Community Chat

[gardenman]

Modern TV and electronics tend to be very well built compared to those same items in the not too distant past. TV repairmen used to almost be part of the family back in the old vacuum tube days. Solid-state electronics largely put all TV repairmen out of work.

Where you run into issues is when people price shop. I could design and build you a washing machine that would last forever made entirely out of high-quality stainless steel, using very high-end ball bearings, and the best materials possible. It would probably cost four or five thousand dollars (maybe more) but it would last forever. Someone could buy a comparable washer made out of lower-grade materials for five hundred dollars that might last five years before the first component would fail and maybe twenty years before it was in such bad shape it needed to be totally replaced. Which do you buy? The vast majority of people buy the cheaper machine.

Companies make compromises to keep costs low. You really see it in pre-built computers. I assemble my own computers and everything that goes into my computer is a four or five-star product, typically with several hundred ratings. My computers last forever. I see pre-built computers with a poorly rated power supply that's got too low of a wattage for the hardware in the computer. (Some modern CPU's can use as much as 500 watts by themselves.) You'll often see computers with a 350-watt power supply with a graphics card that needs 400 watts to run efficiently. You'll see manufacturers using components with very poor ratings, but that are cheaper. I've seen pre-built computers being sold with a motherboard that gets one and two-star ratings from hundreds or thousands of reviewers. To no one's surprise, those computers don't work well.

A lot of the problem is consumers and false ideas also. There's a perception that some people have of certain things being higher quality when they might not be. Metal gears being one example. Metal gears have no give. A high-quality nylon gear generally does. If a piece of debris gets in the teeth of a metal gear and it's a tough piece of debris, it can lock the gears up, overheat whatever motor is attached and destroy the device. A nylon gear in that same scenario might just have enough 'give' to it to roll over the debris, let it fall out and go on without damaging anything. People think metal gears are better though than "plastic" gears. Uh, that's not necessarily the case. If you're a manufacturer, do you try to educate the consumers that the nylon gears you're using are better, or do you use the metal gears the consumer already thinks are better?

People think hardwood furniture frames are better than those made of plywood. That's not necessarily the case. Plywood is more stable, consistent, and by and large stronger. Designed and built properly most plywood frames would outlast most hardwood furniture frames and cost less to create. But people want hardwood frames because they believe they're better. 

Informed, knowledgeable consumers tend to make better choices, but there's a ton of misinformation out there also. Sorting through everything is challenging, at best, so most people just buy what they want and hope for the best.

[hckynut]

@Mindy D 

Don't know where you found these statistics. Based on my own experiences I do not find that to be anywhere on my list of concerns when it comes to being a citizen of our United States. Problems? Yes. Durability of items purchased? Not me, and I have a pretty long list.

hckynut

[suzyQ3]

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@pigletsmom wrote:

Oh and when it comes to wages slowing down you can also parlty blame that on more people in the work force. Once almost all women decided to work you didn't have to pay as much to find help. Wages go up when you're trying to recruit workers. I'll leave it at that.

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@pigletsmom, if, and I mean if, there is any connection between women joining the workforce and lower wages, we are way past that now. That shift happened some time ago. The economy has already adjusted to that.

BTW, wages have been rising, for many reasons. Of course, that doesn't necessarily affect everyone.

[Sooner]

We did it to ourselves.  We wanted a lot of cheap junk from China rather than quality products from USA manufacturers that cost us more to buy but were good and lasted a long time.

So it's on the US consumer.  And yes, it cost us a lot of the middle class when Whirlpool, steel manufacturing and other industries moved or folded.

But hey, stuff is CHEAPER!!!!!! 

[croemer]

We can still prosper but not near as much as we should be able to.

Then again keeps people on the job reproducing what has broken or gone bad?

[croemer]

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@Sooner wrote:

We did it to ourselves.  We wanted a lot of cheap junk from China rather than quality products from USA manufacturers that cost us more to buy but were good and lasted a long time.

So it's on the US consumer.  And yes, it cost us a lot of the middle class when Whirlpool, steel manufacturing and other industries moved or folded.

But hey, stuff is CHEAPER!!!!!! 

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I agree!

[Spurt]

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@sidsmom wrote:

Use it up

wear it out

make it do

or do without.

I believe a lot of people have no idea what this means.

And yes, it doesn't get past me I'm expressing this thought

on a shopping channel forum. 

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@sidsmom 

Use it up

wear it out

make it do

or do without.

I remember this from my High School History class.  The teacher bought this up when discussing the different eras and decades and each one's main philosophy....

[Spurt]

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@Mindy D wrote:

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@Anonymous032819 wrote:

It's great if one can afford to buy top of the line, top quality product but also keep in mind, that not everyone can.

Prices keep going up, but wages for the most part, have stayed stagnant.

One buys what they can afford.

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There’s rarely a top quality product anymore. Price doesn’t indicate quality anymore either. Very expensive things just fall apart or are made obsolete very quickly. 

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@Mindy D 

True, people don't educate themselves and read reviews and consumer information to see how a product has performed, instead they trust that a long time brand will deliver and so they pay more for what they think is a top quality product but sadly they find out it isnt and the quality isn't there...

[Laura14]

@Mindy D  My car so resembles this remark.  It's my first car where a computer chip runs everything.  It is in the repair shop so often for nonsense and computer warning lights, that when my second tail light went out last month, my auto shop waved me off and said this one was on them.

I had two other pre-computer chip cars in my lifetime that cost me nothing but tires and oil changes until I traded them in 12-15 years after I bought them brand new. 

The current one is 6 years old and so far I've replaced both electric window mechanisms and the computer chip.  I will never roll down my car window again as long as it is electronic.  It costs too much money to repair.

The kicker was when I got failed for the first time ever this year for emissions because the computer was "not ready."  They explained I hadn't driven my car in the manner in which my computer chip thinks it should be driven.  

I literally had to go drive my car on the highway for a hundred miles and emit pollutants before the computer "got ready" and passed me for not polluting.  Wrap your head around that one. 

I want my old world and common sense back.  I swear the lack of durability these days is nothing more than a way to increase sales revenue for companies. They are not complaining that we have to rebuy and replace because the technology outdates or isn't compatible anymore.  It's nuts!     

When something costs as much as your annual salary, it should have some longevity to it. 

[ROMARY]

Holmes used to manufacture the very best fan heaters......I still have three that are still working after many years.  Had five, but the other two had been dropped/knocked off tables too many times.  Otherwise, they would still be working.

Just the other day, I wished that QVC would copy Holmes portable fan heaters in an EXACT manner, and offer them.

Find a USA manufacturer or go to Holmes and 'make a deal' with them.  They still do offer fans, I believe.  Not heat, but cooling fans of all types.