Generation Junk
walterkirn.substack.com
Generation Junk
1–10 of 471 posts
Re: Generation Junk
#2This feels like something that could be ameliorated by trustworthy curation, but The Wirecutter hasn't given good signal for years now, if it ever did, and I haven't seen anything else yet.
Maybe I should try paying for Consumer Reports
Re: Generation Junk
#3I find this pretty useful: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/
Re: Generation Junk
#4I feel arguments like this always ignore the fact that buying a toaster in 1950 was a major investment for a family, and if you want to spend $2000 on a high-end toaster in 2023, which is probably equivalent in inflation-adjusted price to the 1950s toaster, it will probably also be very nice.
Re: Generation Junk
#5I feel arguments like this always ignore the fact that buying a toaster in 1950 was a major investment for a family, and if you want to spend $2000 on a high-end toaster in 2023, which is probably equivalent in inflation-adjusted price to the 1950s toaster, it will probably also be very nice.
You can buy a top of the line 1970s toaster for $250 or so. A steal compared to what it cost then!
Re: Generation Junk
#6I feel arguments like this always ignore the fact that buying a toaster in 1950 was a major investment for a family, and if you want to spend $2000 on a high-end toaster in 2023, which is probably equivalent in inflation-adjusted price to the 1950s toaster, it will probably also be very nice.
For me, I think the prime comparison is the KitchenAid stand mixer. You can get a new one that's functionally identical to the classic models that have lasted forever... and it'll run you at least $350 even during a major sale.
Re: Generation Junk
#7I try very, very hard to live by Morris's credo. It is not easy. Finding things which do their jobs well and hold up takes so much time and energy. And on top of that, I despise waste, so I'm usually not willing (even if I can afford it) to buy a dozen different models and throw away the losers. That's the best way to do it, if you can manage it.
But there are a few good things out there if you know where to look.
Tools, especially, have good options. But then I use a lot of those professionally and get to experiment using someone else's time and money.
Re: Generation Junk
#8This feels like something that could be ameliorated by trustworthy curation, but The Wirecutter hasn't given good signal for years now, if it ever did, and I haven't seen anything else yet. Maybe I should try paying for Consumer Reports
I fear Consumer Reports is having their lunch eaten by Wirecutter, and while they seem attached to a very dated organizational model & visual design aesthetic, CR is SO much more rigorous and honest an organization. I pay for a sub on principal.
Re: Generation Junk
#9> For the remains of the Pyrex casserole that shattered when I removed it from the oven,
Noteworthy example. Current Pyrex-branded kitchenware is no longer borosilicate glass.
I shattered a Pyrex casserole dish with what I guess was probably thermal shock, by moving it out of the oven, into a stainless steel sink.
Re: Generation Junk
#10I feel arguments like this always ignore the fact that buying a toaster in 1950 was a major investment for a family, and if you want to spend $2000 on a high-end toaster in 2023, which is probably equivalent in inflation-adjusted price to the 1950s toaster, it will probably also be very nice.
For me, I think the prime comparison is the KitchenAid stand mixer. You can get a new one that's functionally identical to the classic models that have lasted forever... and it'll run you at least $350 even during a major sale.
Our few year old kitchen aid has been a nightmare of broken plastic internal parts. I will weep when my mother passes, but I will be taking her mixer and ditching mine.