Most people are like myself in that when you get a bad product (cart, carto, battery, etc.) you get any thing from mildy upset to down right angry. Now granted, I am an old goat by most any standard but there is one thing that I try to remember.
This industry is not yet 3 full years old. In some aspects such as technology, that is an eternity. But when it comes to things like quality control, customer service and many other aspects, like the automobile, only time is going to weed out the "wanna-be's" from the serious contenders.
In the first 10-15 years of the commercial sales of the automobile, there were hundreds of manufacturers in the USA alone (estimates vary but Google it for an idea). The actual number isn't known but it is analogous to the e-cig. We have everything from small shops in China to major manufacturers there to hand machined custom and semi-custom mods from all over the world.
Whether we like to refer to ourselves as that, we as consumers are beta testers. Hopefully, it wont be a decade before the Henry Ford of the e-cig industry appears and makes an affordable, reliable and enduring e-cig. But again, much like the automobile, as we sit right now, we are in a very similar position.
History does repeat itself and I feel like that long after I'm just a name on a marble marker, that future vapers will have a choice of a dozen or so major manufacturers and many individualized custom options or makes. I don't think any of us can do anything but guess who that one true innovator will be or even if they are in the industry at all right now.
So in the end, all that chatter I just typed doesn't help it when the 70 dollar kit you just bought turns out to be crap. It is worth noting though that every time a vendor sells some junk and continues to do so after being made aware of it, They are only making themselves that much closer to becoming the Pierce-Arrow or Tucker of the e-cig world.
And just like most early adopters of the automobile found, with all its headaches and growing pains, it really was worth the hassle. As it relates to our e-cigs, I know for me I can't put a price tag on the hassles and growing pains of a product that has doubtless contributed to my personally more healthy life style.
This industry is not yet 3 full years old. In some aspects such as technology, that is an eternity. But when it comes to things like quality control, customer service and many other aspects, like the automobile, only time is going to weed out the "wanna-be's" from the serious contenders.
In the first 10-15 years of the commercial sales of the automobile, there were hundreds of manufacturers in the USA alone (estimates vary but Google it for an idea). The actual number isn't known but it is analogous to the e-cig. We have everything from small shops in China to major manufacturers there to hand machined custom and semi-custom mods from all over the world.
Whether we like to refer to ourselves as that, we as consumers are beta testers. Hopefully, it wont be a decade before the Henry Ford of the e-cig industry appears and makes an affordable, reliable and enduring e-cig. But again, much like the automobile, as we sit right now, we are in a very similar position.
History does repeat itself and I feel like that long after I'm just a name on a marble marker, that future vapers will have a choice of a dozen or so major manufacturers and many individualized custom options or makes. I don't think any of us can do anything but guess who that one true innovator will be or even if they are in the industry at all right now.
So in the end, all that chatter I just typed doesn't help it when the 70 dollar kit you just bought turns out to be crap. It is worth noting though that every time a vendor sells some junk and continues to do so after being made aware of it, They are only making themselves that much closer to becoming the Pierce-Arrow or Tucker of the e-cig world.
And just like most early adopters of the automobile found, with all its headaches and growing pains, it really was worth the hassle. As it relates to our e-cigs, I know for me I can't put a price tag on the hassles and growing pains of a product that has doubtless contributed to my personally more healthy life style.
