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O Holy Crap

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Re: O Holy Crap

#181

Post by Yeroc »

MisterTea wrote: post #127
vages wrote: post #4

Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. The single juicer that lasts 70 years may be the only one of its kind to last that long, the others from the same production year being left to rot and rust in a landfill. That being said, I definitely believe that planned obsolesence and unintentional bad quality is a plague on modern consumer items. I am lucky enough to ha…

> Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. Indeed. So I skim the article and wind up agreeing with how some things seem to be built to fall apart or under perform (modern HE washers, I'm looking at you). Then I get called to the shop floor to check a machine and the operator, an older gentleman gets to talking with and starts the same conversation! He is in his mid…

Indeed repairability may have been the biggest change. Major appliances centralize virtually all functions including on one or two main circuit boards including the high-voltage relays which in my experience are very prone to failure (they used to be mounted separately in a different location on older appliances). Those circuit boards typically cost ~1/3 the cost of a new appliance assuming you source and swap it yourself.

In conjunction with the decline of repairability in the appliances I think there's a corresponding decline in repair skills among the general population as well.

Re: O Holy Crap

#182

Post by waynesonfire »

vages wrote: post #4

Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. The single juicer that lasts 70 years may be the only one of its kind to last that long, the others from the same production year being left to rot and rust in a landfill. That being said, I definitely believe that planned obsolesence and unintentional bad quality is a plague on modern consumer items. I am lucky enough to ha…

> Swedish jeans company that offer in-store repairs

That's cool. But, more than likely it'll be your body that will need the repairs.

Re: O Holy Crap

#183

Post by [deleted] »

Damogran6 wrote: post #166

I think there are a LOT of societal ills with sending too many people to College...who then get MBAs. You're going to want to use what you earned, right? So you're gonna maximize profit and shareholder value. Individually, none of them are particularly egregous. A little less sugar for your dollar, a sticky subscription on your credit card, A Washing machine that doesn't QUITE live as long as it should. But in aggreg…

[deleted]

Re: O Holy Crap

#184

Post by waynesonfire »

vages wrote: post #4

Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. The single juicer that lasts 70 years may be the only one of its kind to last that long, the others from the same production year being left to rot and rust in a landfill. That being said, I definitely believe that planned obsolesence and unintentional bad quality is a plague on modern consumer items. I am lucky enough to ha…

> Swedish jeans company that offer in-store repairs

That's cool. I like high quality clothing too but noticed as I age that it's my body that needs the repairs. It's been a tight-fitting last couple years and my clothes still have so much life left.

Re: O Holy Crap

#185

Post by eternityforest »

jollyllama wrote: post #169
eternityforest wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In store shopping seems to be a great way to pay more for worse stuff these days.

You get screwed either way. Buy something on amazon and it's quite likely to be just as bad, counterfeit, etc. - how many times have people complained about that?

It happens, but it's not common. Amazon lets you get stuff a generation ahead of what's in stores, which often uses better tech and fixes issues in the last generation.

When "Cheap crap" first became common 20 years ago stuff got a bit worse, but it seems to be improving.

Re: O Holy Crap

#186

Post by eternityforest »

Damogran6 wrote: post #171
bumby wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would gladly use 10k lines of code to save one moving part or one switch This creates a whole new reliability problem. Software reliability is notorious for its interface failures and there can be many more of those modes (where hardware typically has a few wear-out style failures). I think about my relatively high-end TV that seems to always struggle with software updates without any glitches. It seems like we'v…

Got a nespresso Machine last year...worked great....hooked up to Wifi and the phone app and had it firmware update and it turned it into a brick. They sent me a replacement that works great and is entirely ignorant of the outside world (and will stay that way.)

Are you on a network with some kind of firewalling or tracker blocking? I wonder if they are programmed to stop working if they can't phone home after exiting dumb mode?

Or if there's an activation step they never planned to need recovery from failure of?

Re: O Holy Crap

#187

Post by inkcapmushroom »

Damogran6 wrote: post #166

I think there are a LOT of societal ills with sending too many people to College...who then get MBAs. You're going to want to use what you earned, right? So you're gonna maximize profit and shareholder value. Individually, none of them are particularly egregous. A little less sugar for your dollar, a sticky subscription on your credit card, A Washing machine that doesn't QUITE live as long as it should. But in aggreg…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir

Those MBA types have been cutting corners on quality for a while...

Re: O Holy Crap

#188

Post by voidee »

lordgroff wrote: post #31
bambax wrote: post #8

> Many blamed these problems on the government. They believed it had crippled certain products (major home appliances, especially) This is a claim that was already present in Death of a Salesman . Here's the quote: > I am always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it's on its last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when…

It's a matter of shopping wisely and, at least sometimes, of spending more money up front. People always reach for the smelling salts when I tell them how much my (hand) coffee grinder cost, but that thing is almost certain to outlast me.

I also would like to know what hand grinder you have!

Re: O Holy Crap

#189

Post by ejb999 »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #101
ejb999 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 2nd fridge in my garage, an old philco one - still running perfectly, 365 days a year for almost 70 years. Never needed a repair in the 25 years I have owned it.

Throw it away! It is costing more in annual electricity than a new one. Never mind it's old; it's insulation is worthless and its compressor is very inefficient.

baloney - what is the cost to the environment of producing, transporting and then throwing away a refrigerator every 7-10 years? How about the gas used for the service calls?

My old fridge is running perfectly, and costs me less than $10-$15/month.

A typical modestly price refrigerator these days cost $1000 at home depot (and easily more) - even if I could cut electricity by 50%, saving 7.50 a month in electric, a typical new fridge won't even last long enough to justify the savings..

Re: O Holy Crap

#190

Post by philwelch »

datr wrote: post #112
derbOac wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think if you looked hard enough and researched things, maybe paid more sometimes, you could get around it. I still think that is necessary, but not sufficient. It won't save you; you also need a bit of luck. My biggest bugaboo in this area is with clothes. At some point I started being more careful, but found the published specs won't help because they don't actually tell you everything you need to know, or…

I've run into this issue with jeans. They develop holes around the crotch six months after buying a new pair. A decade ago I'd buy jeans and they'd last years. Unfortunately my waist line has since increased and none of those survivors now fit me. I started with Levi 511s and -- when they started failing -- moved to Nudie Jeans (2x price) as they offer free repairs. When I tried to get them repaired though I was told…

I switched from jeans to cargo pants for this exact reason a few years ago.
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