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Consumers' Checkbook

October 8, 2026

117 – Worse on Purpose

Host: Herb Weisbaum

Guest: Keyana Sapp - Publisher of WorseOnPurpose.com

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It’s an all-too-familiar business model these days: Making things worse on purpose. As private equity firms buy legendary companies with trusted brands, from Brooks Brothers and Sealy to Whole Foods and Black & Decker, the new owners often try to squeeze out more profit by cutting corners, and quality suffers.

In this episode, we discuss the problem with tech entrepreneur Keyana Sapp, who’s been looking into this trend.

More from Checkbook: Read our Q&A interview with Keyana

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