I’m eating oatmeal out of a Corelle bowl right now!
We have one plate with a small chip on the side—but it took a beating with granite, and only came away with the chip, so that’s actually kind of impressive. We had expected it to be broken. I think one might’ve taken a mighty fall and cracked at one point, but that was under extreme circumstances for a plate, and it only broke in two—didn’t shatter, very easy cleanup, and as LeavesNoTrace said, it was easy to replace. Most of the time when I drop them, they just make a loud sound and everyone jumps.
I got a small set of Corelle on clearance when I was going to college. It survived the twice-yearly pack-up-and-go routine, and all of the knocks and drops and bangs of four college students rushing around in a small kitchen. Other kitchen ware didn’t fare as well, haha…
As for the quality change—I was raised on older Corelle before we went with a new set (it was between 25 and 30 years old when we switched). I haven’t noticed any quality differences. I think the newer set is thinner, but that has more to do with style, and I may just be remembering the older set as thicker because it had waves around the rim. Our new stuff isn’t less durable, and our older set wasn’t casualty-free by the end… Corelle’s not indestructible, after all, just nearly so.
What I guess I’m actually saying is I’m a Corelle poster child.