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It's my understanding that most major appliances (washer, fridge, etc) are less repairable than they were 50 years ago. I think it's because of several contribu
by minikites 13y ago
It's my understanding that most major appliances (washer, fridge, etc) are less repairable than they were 50 years ago. I think it's because of several contributing factors:
* Cheaper manufacturing with simultaneous increase in quality control and reliability.
* More complicated objects lead to more costly repairs, mechanics have to be more skilled, so wages go up.
Because it's simultaneously cheaper to something and more expensive to fix something, it makes much more sense to replace than to repair. These effects feed off of each other, too. To make something more reliable and cheaper, manufacturers seal off more and more parts, making it more and more expensive to repair, and so on.
- sirkneeland 13y agoThe price of labor has gone up also, and that likely plays a role. To wit: I lived in India for 2 years and my apartment had a window air conditioner that I'm pretty sure has been on this earth for longer than I have. During those 2 years, my air conditioner broke several times (including one time where it caught on fire). I would have thought at some point the landlord would have replaced it, but he kept sending people out to come to my apartment and repair it. In India, half a dozen house calls to repair something (most definitely not under warranty) were less than the cost of purchasing a new unit. If that happened in America, a single repair visit (parts, labor etc) would have been within striking distance of "oh I'll just go buy a new one" <generalization>India offered a glimpse into a parallel world where capital is expensive and labor is abundant.</ generalization>
- aidenn0 13y agoWhen my fridge broke and the repair person came, it was basically: Either the circuit board or the compressor needs replacement
- bluedino 13y agoYea, and it's a $400 circuit board instead of a $5 switch.