shoddy workmanship

I have to hit the Home Despot on the way back from work today. Our oak toilet seat, which I bought from a different chain store about six months ago, is breaking apart.

Before you start screaming "TMI! Don't tell us about your toilet use!" - the plastic bits cushioning the underside started breaking the night of our housewarming. What that says, other than "cheap plastic", isn't worth contemplating. But the wood itself is splitting apart now.

Didn't these things use to last for generations? 'Course, then they were hand-carved out of quarter-sawn oak. And cost a lot more.