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My parents had a microwave growing up that was older than I am. I'm in my 40s. It was an absolute tank. It still works today. I used to say "they don't make 'e

My parents had a microwave growing up that was older than I am. I'm in my 40s. It was an absolute tank. It still works today. I used to say "they don't make 'em like that anymore", which is true, but then I thought about all the other furniture they bought in the 70s that did not survive this long. When I looked around their house, I saw that very little furniture or appliances were original. Most of it had broken and been replaced. I realized I was looking at that microwave and drawing the conclusion that it was the rule when it was actually the exception.

rootusrootus 4y ago
What usually gets forgotten in the "they don't make 'em like that anymore" is the price. We had a microwave in the 80s that was built like a tank, and it cost about 4x what a microwave costs today. In absolute dollars that is. About 10x the price adjusted for inflation. It's the same as the old washers & dryers from the 50s. It was pretty normal to spend $500 for a set. No wonder they were built like tanks. For that kind of money they needed to last decades. I still remember our first VCR. It was a beast. $700, about 1980. Insane.