I have a USB-C cable that will only work in a specific orientation. So I’ll plug in a device, laptop won’t recognize it, (sigh) unplug and flip the cable, and then everything works.

If you wiggle them around long enough, they all go bad. But it should take a few years under normal use. They are rated for around 10,000 insertions. Cable bending can also damage them.

The more annoying part with modern USB is that not all cables are alike to begin with. Cheap charging cables that you get with random gadgets (e.g. flashlights, fans, etc.) will often just have two pins connected, meaning they work only for charging, not data. Others might have data pins, but only enough for USB2, not USB3 speeds. Others might have too much resistance slowing down charging or dropping too much voltage to even have a device function properly at the other end (common issue with long cables or extensions). And so on. Rather annoying to deal with when you just have some random cables floating around, as there is absolutely no labeling or color coding to differentiate the cables.

it’s not that they go bad. this tool can tell you what features are on the cable because the cables vary a lot.

It’s not the cable that goes bad it’s the connectors on the ends: They wear out.