This is a great topic Malfeasance. My viewpoint is just an observation from anecdotal evidence. I have not done any extensive research. Coming from a former large UGL owner, this seems like a golden age, for there was a time when Operation Cyber Juice was busting the biggest labs in the county every few months (I know from experience dude). I am not in the game anymore, but I have a lot of acquaintances that ask me questions about current UGL's, how they operate, and why they do some of the things that they do. This helps keep me apprised of some of the current marketplace. From my perspective, things are good right now. The average price is a little cheaper now, I don't notice the big-time busts that were occurring when I was on top. I can't personally speak on the current state of quality and service, but my acquaintances seem to be pleased. Some of the issues of service could be a result of the sheer volume of people that are ordering from UGL's these days, and the massive order quantity these UGL's have to distribute can cause issues.
When we talk about "floaters", or "bad batches", I have some insight into how some of these seemingly inferior qualities can come about. I will just give examples of when these things happened to me, and the reason things were perceived in a negative light. Remember, these are just a few examples out of an infinite realm of possibilities that can cause adverse consequences when you are operating an illegal business from a lot of moving parts.
"Floaters": I ordered my vials and rubber stopper tops from med lab supply, which is a very high-quality site to get equipment. On one order, my chemist received a different brand stopper than we ordered, because med lab supply ran out of the normal brand. We had a lot of product that needed to be made and shipped, so, without informing me of the different brand, he made the product, capped them all, and sent them out. I began getting complaints of "floaters", and noticed that pieces were coming off the stoppers when they were pierced several times by needles. I asked my chemist what was going on, he informed me of the new brand of stoppers, and I had to halt production, recall all the bad vials, and wait to order a new batch of stoppers from another supply site. It was a massive pain. There weren't a lot of "floaters", and I was able to use the gear anyway, and most of my clients that received these "floater" vials used them anyway with no issues coming of it. This is just to illustrate one of a myriad of things that can unexpectedly go wrong, and it doesn't necessarily indicate the source is inferior. What is important, is that the source treats his customers well, and make an honorable attempt to fix these issues that arise, and make effort to prevent them from happening again. That was one of my biggest assets, and one of the reasons I had massive contingent of loyal clients that I would have done anything in my power to make happy and reciprocate that loyalty.
Next I will write about "bad batches".