Technology Not Meant to Last
Recent: Newer is Not Better, Lunar Edition
Sometimes things go wrong and force you to research online and offline (over the telephone for example). You then have a new story to tell, relevant to the time of the research because the current reality changes over time.
Things seem to deteriorate not because of outsourcing to sweatshops (less pay, longer working hours and no breaks); the corporate greed relies on people's lust for "cheap things" or people's inability to purchase anything other than the cheapest things on offer (because wages stagnated while living costs soared). It is a vicious cycle. Demand and supply adapt to artificial limitations in an age of rapid passage of wealth (purchasing power) from the bottom to the top, class-wise. This isn't inevitable; it's a choice over which the ordinary 'peasantry' have neither control nor say. Some people get a lot richer this way (selling the same things over and over again) and we know at whose expense (other than the planet itself).
Buying "big brands" (glorified trademarks) isn't a solution anymore; sometimes those brand outsource their production to another company (cheaper rates) and then slap their logo on that. It increases profit margins in the short term (not long term; the reputation suffers). That's true in the area of media appliances, home appliances, motor vehicles, and even in the personal computers sector. The idea that the more you pay, the higher reliability rates (or likelihood of persistent integrity) is assured... is well outdated.
Yesterday afternoon the motor of our washing machine (purchased 2020, during lock-downs, which means I needed to install the entire thing all on my own) stopped working. Oh noes. I did look up some videos in Invidious, studying how complicated a DYI repair would be (motor is a large part and high voltage levels are involved). It turns out that the price of such a washing machine has risen since then; maybe by 30-50%. Worse yet, a comparable machine is now slower/weaker (slowing rotation, reduced from 1400 RPM max down to 1200 max), there is no LCD display anymore, and total capacity is down from 8KG to 7KG. Prices up, specs down. That sounds familiar. We see this in computer hardware too. In groceries, the packages get smaller (or remain of the same size with more vacant space or air) and ingredients get cheaper, i.e. worse (or in the case of washing detergents or ingestible liquids, there's dilution, so you get the same size/volume but with more water inside). Sometimes the prices go up and quantity goes down (or worsened) at the same time. You have to purchase more of the same (spend more money) to attain the same effect/result. This is very easy a trend to spot, e.g. in toothpastes (the "standard" tubes used to be a lot bigger when I was a kid; the plastic-to-substance ratio is certainly not decreasing, which means we make more packaging material and produce more trash). What next, toothpaste sachets? Lethal to the environment.
Likewise, everything that used to be made of metal is turning into plasticware (except some parts where the metallic parts are absolutely essential, e.g. for electric conduction).
So in mechanical appliances, expect the machines to become more fragile, more expensive, and lacking functionalities (harder to repair too). Based on some online research, for the motor to stop functioning after 6 (or 5 or 7, depending on brand) years is quite typical. Andy recently wrote about how he repaired (with a spare part) their "tumble dryer, an Indeset IDC85."
In that one particular case, it wasn't the motor but a part that broke (connected to the heating unit). I had similar experiences with electric showers; they don't offer repairs (they say they no longer produce the pertinent parts) and instead offer to sell and install (the latter is an extra charge) a new one every number of years. How frustrating. How useless a service.
I've found one very useful page (but self-promotional) explaining this phenomenon: "In the past, washing machines were built to last. They were robust and able to stand up to the demands of families with 2-4 children. Additionally, repair costs were cheaper because manufacturers would offer good prices on spare parts and they would offer extensive technical information to repairers."
I still remember how, as a child, appliances like microwaves and washing machines could be expected to last about 20 years with occasional repair work. Less waste, more maintenance, and overall lower costs (over the lifetime of usage). Something went wrong along the way; if my mother can still use the same microwave oven that we had when I was 7 and if some people still have TV sets from the 90s (or 80s, sometimes 70s), then we're not improving, are we? At this very moment I listen to a CD from the 1990s, played on a stereo system my father bought me when I was 14. It still works. My alarm clock is also from the 1990s. My wife's digital diary is from the 1990s (gift from my grandmother). Has engineering gotten deliberately worse? Sort of. They've just quit caring about durability. It was a conscious decision.
About washing machines, one friend told me: "They are engineered to last as close to exactly 4 years as possible -- without even a single reparable component."
In our case, I managed to find a hidden ("retention") option for repair and later this week we'll see if that puts the machine back in operation. But really, why are things like these built to last only a few years? According to the link above, nowadays it is typical for washing machines to break down after just 18 months of persistent use (warranties typically last 12 months and extended warranties are a giant ripoff - a fact that became widely known and broadly advertised over time - they're just upselling).
People ought to speak about it a lot more and demand better quality from producers; heck, in the interest of or for the sake of environmental preservation and avoidance of waste, maybe our government should mandate that all such home appliances must demonstrate an average lifetime of over 10 years, or assurance of spare parts being available for at least a decade since last purchase.
At the end of last year I wrote about my new CD player (plus tuner) that lasted not even a year. Argos never issued a replacement for it. Contacting the vendor/seller proved to be a waste of time. In hindsight, buying old things might be a wise thing because they're more durable. These days I use a Discman well over 2 decades in age; it works perfectly well. It uses standard components (no USB ports or other "modern" things), takes standard batteries that I can recharge with an ordinary charger made in the early 90s (my grandfather used it until his death), and CDs from the previous century play just fine (the format is simple and resistant to mild anomalies on the surface of the disc).
A society apathetic towards declining production (or manufacturing) standards will end up ripped off. █
