This is why the industry hasn't improved since it's birth; it's deemed acceptable in the disc golf community to get something close to what you paid for or maybe you'll get lucky and find a good one or one you like. There has been so much variance over the last couple decades that it's just accepted that what gets pumped out is entirely random. I see countless threads about people discussing the issue with parting lines over many many years and what has changed?
I think your statement that disc golfer's complain a lot is inaccurate; it should be that disc golfers are push overs and kind of lazy when it comes to pushing for improvements. And I'm actually a huge Teebird fan, by far my favorite disc and I don't think there is a perfect Teebird or even a perfect one for me. My only expectation when buying one is that I receive the weight, color, and plastic type that I ordered without any glaring flaws in the surface. Like I stated earlier in this post, I just bought 3 new ones, all have quite obvious issues in the plastic. Would that be acceptable to you? Good luck going to a physical store now thumbing through those boxes looking for that magical disc you seek when they were all sold online while you were putting gas in your car to get there.
It's clear that cost is your biggest concern and keeping that low outweighs receiving better products. Typically cost isn't affected that much if things are done correctly; less defects typically offset the cost associated with process improvement. Think about it; what other industry doesn't package its products? Disc golf manufacturer's just toss discs in a cardboard box and ship them off, the only time I've seen a disc packaged was when it went to a non disc golf retailer like Dick's. Disc golf seems to be the only industry that hasn't improved with the times; for goodness sake they're still stamping discs by hand. That's about as laughable as it gets; any decent manufacturing company would have automated that process decades ago. They've been stagnant likely since they started and it's all very evident now as they are making no progress toward catching up on supply. What else is in massive shortage still due to covid??? Even with the entire world racing out to buy toilet paper all at once, that industry was able to meet the demand sooner than later.
Look at Discmania now; Innova can't meet their demand so nothing available from their original line. Why? Because Innova hasn't grown or improved in any way; they've been content just getting by and producing a so so product for many years. Not only does this hurt them but it hurts the discmania's, infinite discs, and the millenium's that rely on them for their products. Not to mention the customer's that are switching to other brand's because they can no longer buy the discs they've grown to love.
After reading that lost post I feel like a lot of issues in the disc golf industry center around old vs new. Those that have been playing for a good amount of years that have figured out a way to work around all the issues, where as the people that are newer to the game are starting to realize just how goofy and behind it is in relation to how any other successful business is run today and are trying to drive change within it.
Look at all the online retailers today that have begun weighing, taking pictures, and describing the parting line on the discs they're selling. Why are they doing this? Because it's very clear that people today care what they're getting and also because it's very clear that the manufacturer's can't be trusted to do something as simple as weigh a disc accurately or produce 100 of a like mold that all fall within a small range of variation. We act like they're making discs by hand; one by one; and each one is special and unique. lmao Why even have flight numbers or weights if the train of thought is that you just need to find one that works for you or hopefully get lucky to find one you want. If that's the case we don't need those things; we can just say the disc goes left, right, or kind of straight and the rest is up to you to figure out.
