I used to love buying from L.L. Bean. The novelty of shopping 24-hours a day by phoning a friendly customer service representative in Freeport, Maine was simply incredible back in the early 1980’s. Moreover, what you bought was built to last. I still have my canvas barn coat, my winter boots, my wrought-iron lamps, and my maple end tables, among other items that have given me great service over many decades. Shopping as a whole has, of course, undergone some peculiar changes over the past few decades, and it has been a very long time since I’ve found customer service to be so friendly as in the past. Moreover, the nature of much of what we buy today has undergone a startling and often unwelcome transformation: It is more flimsy, constructed with lower quality craft and materials—and is explicitly designed Read more