Cartridge aging and tip wear symtoms?

I am quite happy with an original Fidelity Research Mk13F, into a Sutherland PHD on a Rega P9.
I bought the cartridge brand new back in the 1980s and I firmly believe it sounds better now than when new, but of course all the ancilliaries are better.
No noise issues or cantilever failures,is this a fluke or do they just not make them to last anymore?

There's no distortion in the inner grooves when playing the old FR cartridge.
An improperly set up cartridge that is brand new will have distortion in the inner grooves also.
Closer inspection using powerful magnifying glass or jewelers specs would show obvious stylus wear, especially on either the right or left side of the tip, indicating that the cartridge was mistracking for quite some time.
The cantiliver they say can loose it's stiffness over time , but so far after 20 years the FR is still strong.
Dropping the arm on the record not lowering, and tracking at too high a range can lead to cantilever fatigue in a brand new cartridge.
If everything is set up to spec and there have been no mis-haps,and still lp's just don't sound as good as they once did, time to invest in a new cartridge and make sure it is compatable to your arm and set up properly.
Most cartridges fail because somewhere along the way,an accident happened.

20 plus years on the same mc FR cartridge and no sign of cantilever distress.
"with most cartridges 2-3 years is about all you can hope for before the cantilever has to be refurbished"is enough to scare a lot of people away from vinyl.
I'll wager I am not the only person with an oldie still working.
Or am I?
Any other survivor stories?

The 20 year old Fidelity Research Mk1 3f shows no signs of distress when I play track 5,Cartridge tracking tests on the Audio System Test Record(Nat'l Research Council of Canada).
No loss of high end content either.
I think it is wrong to believe that a cartridge will wear out in such a short period of time as 2-4 years.
If handled properly, it should last longer.
You don't suppose the people who sell cartridges might have something to do with this type of audio mind set?
This cartridge I might add has seen service first on a LP12 with a FR12 arm, then an Oracle Delphi with EMT 11 arm,this is a span of 7 yearsof constant use before cd play.
Then it sat in it's box for the next dozen or more years until on a whim I tried it out on a VPI Scout.
I had been into some Grados and forgot why I stopped using the FR.
The best that the cartridge has ever sounded is now on a Rega P9 with the 1000 arm.
Even old scratched lps have less noise than when the cartridge was on the Scout.
I was looking at buying one of the newer mc, but that's not going to happen until this one bites the dust.
So,not all cartridges degenerate over time in my experience.
Maybe the FR's were just well built back in the 70's.
Maybe that's why they went out of business.
I wonder if the Shelter's will hold up like the FR's did.
Same designer.