They don't make em like they used to
A few decades ago things were built to last. My parents bought their first TV in 1974 and we were still watching it 16 years later. My Dad is still using the same digital alarm clock he used to wake himself up in the 70s. (A big white contraption with a bright red display and an alarm so shrill it would make Rip Van Winkle get his lazy arse out of bed.)

Yes, they probably cost three times his monthly salary, but that didn't matter. Back then people bought items expecting them to last for years. And if something went wrong at some point, you didn't throw it away you repaired it - lovingly and reverently, knowing that you were still going to get years of use out of the item.

Now we have the culture of disposable gadgets. The cycle seems to go: Buy cheap crap; cheap crap stops working after 18 months because it's cheap crap; buy more cheap crap. You never get it fixed because it's not economically viable - cheaper to just go out and buy another.

It's no wonder we're running out of landfill space.

Also, think of the huge waste of natural resources and the hundreds of hours of cheap labour that go into making sure that you can pop into Asda and buy a VCR for a tenner. All so that 18 months down the line when it's stopped working you can chuck it away and buy another one.

Madness, I tell you! Madness!
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 10:44, 7 replies)

Things
are unfortunately built to break, my Grandad had his radio for "forty years you know."
( Trollman, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 11:05, closed)

Alarm Clocks
Speaking of alarm clocks, I bought a cheap ass digital one in 1993, I think it cost less than 10 pounds (Irish) at the time. Still works perfectly.
(oeb, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 11:08, closed)

I 'inherited' such a device.
For several years, I successfully used a 'white' (but not quite) radio alarm clock that I picked up when clearing my grandmothers house after she died. She'd had it for as long as I could remember (mid 80's at least). The only downside was that it had no battery back-up so it would reset to midnight at the slightest momentary powercut (surprisingly regular) and I'd be late for work the next day.

We replaced it last year when we moved with a much smaller silver model with a more pleasant green display. It still works exactly the same way though and resets under the briefest momentary dips in the grid.
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 11:15, closed)

Planned obsolescence is not a myth
If things were built to last, there would be no replacement market; and since we're wealthy enough to sustain a replacement market, to ignore it would be commercial suicide. And why are we wealthy? Because the economy thrives when we're buying things - things like replacement alarm clocks. It's a vicious circle - or a virtuous one, depending on your point of view.

The problem with capitalism, see, is that it's conceptually solid as a rock. Bastard.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 14:10, closed)

Too true.
In the old days goods were made to last using good parts and skilled labour. Everybody wins - the customer gets a high-quality product, the workers have good jobs and the companies reap the benefit of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Then the unions got too powerful and big businesses discovered that by buying cheap components and using cheap labour they could use the low profit-margin, high volume, high turn-over model to make even more money. The workers are unhappy, unmotivated and poor, the customers get a barely adequate product that has to be replaced more often, and the shareholders make shitloads of money.

Indeed, bastards.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 14:56, closed)

Alarm clock
That sounds suspiciously like my alarm clock.. In spite of its hideous appearance, unfeasibly bright display, tendency to reset itself, etc., I wouldn't be without it - it's the only alarm clock I've had that's loud enough to get me out of bed.
(it's supposed to look like that, Tue 8 Jan 2008, 16:08, closed)

Maybe I'm feeling defensive
Working as I do in the hifi industry but there are two very good reasons why equipment doesn't last as long as it used to.
1) It is comparatively cheap on a level people seem to forget. The HiFi mags had trouser accidents in 1978 when NAD released an amp for £100 that was some cop. 20 years later they make a £170 amp that does much the same as the original but rather better. Thing is though that based on inflation over that period, the original would now be nearer £1000 in price. Unsuprisingly £1000 amps even today are robust long lived devices that are easy to repair and definately not throwaway.
2) In order to make everything safe, we can't use lead, cadmium and other nastiness that makes for tough, long live circuits. The stuff from the 70's is often very robust but is a first order health hazard to scrap.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Wed 9 Jan 2008, 12:59, closed)