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The role of repair is embossed into bluewater cruisers who spend a lot of time at sea. Things break all the time and the way to succeed regardless is by having
by Tepix 5y ago
The role of repair is embossed into bluewater cruisers who spend a lot of time at sea. Things break all the time and the way to succeed regardless is by having lots of spare parts, tools, knowledge, a supportive community and by practicing preventive maintenance.
The rise of the throwaway product is a rather recent phenomenon. Our grandparents repaired everything. It's the only sustainable approach.
- handrous 5y agoRepair culture happens when stuff's expensive and labor's cheap. Both are false and getting, uh, falser.
- betwixthewires 5y agoWell, sure, if it is an organic economic/social phenomenon and the natural result of development of a society and economy, fine. But if the rise of throwaway culture were entirely organic we wouldn't have attempts to ban repair and planned obsolescence.
- Tepix 5y agoIt also happens when stuff is not readily available.
- jedimastert 5y ago> Our grandparents repaired everything I think our grandparents had just as many disposable things as we do, just not nearly as expensive. I think the idea of disposable products basically began with the industrial revolution, when mass production became easy, if not necessarily "cheap" yet
- aspenmayer 5y agoIt started with disposable razor blades, right around the turn of the century iirc
- rootusrootus 5y ago> The rise of the throwaway product is a rather recent phenomenon. Our grandparents repaired everything. It's the only sustainable approach. How do you change that, though? Our grandparents repaired things because they were expensive. In the 50s, a washer & dryer cost $500. In today's money that would be over $5000. And income has gone up even more. Purely in economic terms it has become considerably less appealing to fix a broken appliance.
- MisterTea 5y agoOur grand parents also didn't have everything made of flimsy plastic and highly integrated electronics. Their washer likely consisted of a gearbox and motor with a switch or two. My previous washer was about 30 years old when the tub finally rusted out at the support. It would have been 25 years had I not pathched it twice with water resistant epoxy when it first sprang a leak. It had a simple mechanical timer knob that handled the sequencing and timing of cycles. Couple of other knobs set the water temp, spin/wash speed, and optional rinse. It was dumb as a brick and cleaned my clothes. Now my $1200 LG washer has WiFi (I NEVER connected it on purpose), beats the shit out of everything you put inside, and heavily soiled items come out stained and half clean. I emailed LG asking if they offered you access to their dumb cloud API and the answer is No unless your are a partner company. I hope this thing does not break down in the next 10 years but I doubt that.
- FireBeyond 5y ago> Now my $1200 LG washer has WiFi (I NEVER connected it on purpose) I think some appliances (TVs, perhaps?) have been caught connecting to any open AP they can find, even if you don't give it credentials to your network.
- rootusrootus 5y agoI feel your pain on that LG. I bought a Samsung washer & dryer, and within the first 18 months both broke. Fixed under warranty, and knock on wood still okay now. Consumer Reports rated them highly, but I won't ever buy another Samsung appliance (I have a Samsung fridge already, I should have known not to trust CR on the washer/dryer recommendation). Everything I've read says LG is basically just as bad as Samsung. When these need replacing, I'm buying a speed queen.