Good glow starters in fact last a lot. And probably can outlast a few tubes if not abused by constantly blinking an EOL tube. BTW, at home there is a better possibility someone will notice an EOL tube timely and turn it off and replace quickly.
The problem is the starter gets overheated when the tube is degrading so the starter "just not trips yet". Problem is, the dissipation builds slowly and so does the starter temperature. But unlike during normal start (when the electrodes heat up so quickly the way more massive bulb stays cold before the lamp starts and the starter stops dissipating), with a worn out tube the thermal loading stays for rather long time, so the theat has plenty of time spreading over the whole starter bulb, so the whole thing gets very hot, All that while the fluorescent still appear lighting normally.
If the glowbottle is supposed to last long, there would need to be some kind of thermal cutout, responding to the starter bulb getting hot. That way the heat stress is stopped before that much excessive wear, so the starter then can last multiple bulbs. This is used in the classic format safety starters, which then are rated to last at least 3..5 lamps. But that cutout mechabism reliability is another can of worms, often failing on its own due to contact oxidation,.. But that would be way too expensive for such cheepeese products. Even with normal fluorescents the extra life of the curout starter won't cover the higher price, so they are used virtually only when there is another justification for them (like stopping the EOL lamp flashing,...).
