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Rod Speed Rod Speed is offline
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Default Planned Obselescence....A Good Thing?

clare at snyder.on.ca wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Ecnerwal wrote
Rick Brandt wrote


This raises an apparent contradiction.


Perhaps you've not been adequately involved with your appliances
to see that there is not a contradiction, even "apparently".


Or perhaps you havent.


The old ones were, for the most part, designed to be repairable.


Yes. And so are the current ones too with the exception of plug packs etc.


"This part always breaks eventually, we'll
isolate it and make it easy to replace".


That is just plain silly with domestic appliances. There is bugger
all except light bulbs that cant be designed to last indefinitely.


And even that has changed just recently too.


The new ones are, for the most part, designed NOT to be repairable,


Oh bull****.


and/or parts prices/availability are manipulated
to render them effectively non-economic to repair.


More bull****. I've done just that fine with a modern electric chainsaw.


"This part will (by design) break about 1 year after the warranty runs out -


Not even possible.


It is NOT a conspiracy - it is the result of accountants over-ruling
engineers. The demand is to lower costs, at any cost.


Separate matter entirely to the mindlessly silly claim that
its even possible to design an appliance to break about a
year after the warranty runs out, with most appliances.

And even the stuff which can be designed to do that like
the stuff with microprocessor control that can certainly
be programmed to do that, no one is actually THAT stupid.

Or even stupid enough to try it with a random component added either.

The engineers then have to decide where to cut costs.
Sometimes they win, sometimes you loose.


And with much of the chinese manufactured product now, they dont even bother.

Cost to assemble dictates design more than sevicability.


Yes, but that can produce much better reliability too,
most obviously with modern molded appliance cords.

If they can save a dollar in total per machine by making assembly
easier (or by cutting out a procedure, like de-burring drilled or
stamped holes) without increasing their warranty exposure, they do it.


Yes, but that has nothing to do with what is being discussed,
the mindlessly silly claim about PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE.

This could all change OVERNIGHT if all the cheap B@$7@rds in North
America wouldn't insist on buying the cheapest whatever possible.


Nope, because so few of them have a clue about even
the most basic stuff that determines what will last longer.

If there was a market for quality products at a price that companys could
afford to build them and sell them for, quality goods would still be available.


There still is with tradesman's tools.

That market just does not exist any more.


Yes it does.

If it did, Wallmarts would be closing all over North America,


Nope, they'd just sell those products if thats what the customers wanted.

instead of continuing to displace the established
specialty shops that used to sell the "good stuff".


They have got displaced for other reasons,
essentially the cost of making the individual sales.

For the same reason the old style grocery stores where you
asked for the items you wanted and an individual got them
off the shelves behind him for you except with fresh food now.