Certainly, there are sometimes problems with quality control not being 100%, e.g. missing items or malformed items or printing not 100%, but bearing in mind the number of parts in a set and the quantity Playmobil produce, this is only to be expected and so long as problems like these are limited and there is an efficient method for replacing the faulty part or supplying the missing part, it's something that has to be accepted. What is important, though, is that people who buy sets with faulty or missing parts brings this to the notice of Playmobil as, otherwise, Playmobil will not know things are going wrong and so cannot do anything to stop things going wrong. This also applies to buying from DS. In one year (and I put in about an order a month to UK DS) on two successive orders the same part was missing but on the invoice. I reported this and the parts were sent to me. On the second occasion, the member of staff I contacted at UK DS told me that the packer in Germany needed to watch their work because if there were a third occurrence they would be in trouble.
As regards Playmobil becoming more flimsy, this will be partly accounted for by new mixes of plastic following the banning of some chemicals previously used in the process. However, the fact that the feel of the item is flimsier doesn't mean the quality is lower or it is more likely to break. I would imagine also that over time to contain costs the thickness of the plastic may be reduced, but I am also sure that there will be trials by Playmobil to test that the items made with the thinner plastic still have an acceptable "life" before deciding to market them.
