I just know every kickstarter involving consumer electronics takes 3-5x more time and money than they had anticipated. Coffee makers come to mind. So be ready for tons of costly iteration and surprises. Maybe do it for a hobby and if you have zero interest in turning a profit.
Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
111–120 of 464 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#112You could move to Argentina. If Milei survives you might be able to start a business there.
edit: or approach this as DIY kit where you are not selling the toaster but the components as separate items and a set of instructions. less regulations and better repairability.
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
>washing machines Among your examples I think this one is interesting. Speed Queen is regarded as among the best washing machines + dryers and they are made in the US. They are extremely well built, they feel really sturdy to use and also are known for being extremely reliable. I guess what I'm imagining is the Speed Queen of toasters..
Or the old-school KitchenAid mixers
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#114I think you are greatly over-estimating how many people would be willing to pay the cost of a North American made toaster. This would require an absolute ton of capital to do it on anything above a craft scale. The challenges of design, testing, certification (very important for a device that could burn your house down), manufacturing, supply chain, and support that are all specialized careers in themselves. I've got…
It would be very difficult to make it 100% US made. At best it would be assembled in the US of global parts. Things like the cable, heating elements, plugs, etc. may all be non starters to source here.
It seems to me the opportunity lies up-stream, then? How are those elements non-starters and what would need to change in order for a viable domestic supply for these types of items to support industry?
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
>washing machines Among your examples I think this one is interesting. Speed Queen is regarded as among the best washing machines + dryers and they are made in the US. They are extremely well built, they feel really sturdy to use and also are known for being extremely reliable. I guess what I'm imagining is the Speed Queen of toasters..
Just don't use any plastic parts, over-engineer the whole thing internally, no wifi, just a dial for temp and lever to engage. All these fancy toasters still can't toast bread.
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Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#116If you make one like the Sunbeam Automatic Beyond Belief toaster, and you can keep the price -edit- After thinking about this a little more, I could go higher than that price point. But higher than that and I'd want any non BIFL parts to be user serviceable/replaceable.
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#117I've had a similar idea, except in addition to toasters, it's midsize pickup trucks, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers... What I've found is that regulations make it impossible to sell simple machines, labor costs make it impossible to compete on price, lawyers make it impossible to go to market without being sued, and consumers who say they want reliable, well-made goods will balk and buy cheap stuff en masse wh…
I think you need to aim for a luxury-ish niche, or at least a occupy a space where people feel like they're buying a piece of luxury, that's aspirational, where people know they're paying over the odds and that's part of the feel good factor of buying it.
A toaster might well be a good space for that - cheap enough that it can be expensive in relative terms without being out of reach.
But figuring out the marketing of that feels almost as hard as the product.
I suspect a lot of exaggerated appeal to "why aren't things as good/simple/reliable as they used to be?" that might not be all about toasters, but where even an expensive toaster can be cheap enough to become a symbolic buy for people.
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#118Regardless of how good the product is it will be remade 10x cheaper and sold on Amazon and Alibaba by manufacturing in China. They don't play fair, they don't need the certs or product requirements you do. They are allowed to sell defective by design products and there are no consequences. Domestic producers are liable for everything. There is a reason domestic products failed. Any kind of rekindling is soon extinguished when you saturate customers willing to pay top dollar.
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#119To mix in with other's comments. It's always good to have a target in sight, but building a physical product with no experience will be a long, expensive journey. I make physical and digital products as a consultant, the first thing I tell entrepreneurs is get to your first prototype. Not even an MVP, just something functional with the core features. Some times these are partial prototypes that work out various sub-s…
no, a toaster is actually pretty simple lol. the issue is that production at scale for millions of customers, for practically anything at all, is not simple. all of the things you point to are true, but they are true of many other goods and products. also, you are assuming they need or care about profit.
Scaling for a million customers is the easy part.
Finding a million customers that want to pay a premium price for a product that your competitors make for 1/4 the price in another country is the hard part.
And if you plan for that scale and don't find the million customers, you now have a million dollar toaster.
Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?
#120> as a software engineer with 0 experience building physical things, should I try building this?
It is almost impossible to have a fully "US made" toaster. I expect any toaster will have quite a few "overseas made" components. At best, you might make "Assembled in US" toasters. You already received enough info on potential challenges in manufacturing toasters.
Instead, a good alternative solution might be to focus on making add-ons for toasters built by others. What are the concerns toaster users have? Identify those and see how you can solve some of those using software and hardware. For example, a few concerns might be around making a perfect toast or safety: how not to over-burn toasts, how to turn off toaster when smoke started to come out, etc. Solve a problem that toaster users might have.