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> No-one is going to buy a car or tractor that can't be repaired at all. I respectfully disagree, most buyers don't consider repairability. Things just need to

by foobar1962 6y ago

> No-one is going to buy a car or tractor that can't be repaired at all. I respectfully disagree, most buyers don't consider repairability. Things just need to last a reasonable time given their initial cost and expectation for level of duty. If a car could be made that was economically reliable for a 7 year warranty period plus another 3 years (10 years in total) without maintenance, yet be totally unrepairable at the end of its life, would consumers care? Not if it was cheap and had the right amount of cup holders. I just had a Bosch electric hedger fail on me. I opened it up and discovered the bearings had been sitting in slots moulded into the plastic shell; one bearing had seized and spun causing the plastic to wear/break/melt making the unit unrepairable. I was surprised, since it was a Bosch, and expected better. I then realised I bought it over 15 years ago, and it had worked flawlessly without maintenance of any kind. Therefore the engineering was superb and totally fit for purpose. UPDATE: I will add that farm tractors are different. These are capital equipment and have an economic life that could span decades.

bluGill 6y ago
End of life is important to cars. Many cars are leased, calculation of the resale value at the end of the lease is important to the price you pay. Then the next buyer expects to have some value in the now 7-10 year old car to apply to the next one. That is only possible because it is repairable for the most part. Of course computers are cheaper, nobody really expects a computer to last more than 5 years, so repair isn't nearly as important.
- oblib 6y ago
  I'm still using a late `09 Mac Mini I bought new, so over 10 years old now and I still have no imperative reason to replace it. I've replace the HD and maxed out the RAM about six years ago and it's still all I need to get my work done. And a newer "faster" PC won't improve my productivity. I write code and use BBEdit to do that. Back in the 80s and 90s the tech was changing so fast I had to purchase a new Mac every couple years to run the software I needed, but I've not done that for over 10 years now and I don't see any good reason at all why a new PC can't or shouldn't last ten years for the average user. Aside from gaming and video editing, neither of which I do much of, there's really no compelling reason for me to want a new Mac.
Terr_ 6y ago
> I respectfully disagree, most buyers don't consider repairability. That is... incomplete. A buyer's lack of conscious consideration of something is not the same thing as placing no value on it. They simply assume it is present and not substantially different than the norm.
jmnicolas 6y ago
> Therefore the engineering was superb and totally fit for purpose. I disagree. Now your tool is polluting somewhere in a landfill. With superb engineering this tool would have been repaired and be of use. My late grandmother bought a fridge in the sixties. She kept it all her life (she passed away 5 years ago), the thing never failed and was as much cold as a new one. Afaik it was bought by someone that thought it looked cool and is probably still working right now.
- iso1631 6y ago
  And was probably so inefficient it caused far more damage than replacing it with the latest model every 10 years

bluGill 6y ago

End of life is important to cars. Many cars are leased, calculation of the resale value at the end of the lease is important to the price you pay. Then the next buyer expects to have some value in the now 7-10 year old car to apply to the next one. That is only possible because it is repairable for the most part. Of course computers are cheaper, nobody really expects a computer to last more than 5 years, so repair isn't nearly as important.

oblib 6y ago
I'm still using a late `09 Mac Mini I bought new, so over 10 years old now and I still have no imperative reason to replace it. I've replace the HD and maxed out the RAM about six years ago and it's still all I need to get my work done. And a newer "faster" PC won't improve my productivity. I write code and use BBEdit to do that. Back in the 80s and 90s the tech was changing so fast I had to purchase a new Mac every couple years to run the software I needed, but I've not done that for over 10 years now and I don't see any good reason at all why a new PC can't or shouldn't last ten years for the average user. Aside from gaming and video editing, neither of which I do much of, there's really no compelling reason for me to want a new Mac.

Terr_ 6y ago

> I respectfully disagree, most buyers don't consider repairability. That is... incomplete. A buyer's lack of conscious consideration of something is not the same thing as placing no value on it. They simply assume it is present and not substantially different than the norm.

jmnicolas 6y ago

> Therefore the engineering was superb and totally fit for purpose. I disagree. Now your tool is polluting somewhere in a landfill. With superb engineering this tool would have been repaired and be of use. My late grandmother bought a fridge in the sixties. She kept it all her life (she passed away 5 years ago), the thing never failed and was as much cold as a new one. Afaik it was bought by someone that thought it looked cool and is probably still working right now.

iso1631 6y ago
And was probably so inefficient it caused far more damage than replacing it with the latest model every 10 years