Why do McIntosh come with cheap plastic remotes?

You also have seen the same el-chepo remotes of Audio Research
supplied with the REF 3 REF CD 7

Maybe they assume that the end user will probably use a universal remote and the included remote needent be of high quality. But I must add that I have had a number of McIntosh pre-pros/pre-amps and the remotes we of a standard quality. My last peice MX135 came with a McIntosh backlit remote and a Harmony as well. So I assume that they have changed that? Too bad. And yes the ARC remotes are light duty at best, I agree.

For one thing, plastic is light and fairly resilient. I think a lot of members and professional reviwers make far too big a deal of the way remotes look and what they are made of.
Complaints about the way they are layed out or how they function are valid. Poorly designed remotes can be annoying.