I’ve wondered why, with all the behind-the-scenes wizardry in the SW department, this is so and has been so for as long as Amazon has existed; I’ve concluded it is deliberate. I assume it is to support whichever 3rd party seller it is most advantageous for Amazon to support.

Amazon is no different than Google which has corrupted its search returns for, well, ever, in the name of Progressive Politics and Social Engineering.

Amazon does not sell quality, nor does it trade on lowest price; it sells convenience, which it seems people are more than willing to pay for, usually with money, sometimes with other things of supposed value.

Is the junk problem worse than it was before Amazon?

I only use Amazon when there’s no alternative. That is, frequently. On the whole it seems no worse than mail order was. Maybe better. The hard thing with mail order was getting hold of the right catalog.

And the brick-and-mortar scene was never all that much better than it is nowadays.