Who wrote it? A short story about aliens replicating things

Question

I remember to have read it several times in the past 20-ish years, in different American sci-fi classics antologies.

This is a short story describing how people lost the ability to produce stuff while relying on aliens, who can make replicas. It results in total degradation, when only a few human-made original pieces can be found, aliens can no longer keep up replicating their own replicas, the quality of replicas is declining and humans are mad at aliens because of that. I vaguely remember, that it has something to do with aliens using their bodily fluids to make replicas, not sure about that though.

It was translated, so the keywords probably don't match. I would be glad to provide more details, but that's all I got.

Can anyone help me find the author and the title?

Answer 1

Could be Pay for the Printer by Philip K. Dick

In a war-ravaged future, humanity has come to depend on an alien species known as the Biltongs, possessed of the ability to replicate items identically – although the copies only last for a short time. When the Biltongs become decrepit, the humans are forced to rediscover the skill of building.