Posted on 01/08/2023 8:05:40 PM PST by anthropocene_x
The Great Depression changed the very nature of consumerism. The economy desperately needed stimulation — and consumer goods were one way to do it. It was around this period that advertising heavyweight Earnest Elmo Calkins laid out a selling strategy that came to define purchasing habits for the next century: “consumer engineering,” or how advertisers and designers could artificially create demand, often by making older objects seem undesirable.
Fast-forward a handful of decades, and now several generations of people are conditioned to buy the new thing and to keep replacing it. Companies, in turn, amp up production accordingly. It’s less so that objects are intended to break (functional planned obsolescence) but rather that consumer mindsets are oriented around finding the better object. But “better” doesn’t always mean long-lasting when companies are incentivized to produce faster and faster and faster.
For years, Apple opposed right-to-repair laws, claiming they would expose company secrets. Because their screws are proprietary, you need special equipment to open up a device. This meant swinging by the dreaded Genius Bar or an authorized third-party shop to fix a broken screen until 2021, when Apple announced it would finally sell the parts required to open (and therefore fix) a device following years of activism from folks like Gordon-Byrne and pressure from regulators. Apple’s products still remain some of the toughest to repair on your own, according to iFixit, but the company is not alone in opposing right-to-repair; Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Tesla, John Deere, and General Electric have all spent billions lobbying against right-to-repair laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
“Repair”? Who in the USA even knows the meaning of that word any more? Most people can’t even “repair” a burned out light bulb or “repair” (i.e., change) a flat tire on their car.
It wasn’t so long ago that people really knew how to keep their things running.
These days less young people have cars due to high cost relative to limited income plus, “there’s always Uber.”
The Malaysian-made clothes at Brooks Brothers are no better than what I bought in Macys 10 years ago and at a much higher price.
My oldest lives and works with me. He doesn’t want to own a car. He doesn’t want the responsibility or expense. He has me or lightrail or Uber or his feet or a skateboard.
Seriously I don’t blame your son - if you compare one’s lease payment plus insurance versus ride sharing, you can still come out ahead with the latter.
Go to Kohl’s and see how thin the men’s shirts are.
You should not see thru a garment.
I buy clothes online at Landsend and LL Bean as their clothes for the most part are thicker and more durable.
Inkjet printers.... they always clog up. BTW use glass cleaner to unclog. It is the ammonia that does it. Use lots of paper towels and cotton swabs. Plus the ink is used to do a self clean which costs you money! They could easily use a tank with ammonia but they would not make as much money.
2016 Honda Accord Sport. The hinge on the armrest popped out on one side and the lid will not close smoothly. I have to pull it to one side as I close. The fix is to use a plastic pry tool from the backseat side and then some screws to get to the hinge to pop back in or replace if broken. It won’t fix it as it is a poor design to begin with.
I had a 1992 Honda Accord LX that the lid was so thin that the plastic crack in many pieces as you leaned on it. I could easily replace it but at $130!!
The transmission would lock into low gear and the fix was to pull the fuse that trickled electricity to the radio when the car was off that also powered the computer for the transmission. I had to do that fix twice in the time I owned it.
Never understood many of those hypno-training aphorisms!
"The less the stitches, the more the riches!"
Where could one even procure a needle and thread in the "Brave New World?" Or the skills necessary to use them?
We "Alphas" have always had issues with these logical gaps in the storyline. (Not like those "Betas" - they'll believe anything. And those "Gammas" and "Deltas" are simply beneath noticing!)
Regards,
Did its ice-maker still work to the end? Was it WIFI-compatible?
Well, at least it didn't contain any of those nasty CFCs that destroy the Ozone Layer, right?
Probably operated on ammonia!
Regards,
An ice maker is a “necessity” now. The one in our old fridge (in the house when we bought it in 1993) still works - now in the garage. I can do without WIFI though.
Our new fridge, a year old, had a plastic latch piece break. It has the two side by side doors so now the one door pops open when you close the other side. I’m having a hard time locating the piece. Might just have to use my super-glue and fabric softener paper reinforcement to fix it on a $1500 fridge.
The wife likes how the fridge looks, so I guess that is the main thing.
The racks in the doors are nice. It has two drawers for the freezer. It seems the frozen food still gets just as buried as it did with the old fridge with the one freezer compartment on top.
Most appliances need to meet the energy efficient standards. So low-powered motors used to run stuff and they burn out more quickly.
It was actually Sloane and GM, well before the Depression, who came up with “dynamic obsolescence”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence#History
Notice how the quoted “expert” blames climate change and the pandemic for this:
“In the last 10 years, in the wake of the climate crisis and the pandemic and steady and then skyrocketing inflation, the cost of fabric, other materials, and labor has increased.”
Simple planned obsolescence.
Why?
Made in China (by slave labor)
But it is cheap?
Bump
I believe there was a class action lawsuit against John Deere over this but not sure what became of it.
AND. Off of my prior statement, We are Dying from Complexity.
Unnecessary Complexity. Intended to frustrate and force you into being a repeat customer for no real reason.
Great timing. Headline I just saw said farmers won the right to repair.
Built in obsolescence.
The idea that we need to keep up with the Joneses, and companies have so they can ensure a steady income stream of people buying, or needing to buy, new merchandise continually.
It’s part of a disposable economy mentality, the environment be damned.
Good technology will sell itself.
It does not have to be mandated.
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