LizzieMaine
Bartender
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The more automation involved, the flimsier the gadget. You think you're saving yourself effort but you're being royally bamboozled.
The more automation involved, the flimsier the gadget. You think you're saving yourself effort but you're being royally bamboozled.
I'm afraid I would not be surprised how many here would pay good money for quality products, and I'm one of them, but lets be honest, if there were 250 000 members here that would still be a minority and would not have any impact on production of quality consumer goods. Some goods would still out-price themselves because consumers simply could not afford the initial outlay.You'd be surprised how many people in the Era firmly believed that quality was more important than "the latest and the newest." When General Electric was promoting their "monitor-top" electric refrigerators in the late twenties, one of the main selling points was that they had a possible lifespan of up to 400 *years* based on lab testing. Thruout the Era, Sheaffer promoted its "Lifetime" line of fountain pens -- pens which were manufactured to such a high standard that they were guaranteed for the life of the owner. If you take a close look inside the radios manufactured in the 1930s, you'll see a lot of overengineering -- parts designed and manufactured to exceed operational tolerances, and further designed so that if something did go wrong, it was simple to repair.
People bought these things expecting they wouldn't have to buy another one, or if they did have to buy another one it'd be a long time down the line. It wasn't at all rare for a couple to furnish their home when they got married -- and to still have much of what they'd bought when they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. That was the ethos of the time. It wasn't until the postwar era that the decline began, and the cult of planned obsolesence became dominant by the mid-fifties. It's been downhill for manufacturing quality and our civilization in general ever since.
Reflecting back to things made in China; This is the country that produced the most complex sports stadium ever made for their 2008 Olympics, the Chinese also built the worlds most advanced passenger train, certainly the fastest. But why cant they make a broom that the head will stay on for more than a week? It's not that they cant, they just don't want to
I spoke to a gentleman in our town, that fixed appliances, now only vacuums , but years ago he did fix toasters etc, small appliances. The older toasters have a metal activator two different metals that with heat will throw the switch to pop the toast. No lousy electro magnet that fails in 6 months. I maybe using my GE toaster till I retire. Here is hoping, we are to start looking for these items now from here on. 59 LARK.
two words: planned obsolescence. And it´s not only China (I´m pretty sure that most of the stuff we get from China was designed and developed by western engineers and designers), it´s a world wide process. In case you haven´t done so yet, you should check out the documentary "The light bulb conspiracy".
The more automation involved, the flimsier the gadget. You think you're saving yourself effort but you're being royally bamboozled.
I have three phones. One made in 1929, one in 1933, and a new, modern one from 1940. They all work fine, and the only one that ever appears to have had any sort of service work done on it is the 1929, which had updated transmitter and receiver capsules added around 1943, when a lot of old phones were put back into emergency wartime use. (It remained in daily use after that "temporary" upgrade until the late 1960s). As long as central-battery landlines exist, these phones will be perfectly functional.
My refrigerator was built in November 1945. The only repair work ever done on it was done by me -- in 1989, when I installed a new thermostat. I fully expect it to outlive me.
The clock on my mantel was purchased new -- by my great-grandfather, in 1911. It still keeps perfect time.
All these products were manufactured in the USA. We knew how to do it, we knew how to make quality products that would last, and that owners could take pride in. Now we don't. Even if we wanted to, the knowledge of how to make products like that is gone with the generation that made them. And that, in a nutshell, is how civilizations die.
I have two coffee grinders that will last forever. The only thing is that you have to crank it. You are the moving part. They last forever that way---you wear out first.
I tell you, when my electric car window died (two year old car!), I was missing the old hand crank windows real bad!
So if we buy products that we will be replacing as more advanced ones come out, why should they last for ever? If you wanted a widget that had the latest features and was built to last forever that just wouldn't make any sense because in a few years you would want a newer widget. So why pay the price premium for an unbreakable widget? The market for any product simply does not require unbreakable or even super long lasting items.
I love our Kitchen Aid stand mixer, it is very reliable and we've had it nearly 20 years, but there is no room for improvement. It has all the features we need.Actually that's a good point. Quality doesn't necessarily equal a number of bells and whistles. I tell you, when my electric car window died (two year old car!), I was missing the old hand crank windows real bad! I think a KitchenAid stand mixer....even a new one.... Is a good example. Same old simple design, still made of metal, still apparently built to last a long time.
Actually that's a good point. Quality doesn't necessarily equal a number of bells and whistles. I tell you, when my electric car window died (two year old car!), I was missing the old hand crank windows real bad! I think a KitchenAid stand mixer....even a new one.... Is a good example. Same old simple design, still made of metal, still apparently built to last a long time.