I think it may also be "
value engineering" rather than a darker 'screw the customer' dishonesty. The problem is, it can have the same net effect. There's a lot of 'optimization' across industries that, despite (the best?) intentions leads to what can sure feel like inferior products vs the 'good old days' . (I'd put Agile development practice into this bucket.)
The thing is, as problematic as these 'optimizations' are, there's also ever increasing complexity which absent some kind of optimization, would lead to spiraling costs. If every S&W needed to be made by a succession of dudes standing at a Bridgeport and then filing for twenty years on the job with a pension at the end, we'd be paying 5x more. (This isn't to say I don't think there's a lot to be said for that model from a 'big picture' societal perspective, I do.)
We may think, for example, a 320 is less complex than a 1911 because it's a pile of mim-parts, stampings and molded plastic but it's really hard to design for that kind of modularity. Factor all the material science going into which parts can be made with which alloys, which process most efficiently produces the disparate components. An FCU is a marvel of effective $%^&ittyness really. Out of the firearm, it's a 'barely avoids falling apart on your cleaning mat just from gravity' collection of tiny little fiddly bits that, once inserted into a frame, (by the end-user which is even harder) can endure thousands of rounds.
It's not as satisfying to hold, take apart, fiddle with thing in the same way a 'classic' model is but it's also a sort of a "holy, #$%^&, this works at all" kind of marvel. The same is true (though as I've said above, I have much less experience) with Glocks. They're inexpensive, they're extremely value engineered vs a 'classic' machined slab of steel but they are, by all accounts, ridiculously reliable and durable.
I'm rambling a bit, but the experience
@MGnoob had with Smith and Wesson seems materially worse than many other vendors where they will, if it's wrong, make it right. Ruger and Sig even Kimber have all done way better making it right in my limited experience than "Pay me for a screw after 60 rounds" which they should have been glad the user was willing/able to install themselves than have to take the whole product in to fix it.
There's a YouTube channel:
AvE where the guy does tool teardowns and reviews that goes into manufacturing processes, engineering compromises and value engineering in often really funny ways that, to me, also showcases the remarkable enginenerding that goes into making modern tools.
#$%^ now the thread I really had hoped would be many different folks sharing a series of small useful tips has gone off the rails and I'm in the middle of the detour myself....