron.

I have not even used this press that much due to it's inability to feed Winchester SPPs (which I had tens of thousands of). Instead I bought a used Dillon SDB and have done 90% of my reloading.

The Hornady reps answer was that people had told him they put a dime or penny in that spot. Seriously? The best they can offer is a some kluge shit? They coukd put in a hardened insert, or simply build the plunger base flat & wider.

I've encountered this same problem on cast iron band saws where the tension screw contacts the upper arm. That one's an easy fix: drill & tap a hole and install a hardened steel bolt. Not gonna work here since I can't get to it with a drill or tap.

I've read that the Corvair was doomed by the exclusion of $84 sway bar, deleted at the insistence of the accountants. How much did that end up costing GM?

Now, you can buy top of the line products, pay 2x and maybe avoid such crap. But why should we have to, when simple shit that adds maybe 10% to price would result in a a perfectly suitable product?

Instead, I now have to jury-rig these two items due to shit that could have been easily avoided.

On the feeder, I'll DIY the next one. The next progressive loader (which I'm about to buy) will not be a Hornady.