TFA is a bit longer than many and might take a little more time to fully digests. It does raise some good points.
I want to add that one of the reasons I think it is sometimes hard to "buy things that work well" is just "work well" often means one thing for the consumer and something else to the producer. For a consumer a product works well if it does the job well for the consumer. For a producer a product works well if it makes money for the producer.
The Volvo crash safety example is good. For Volvo (Ford) having the highest safety results from crash tests is fine. "Highest crash safety rating" sells more cars (presumable) and having to incorporate real world data and lots of R and D is less efficient. For the consumer real world experience is the only thing that matters.
I want to add that one of the reasons I think it is sometimes hard to "buy things that work well" is just "work well" often means one thing for the consumer and something else to the producer. For a consumer a product works well if it does the job well for the consumer. For a producer a product works well if it makes money for the producer.
The Volvo crash safety example is good. For Volvo (Ford) having the highest safety results from crash tests is fine. "Highest crash safety rating" sells more cars (presumable) and having to incorporate real world data and lots of R and D is less efficient. For the consumer real world experience is the only thing that matters.