Sick of buying stuff that stops working

originally posted by: schuyler
"Planned" obsolesence is a myth.

Rubbish!

If all white goods are five years, why has every "white good" I have been running over 20 years?

Because as you admit, you purchased those goods before planned obsolescence was built in!

Its easily proven. The rubber (synthetic crap now) door seal on your washing machine will start to melt after five years, whether the machine is used or not! The drum bearing will wear out after a known number of revolutions, the water pump has a soft bush bearing that will wear out after a known number of revolutions. I could go on!

What do you expect when its made in China by slave labour? If I were one of those poor slobs working for slave wages in China, Spanner in the works!

Thanks everyone.

Firstly, a star for everyone (cos that's the kind of guy I am).

Couple of things that need clearing up.

Most of you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that I was talking about replacing my mobile phone; no.

The phone itself is fine. Basic, but fine.

It's the battery-chargers that keep dying on me shortly after purchase.

I don't normally check which country they were manufactured in because that means very little in my experience. The current one was made in the UK. Why would I not buy it because it was made in China? The UK market has always been flooded with cheap Chinese imports...when I was a kid, most of my toys were made in China, and they all seemed okay to me (that's going back about 50 years).

I don't deliberately buy cheap products. I don't go into a phone shop (or wherever) and say, "Give me the cheapest battery-charger you've got." I just buy what I'm offered. If it's too dear I might take a rain check, but that's all. Anyway, most sales assistants will try to shift their dearer stock first.

As you were.

a reply to: CJCrawley

Buy a 10 in 1 usb multi charger of ebay www.ebay.co.uk...:g:O30AAOS wYGFUuMSv

Costs about 0.60 cents in American money i have the same one for 3 years now and it goes everywhere with me and it is still going

originally posted by: anticitizen
seems like a bad business plan to create products that last forever. sad but true.
you will want to make the consumer buy your products again and again because the old ones don't work any more or not as good as a new one.

It's not sad; it's expedient. The consumer could not afford a product that "lasted forever." It costs too much to make them. You don't choose the absolutely best material available because it's too expensive and if you DID put it out there, the market would be so small you'd lose money.

Yet that doesn't mean there are not good products out there. I have a Kitchen-Aid brand coffee bean grinder, for example. It cost almost $250. I had been buying those cheap "centrifugal force" grinders for $19.95 every couple of years and they would break. Made out of cheap plastic and a basic motor, they just did not last. But this $250 job (called a Burr Grinder) is an heirloom quality product. It's designed so you can take it apart and clean it. The parts are replaceable. The grinders are thick heavy gauge steel. That sucker is so robust that it is not going to break in my lifetime. There isn't a piece of plastic on it.

It's the same with the cheapo Black & Decker mixers for $40. Pick one up. It might weigh a couple of pounds. Now pick up a Kitchen-Aid Pro mixer. You'll need two hands and you better bend at the knees because that guy is heavy. And it will last for generations.

The reason your stuff breaks is because you buy cheap stuff. You're too cheap to buy a quality product. But on the flip side it's a Godsend to people who can't afford more expensive stuff. They get to participate and get the job done. You can buy a leather-bound hardback or a mass market paperback. It's the same words, just smaller type. You can pass the hardback down to your kids, and the paperback is going to fall apart in a few months.

But you still get to read it. Making stuff cheaply is not all bad.

Good - Fast - Cheap: Pick any two. That's how it works.

a reply to: CJCrawley

I've been using the same cell phone for a little over 20 years now. Yes, you heard that right... 20 years.

It's one of the first original Motorola flip phones when they come out on the market. No internet, no texting. Just a portable wireless phone to have on me when I'm out and about.

And in those 20 years, I've had to replace the battery twice. Yes, you heard that right too... twice.

The original battery it came with lasted close to 15 years before I finally had to replace it because it wasn't holding a charge anymore.

For me, a cell phone serves only one purpose... making phone calls. But if you're wanting a portable computer like what they've got on the market nowadays (iphones, smartphones, etc), then you're going to have neverending problems with them.

Rule of thumb: The more fancy and convoluted the devices, the more fancy and convoluted the problems with said devices.

a reply to: CranialSponge

How can a phone from 1995 still work with the cell networks and towers of 2015?

I dont know about UK an US, but in Australia we are inundated with stuff made in China that doesn't work, I am sick of itc too. A freind of mine spent over 2 years working in China, he said that they can make good sutff but they will make whatever you want them too, to a price. All the guys importing are ordering the cheapesr made products possible.

I make a point of taking it back to the shop I bought it and getting it replaced. If enough people did that they would decide it wasn't worth buying crap and selling it on. Time was when a merchant or shopkeeper stood behond what he sold, only buying from reputable sources and basing his business on it, now it is accepted that you buy crap and just buy it again when it breaks. How stupid are we?

Planned obsolescence is indeed real.

I few years back I bought a new hand held mixer. It broke within weeks. Took it back to the store and they replaced it with the same model. Once again it broke within a few weeks. I obtained a hand held mixer that was made in the 1960's. The first thing I noticed was that it seemed to have more power. The newer one I purchased was supposed to be mid level quality, but compared to the one I got used, I might as well have purchased it from the dollar store. The used/old one is just sturdier all the way around and makes even "high quality" newer mixes seem like they have the strength and durability of a 90 year old dying of every disease known to mankind. I love it and still use it. Did I mention that it was made in the 1960's?

Yup, I am totally smitten with a hand held mixer from the 1960's. Why? because even though I am a Gen Xer, and have watched the decline in quality of consumer goods, I don't think I realized how bad quality has become. I got used to things breaking and needing repair with increasing frequency. Like a frog in pot of water that doesn't notice that it is beginning to boil.

originally posted by: CJCrawley


It's not the cost. I'm comfortable (3 bank accounts, thank you. Ahem).

They're cheap to buy...maybe that's part of the problem?

Poor quality goods are extremly expensive due to the churn rate. Example:

2004 I brought an electric razor for $260. I had it till 2014 when the cutters got blunt, 10 years = $26 per year, no further costs.

in 2014 I brought a new one for $100. within 6 months the cutters were stuffed and had to buy replacements for $25 x 2 per year = $50

$50 over 10 years = $500 and just for the cutter alone. What happens if I have 2-3 razors in that time which hihgly likly be $100 + each.

re some other posts - This very expensive rubbish is to some extent our own doing cos when it came on the market we all went out and brought it didn't we and lef all the good quaity stuff on the shelf. This short sighted view of things applies to many other things too does not it. Ceap airlines come to mind, and where is that leading to ??

a reply to: CJCrawley

As a consumer, I completely agree with you. But if I think with a business mentality, what they do makes sense. I'll explain with a personal experience. Back in '95, I bought a pair of Sony headphones that clipped to my ears. They were the best headphones I ever had. They lasted me 12 years. I only replaced them because they were getting really gross to wear. So I went to a best buy and bought a pair of skullcandy headphones. They lasted me 9 months before they needed replaced. I hated it, especially since my last pair lasted 12 years, but it made sense why they break so easy now.

If you were a business, would you want to make $20 off of someone every 10 years, or would you like to make $20 every year??

Like I said, as a consumer I hate it with a passion, it's wrong on so many levels. But the devils advocate in me understands why they plan for things to become obsolete fast. It's all about that almighty dollar, after all. :

I think the worst part of it is Environmental Taxes!

I don't know if it's like that elsewhere, but in Canada, there's an extra tax on electronic products when you buy them, supposedly to cover the charge of recycling...

Well I wouldn't have to buy all that CRAP if they didn't break down so fast! Why should the consumers pay for planned obsolescence when it's not their fault for making bad products that don't last? Companies should be the ones that pay a fee.

It's totally ridiculous.

Planned obsolescence could be reduced by gradually extending the mandatory warranty on each manufactured good. In the meantime, I strongly suggest the following :

a reply to: CJCrawley

As a mechanical designer getting into the manufacturing business, I can tell you that no manufactured product lasts forever, but things can certainly be made to last as long as possible given the materials and purpose. I have had that discussion/argument with my project manager/engineer many times. He wants to make things so they need to be replaced so we make more money. I don't want the headache of having to establish partnerships with repair shops all over the damn planet. I am opposed to that idea, and the product I designed I want to last for 20 years at least so I designed it accordingly. I hate having to buy something more than once also, so I feel ya.

The age old argument then becomes...

Is it better to buy the best quality you can so you don't have to keep purchasing a replacement over and over?

originally posted by: calstorm
Planned obsolescence is indeed real.

I few years back I bought a new hand held mixer. It broke within weeks. Took it back to the store and they replaced it with the same model. Once again it broke within a few weeks. I obtained a hand held mixer that was made in the 1960's. The first thing I noticed was that it seemed to have more power. The newer one I purchased was supposed to be mid level quality, but compared to the one I got used,

Do you seriously think they did NOT make "cheap" mixers in the 60's? Of course they did, and they broke. The only ones that survived until today were the good ones. You picked one up and now you attribute its superiority to the time it was made, not how well it was made. Essentially, you've indulged is sampling bias because the only mixers that survived the sixties are the good ones. "Cheap" goods did not suddenly appear in the 21st century. There have always been cheap goods and people who buy them. Do you remember the crap from Japan in the sixties? It was terrible stuff. But now japan is seen as providing quality products. Do you remember the first Suburu imports? 2 cycle 2 cylinder engines for a tin can death trap where they expected you to replace the engine at 30,000 miles. You want AC? Crank a window down.

If you had purchased a Kitchen-Aid Pro in 1960, you'd still have it today. That's the whole point of avoiding cheap stuff.

Good - Fast - Cheap: Pick any two. It's not a new concept.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

How can a phone from 1995 still work with the cell networks and towers of 2015?

It still works, I've never had a problem with it, never had an interruption of service.

My cell phone service is with our main provincial phone company MTS. They've been around since the early 1900's. It's the same company I've had my land line phone/fax service with since, well, forever.

a reply to: CranialSponge

I would have figured they'd have switched from an analog network to a digital one, making phones that old not work....they did that here, none of the older Motorola or Nokia's from then will even get a signal

Its sad, because the analog network seemed have better coverage. I could make/get calls in more remote places.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I guess they've got both going on because depending on where I am, I notice my phone go from analog to digital and back again. I live in a rural area which is mainly digital in town, but when I drive to the city (2 hours away) I hit areas along the highway where the signal is only analog and/or small pockets where there's no signal at all (ie: cottage/beach areas).

My phone handles both analog and digital, it isn't just strictly analog.

a reply to: Necrobile

Ah yes. Headphones.

I go through these buggers like a rabbit goes through carrots.

I listen to my telly through headphones because it's so quiet where I live but also poor soundproofing (don't want to be the only noisy neighbour). I always get the same Philips headphones with a 6m flex.

I can't tell you how many of these I've gone through - they last about 6 months, if I'm lucky. It's always the same thing...one of the cans will just go dead, so you can only hear out of the other one.

I wish I knew how to fix them. Like I say, it's not so much the expense, it's just the hassle.