Yesterday I was going on complaining about mower blades not being sharpened properly when you purchase them. To me I just could not imagine a company as big and as well respected as the John Deere Company selling parts of inferior quality while charging a premium price for them. Let me just say that my imagination has expanded a bit since this time yesterday.
I figured that there was some government regulation that prohibited them and other lawn mower blade makers from selling a blade that was sharp, so as to protect someone from getting cut or losing some fingers or toes. Well some research by @hebrewhousewife and me could turn up no such regulation; it turns out that my gut just might have had a case of gas that I had mistaken for a gut instinct.
One blog poster that I came across said that he believes the manufacturers just don’t care about producing quality any longer since we have become a “throw away” society, we don’t expect quality or demand it any longer. I have to agree with him, there are plenty of landfills all across the world that are full of things that just no longer last like products from 50 or 75 years ago.
Appliances are one thing that I would point at right away, up until the point that we started putting computer printed circuit boards into appliances it wasn’t uncommon for those appliances to last 40 or 50 years with just some regular cleaning and proper maintenance. Now you can buy a refrigerator and if you get 7 or 8 years out of it you are doing pretty well. One thing about appliances is that they seldom make it to the landfill, most the dead ones end up being recycled for the metal.
Toaster ovens would last for 30 or 40 years but you seldom see people using toaster ovens, the microwave oven pretty much has replaced those. If you get three years out of a microwave oven the only reason is you aren’t using it very much. Our microwave gets a real workout and between it and the coffee maker those have become annual Christmas gifts, seldom will either last more than a year in this house.
Manufacturers saw that people had become more cost conscious than quality conscious and ran with it. They cheapened up the products by using lesser grade materials and automation in order to deliver items at a price point that consumers are willing to pay. So, as consumers we pretty much dictated how we ended up in this boat, we stopped demanding quality in favor of the low price. Most never stopped to consider that we might have to buy the same item five or six times more often than if we had demanded quality and stuck to our guns.
Maytag used to be a high quality appliance manufacturer here in the USA, if memory serves me correctly they were in Newton, Iowa or somewhere real close to Newton. My brother went to college in Iowa and a roommate of his family ran a big distribution center in Newton for Maytag. That is neither here nor there though, Maytag use to run commercials on how lonely their Maytag repair men were since they never got any calls to repair Maytag appliances, the quality was that good, or at least they made you believe it was.
The quality really was that good; my brother suggested that we get Mom a new washer and dryer for Christmas one year after he was out of college through his former roommate. The year was 1977 so the four of us kids split the cost and his buddy shipped us the washer and dryer. Other than having to replace the drive belts a couple times nothing ever went seriously wrong with either machine, Mom used both of those up until she passed away in 2010. She got 33 years out of those machines and that kind of longevity is unheard of for appliances being built today. Those machines were sold at her estate sale and it wouldn’t surprise me if someone isn’t still washing and drying clothes with them.
So how do we change things? Can we change things when it comes to this? I don’t think it can be changed, we are two generations in now on being “throw away folks” and I don’t see that we will be able to break this cycle, hell, people aren’t even waiting until things break. It seems like every Apple I-Phone user will dump their current phone for the latest and greatest I-Phone from Apple, at close to $1,000 now for the latest.
I think the next set of blades I buy for the mower will be the cheap aftermarket blades that say they will fit since they just might not be any different than the ones I buy from John Deere. They might even surprise me and be a little sharper then what I have been used to getting so that would mean less work on my part to get them to the sharpness I’m looking for.
I won’t even go down the path today about automobiles; there is an industry that has very little quality left in what they are making. All one needs to do to know that is to google “automaker recalls”, US automakers recalled over 53 million cars in 2016 alone, enough said on that.
So, the bottom line is… my gut was wrong yesterday… but I know my mind is right on the money with today’s Daily Dose.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
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It is a throw-away society. That is how the manufacturers make money. I have two examples for you. About 10 years ago my washer died. It was 25 years old and lived through 4 sons. So the only type I could buy was one that was computer controlled. Did everything but make breakfast. Oh, yes. You also need to buy the extended warranty. It lasted less than a year. When I called about the warranty, computer chips weren't covered. Only mechanical parts. So we bought a second one and the third one over the next few years. Then I got smarter and went to look for the old dial type. It took some searching but I finally came up with one. I am now happily washing into my fourth year with no major repairs only maintenance. Same goes for cars. My old diesel gave up the ghost after 30 years or rather I should say the body did. My friend bought a new little Suzuki and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. No, me and computerized cars don't see eye to eye. I wanted something I could get fixed with little problems since getting parts in Central America can be a problem, I decided on an older car, almost 20 years older. Now my friend has had their car for fours years and the last 6 months has been sitting broken down in their drive. My car is still jugging along with no major repairs (touch wood) and I have the added bonus that no one wants to steal the old cars!
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I am SO with you on that one! My car is 13 years old, and when it finally breathes its last, I will probably buy an even older one. No computerised cars for me! On a group hillwalk a few weeks ago, a friend had to miss the walk, as he'd got a flat tyre on the way out. He had to call the garage, because he has a flashy new BMW, and instead of having a spare tyre that can be easily replaced, you have to have a specialist electronic kit to change the tyre.
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Before I got married, I was very much a “scrimp & save even if it means buying something of lower quality” kind of buyer. Then, my husband got it through my head to buy things that are quality, so we aren’t spending more money just having to replace it.
When it come to appliances, I will buy the most basic model available. Sure, those new fridges look slick, but the fancier they are, the faster something goes wrong with them. Whenever our current fridge takes a dump, we will get the same basic model to replace it.
We currently are using my husband’s grandmother’s washer and dryer. It has the simple turn dials. I went over to his mom’s to wash laundry once; literally had no idea how to run that thing! Mind you I’m in my 20’s. Can you explain why a washer needs more than 3-4 different options?? A washer does 3 things: put in water, spin, drains water.
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I'll explain the the reason about the different options, so they can charge you more money. That is really it in a nut shell, you don't need a "soak cycle", or a "delicate cycle" but by programming in a time delay, at no extra expense to the maker, they can charge you a few hundred bucks extra. Same goes for the delicate cycle they just reduce the travel of the tub in each direction so it is shorter strokes for lack of a better term, all done through programming in the circuitry, no real extra expense to the maker except maybe a couple computer chips.
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They don't build things to last anymore, sadly. One of the many symptoms of what is wrong in the world these days. It's a sad reality.
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Very true, very true Papa.
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Funny thing is that this doesn't stop at things.
Relationships as well, they aren't really build to last for most anymore either. Or working relationships.
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I think you are right there as well, easy to chunk it in and look for a new one than try and fix the issue.
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Sadly, yes.
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I agree with your post wholeheartedly with the sentiment of the post, and just want to add, I have a 30 year old microwave, they can also last long when manufactured with enough grease on the plastic gear and metal hinges on the door, as long as the baked enamel paint does not delaminate and rust.
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I can assure you that the quality of microwave you have in your possession isn't the quality of the majority of the ones being produced now. Sounds like you were actually able to purchase a real good one.
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YOur spot on, they do not make things to last at all these days infact its the opposite they design them to fail so you need to replace them
A friend had a repairmen in for her washing machine the other day and she asked him what model he buys
He said go for the most simple one on the market without a computer, that will last so much longer as he felt the computers were programmed ot make the new machines fail
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It wouldn't surprise me if there isn't some of the failure programmed in to things that once they hit a certain age or amount of use that things start screwing up by design. Who is going to know except the people who wrote the program, and that isn't very likely that they would say anything.
Volkswagen programmed the computers in their diesel model cars to give false low emissions results so they could pass the emissions tests here in the USA, that should pretty much tell a person everything they need to know on what manufacturers are capable of doing to make a buck.
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@sultnpapper I do agree I would not be surprised if that is the case at all, in fact I would be surprised if I was proven wrong
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I will actually be doing a follow up on this post since @natubat give me a tip on a film to watch that does confirm exactly what we have been saying, in some cases it is programmed right into the equipment.
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@sultnpapper I just saw that post I did watch that video a few years back I must watch it again
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You do raise some important issues in your posts! Where do I start... this is such a fundamental issue. There's an excellent film about "planned obsolescence" and the waste it causes, called The Lightbulb Conspiracy. I'm sure I've mentioned it to you before. It's a must-watch film, which also goes under the title of "Mountains of Waste".
Some people argue that if things were built to last, Western society and our whole way of life would collapse, because firms would go out of business and everyone would lose their jobs. Well, maybe that's what needs to happen in order for us all to recognise the true abundance of the planet and start living properly! It often seems to me that we're just working ridiculously hard to produce ridiculous amounts of stuff just to keep ourselves in ridiculous jobs so we can earn the money to buy ridiculous amounts of stuff that we then throw away, destroying nature in the process!
Why do we need to possess so much anyway? Many of the things we have - like lawnmowers - could just be shared, or rented! I used to share a lawnmower with my next-door neighbour, and we used to take turns to cut each other's lawns!
A couple of days ago, someone told me that it's a myth that ants work hard. Apparently they're really lazy, but they just run about daft all the time. That seems like a good analogy for most people in the "developed world"!
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It does seem to be a vicious circle of earn, spend, use, junk, and repeat. Then start all over again. I am no expert on ants, but I have watched a mound or two of fire ants and if they are lazy then the ants I've seen should be outcasts, because you can watch them drag some big pieces of food that the have found back to the mound and it looks like all of them are helping in some way when they work, looks can be deceiving though.
I will have to look up your suggestion and give it a watch.
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Yes I'm not sure about ants being lazy. The person who told me this insisted that it was true and they'd seen a documentary about it...
If you can find The Lightbulb Conspiracy, definitely give it a view. It's not very long - I think it's less than an hour. But I think they might have put it behind a paywall. When I watched it a few years ago it was freely available on YouTube.
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i Just finished watching it, very interesting and disturbing how some business sectors will operate. Amazing how that light bulb has worked for over 100 years and we have come to accept 1,000 hours as a good life out of a bulb.
The eprom chip for the printer is about as guzbucked as it gets, pardon my Texan, that is flat out theft right there. If they program it for a what ever number of copies, the box should say. "good for xxx copies only" at least then you can be informed.
Thanks for sharing that, and anyone else reading this comment should find her suggested watch and view it, I found it on YouTube.
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I'm so glad you saw it and that it's available on YouTube. It should be required watching for all schoolkids!
There are several videos on YouTube that show you how to re-set your printer when it's done its finite number of printouts by the way.
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You can rest assured that the Papper kids will be seeing this one, thanks again. In fact I may just expand on this in tomorrow's daily dose, I can't get over how blatant some of this stuff really is.
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Great! I think you should do a full review of this film.
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Done. Will be posted shortly.
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But, yes, our "throw-away society" is disturbing. I can't fathom how our landfills are containing all of the waste. I do a good bit of recycling and composting, so I only have one bag every 3 weeks or so, and it isn't always quite full. But even at that rate, multiplied by the number of people in this country, the number is staggering. 😳
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The sad part is our landfills aren't containing all this waste, we are exporting it to some other third world countries and dumping our crap on them. Sure and catch the 06/28/18 edition of the daily dose as I will have some facts to share and a link that will really open your eyes on this.
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Do you think it was consumer habits that drove this trend? Or did manufacturers figure out that if they sold a product that lasted 30 years they would have a much harder time staying in business than if they sold a product for 1/3 the cost that lasted 3 years. One sale vs. ten sales? And that one sale in "yesterday's dollars?"
Somehow ... I don't think it was us.
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After doing some research I can say that our consumer habits have been manipulated into where we have ended up along with this planned obsolescence that has been foisted upon us by manufacturers.
I will say that we stopped demanding quality which played right into the hands of those companies as well, kind of the perfect storm if you will.
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Ok ... so now that you know this, what are you going to do? Stop buying light bulbs? The problem as I see it is not "consumer demand." It's the fact that product producers (and big corporations) can say -- with impunity -- "You can 'demand' until you're blue in the face. Or you can buy our (crappy) product. Your choice."
Again ... what are you going to do? Stop buying light bulbs. Good luck with that one.
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If I were a little younger and a little brighter I would look at designing a light bulb that could be made using a 3D printer and replaceable filament that gives off the actual light so the whole bulb doesn't have to be thrown away. I would then go start a Go Fund Me and Kick Starter account and get the funds to back it and start a little cottage business of making the filaments, since anyone could print their own light bulb bodies they wanted at home. That might be a start, or I could just make my own candles.
The environmentalist groups would love that another light bulb would never have to go to the landfill.
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Here in Nigeria, we call this generation the INDOMIE, seeing how impatient the world has become these days.
Quality wins everytime but the market seems to always find a way to keep people average in their mindsets, and that is such a shame.
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I looked at the link you had, it looks like a bowl a Ramen noodles here, a bunch of young generation millennial, as we call them, would fit into the Nigerian description as well. They eat it and think like a bowl of noodles.
I think I may have learned my first Nigerian word today, Indomie.
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I totally agree with @cecicastor, we do live in a throw away society. Everything is made from lower quality material! My first washing machine lasted 18 years, the next one gave up the ghost just as it passed the warranty period! Our first geyser lasted about 36 years; we've replaced two in the last 8 years!
Dare I say, so it goes with many marriages today as well, as soon as there's a problem, one of the partners run away & very soon find a new one! We see this happening in Hollywood and in the daily soapies as well!
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It is hard to argue with someone who is right so agreeing probably is the best thing to do, I know I agree.
Lizelle, I am not familiar with the term "geyser" as it would relate to something a person could purchase, is there another name for what ever that is that might be used over here in the USA?
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Perhaps you call it a boiler? It's placed in the ceiling to heat household water.
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I got you now, we call it a "hot water heater" or just a water heater. But boiler here is mainly for creating heat for keeping the house or building warm in the winter.
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Oh boy, the American English and South African English is totally different. We had Swedish guest here a while back and their English is very good but they're obviously taught American English, like we warned them about leaving valuables in their car when they go to the beach, yep that's life in SA, they were puzzled when we told them to put their stuff in the boot...yep that's the trunk;)
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I had heard of the trunk being called the boot before, I was told it was because that was where the driver stored a pair of boots so that if the car broke down on a bad or muddy road he would have those to put on rather than ruin his good shoes walking the muddy road home or to town. I don't know if that is true or not but it would make sense.
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Now that's interesting mr Papper, I've never heard that but it does make sense!
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