By optimizing for initial purchase price, I often find that I don't take care of my stuff because it was never that good to begin with. When I had a car I loved, I took way better care of it than other vehicles simply because I found it to be a joy to drive. Alas, good care doesn't protect against hit & run accidents. We had a good eight years together. IMO, people often don't bother to care for their belongings because their belongings just aren't worthwhile or deprecate too rapidly: you bought that PC last week? Throw it out, it's an antique.
IMO, it seems that the problem became a self-reenforcing cycle when the middle classes learned that they could optimize on price on nonessentials in order to free up money for the things they truly cared about. That caused markets to bifurcate into cheap garbage that, in a just world, would not be worthwhile at any price and luxury products priced for the wealthy. Mid-price mid-quality repairable goods mostly no longer exist.
