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> Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. Indeed. So I skim the article and wind up agreeing with how som

> Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. Indeed. So I skim the article and wind up agreeing with how some things seem to be built to fall apart or under perform (modern HE washers, I'm looking at you). Then I get called to the shop floor to check a machine and the operator, an older gentleman gets to talking with and starts the same conversation! He is in his mid 60's his you'd think he'd go on lamenting the loss of the sturdy goods from his youth but nope! He too said there was plenty of cheap flimsy crap to be had. Though one thing I will say has changed: the ability to repair stuff. Computers stuffed with proprietary code have taken control of even the simplest appliances (washers, stoves, refrigerators). Things that were made from multiple pieces of stamped or cast metal are now made from a single piece of plastic that is less sturdy which melts or deforms under heat (some eventually become brittle and crumble). I can see how it makes things cheaper and easier to make but they don't sell the plastic bits separately requiring me to toss everything over a single broken piece. And even if something is made of metal, the stamping or casting is so thin that it might as well be made of plastic (e.g. the tin foil harbor freight stock carts.) But the retailers and consumers are adjusting to this model: goods are so cheap they are disposable. Don't bother returning it, just toss it. This has lead to people buying new items and tossing them right into the trash because amazon will ship another. Or maybe return the broken item in its place. Or you buy a new item to take a part off and toss it because amazon told you to. Consumers get to keep buying cheap crap and companies keep the money rolling in. This low effort thinking is filling landfills with unused or barely used items at an alarming rate which is a great example of unchecked capitalism. Whats worse is I guarantee you most people could live happily without most of the shit they buy.

Yeroc 4y ago
Indeed repairability may have been the biggest change. Major appliances centralize virtually all functions including on one or two main circuit boards including the high-voltage relays which in my experience are very prone to failure (they used to be mounted separately in a different location on older appliances). Those circuit boards typically cost ~1/3 the cost of a new appliance assuming you source and swap it yourself. In conjunction with the decline of repairability in the appliances I think there's a corresponding decline in repair skills among the general population as well.

Yeroc 4y ago

Indeed repairability may have been the biggest change. Major appliances centralize virtually all functions including on one or two main circuit boards including the high-voltage relays which in my experience are very prone to failure (they used to be mounted separately in a different location on older appliances). Those circuit boards typically cost ~1/3 the cost of a new appliance assuming you source and swap it yourself. In conjunction with the decline of repairability in the appliances I think there's a corresponding decline in repair skills among the general population as well.