wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 23, 11:13 pm, Eeyore
wrote:
wrote:
I don't really know where to start.

I think I shall start with this - Since big business bought our
government, it seems like it is open season on the American consumer.
I mean that 100% and invite anyone to refute it.

These people are not stupid either. Take the example of the Protron 30
or 32" LCD. You can't get a power supply for it. The name Protron
appears nowhere on the power supply. It's made by yHI and has a
completely an independent model number.

So why do you buy cheap 'off-brand' **** and then whine ?

Graham

Not so sure "cheap off-brand ****" applies in this case as the
amalgamation of the industry in general has the same supplier making
assemblies for all the brands whether 'off' or otherwise.

Custom parts are made-to-order, and paid upon acceptance (which is
distinct from 'delivery' - a very important issue). Which means that
the supplier will be loath to make any extras, nor even as many as may
have been ordered initially as there is no guarantee that they will be
paid until that unit actually goes into a production item - that is
"accepted". Extras are either sent back to the supplier (at the
supplier's cost) or dumped, as no-one wants to either pay for or store
them... which requires tracking, storing and handling.

Put simply: Most "small electronics" (about anything made for the
consumer at any level from flash memory cards through computers
through plasma TVs) are commodities these days. That is, purchased
based on price and feature only. A pork-belly is a pork-belly is a
pork-belly. And if one looks at the Big Box retailers and the warranty
statements that come with the sale, it will say "IN CASE OF DEFECT, DO
NOT RETURN TO THE POINT OF SALE".... and then give elaborate
instruction for returning the item to the Manufacturer (or
distributor). And there, it will be replaced with no attempt at repair
other than the most basic stuff... often not even then.

At this level, there is no need for support, schematics, spares or any
other infrastucture of that nature. If that Plasma TV that one
purchase at say.... US$2500 cost US$600 to make and transport, I would
be shocked. So, consider the cost of a warehouse, techs and support
staff to do warranty work. Assume one (1) tech cost US$50,000 to keep
employed, the space for him/her costs $10,000/year to lease, $10,000
year to maintain (heat, light, phone, taxes, insurance), and then
maybe a receptionist, accounts receivable & payable, shipping &
receiving, equipment.... so even a single modest warranty service
station (that actually does service) will cost something on the order
of $350,000 - $500,000 per year to maintain. That comes to 1000
defective very high-end television sets in cost + shipping and
receiving them. And that is before it has repaired its first warranty
call.

So, why not put it all on the distributor where the shipping &
handling infrastructure already exists, chalk it up to the cost of
business and move on. Oh, and perhaps spend a little on the front-end
in QC to reduce the call-backs anyway.

And then, if a Tech is worth $25 (~$50,000/year) an hour (not what the
time is charged at, but what the tech gets paid), repairing that $39
DVD player becomes a futile gesture, so those items will get trashed
fixable or not.

It is the way of the world. Now that robots can crank out this crap
faster than the rest of the world can buy it, the race for the bottom
is in full swing. Consumer Goods repair shops are dinosaurs, servicing
those few functioning dinosaurs that have sentimental value to their
owners, not much else.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

Whilst all of what you say is true, it does not address the out-of-warranty
situation, nor the utter waste of scrapping this stuff into landfill or
recycling it, with all of the energy budget implications of those actions,
plus building and shipping replacement units for the consumers to buy. The
point to this whole discussion is that it is no good governments bleating
about landfill and recycling, if all they are going to do is attack the
symptoms, not the cause. The DVD player should actually not be $39 in the
first place. It should be $69, which would still a perfectly acceptable
price, but would do away with all of this cut-throat competition between
manufacturers, that leads to the nonsense situation of a perfectly otherwise
functional piece of equipment, being written off for the sake of a 5c
component that isn't available. From my experience of consumer service, I
think that most people would be quite happy to spend out $30 getting
something repaired that they paid $70 for originally, rather than having to
go out and spend another $70 just to get back to what they had when it was
working.

If the situation is to improve, this entire scenario of pricing and spares
provision needs to be seriously looked at by governments and manufacturers
together, and if necessary, legislated for. After all, the governments don't
seem to have any problem placing bans on stuff like leaded solder, despite
the dubious science that caused them to arrive at solder being a 'hazardous'
material, so why should legislating to prevent premature scrapping of
otherwise servicable equipment, be a problem for them ?

Arfa