What is QUALITY?

This seems to be a common question in my life so I thought I would muse a bit over it here, please feel free to add your comments.

What is quality? Is it good value? Is it dependent on the observer? Is it something quantifiable? Is it important? It is my belief that perceived quality is very dependent on the person asking the question, but that TRUE QUALITY is an absolute.

You and I might perceive quality differently. You might think that a light beer in a silver can is quality beer, I will most insistently disagree. Why is that? Because we will have a different definition of the meaning of the word QUALITY. To me, quality is something inherent, something universal. Is said silver can beer brewed with "real" ingredients? Or, is it produced with mass produced ingredients to keep costs low? Is a beer better just because it is produced with better ingredients? No, what makes something a quality product is quality ingredients AND the quality that the maker puts into it, the care, the love.

If a good product is produced with care and attention to detail and not just "thrown" together, then it becomes a quality product. Just because it says Extra Virgin Olive Oil, does not make it quality. Just because it says Italian, does not make it quality. When selecting products, true quality products should be easily identifiable.

Wine and beer are a great example and something that most people are familiar with. A true quality wine or beer should have a beginning, a middle and an end. It should be balanced. The flavours, harmonious and not incongruent. If the mid palate is lacking, or the finish is flat or one flavor is more pronounced than the rest (to the detriment of others) then the quality would be suffering. With Olive oil it becomes a bit more obvious once you have these ideas in your head. Again there should be a beginning, a middle, and a finish, the longer the finish the better. The flavours pronounced but not overbearing. If you take two olive oils side by side and you compare, it should be very obvious which is the higher quality oil. This is also true for any food product you buy. Quality will be something that is easy to identify if you scrutinize.

What about with service? Is there a noticeable difference between quality service and not? Where you shop are people friendly? Do they look you in the eye when they talk to you? Do they look you in the eye when they hand you your purchase? Do they hand you your purchase? If the answer to any of these questions is NO, then why do you shop there? Is it the price? Do you reward superior service and product, or savings? Isn't better service worth a few dollars? If not then I would ask why? What if that savings came at someone else's expense, would you care? Should you care?

Here, we seek out quality products. We strive for quality service. Things might sometimes seem more expensive, but sometimes you get what you pay for. And let's face it, if your paying a lot less you have to ask the question, WHAT am I paying for? You can get a hamburger at the "arches" for 99cents, but a another place will charge $12. A hamburger is meat, bread, possibly cheese and maybe some condiments. Is there that much difference in what goes into a burger, yes, yes there is. And you should be asking yourself what IS and what IS NOT in your 99 cent burger. We, will never cut corners or add fillers to anything we do. Do not let yourself be fooled by "FLUFF". Just because something LOOKS pretty does not mean it is pretty. My father always said be mindful of women who wear too much perfume, or men with too much cologne. More is not better.

If, in this global economy and economic downturn (this is a fancy word for recession, so that you won't freak out), we reward poor quality products and service, the real quality products and real quality service will begin to disappear. You may not notice it at first, but it will happen and when it is gone, it will be too late. If you are willing to really scrutinize your purchases and where you purchase the TRUE QUALITY will begin to make itself obvious, and it should make you feel better. Because, when did your parents ever tell you that half assed was OK?