This is why we can't have nice things

originally posted by: Atsbhct
a reply to: eXia7

Except now it isn't really about laziness. A lot of times, in most places anyways, you physically can't fix "stuff". You can try, but it will void your warranty; or you buy parts from a third party, it doesn't quite work, and you waste money over and over again.

Capitalism only works if we all keep buying stuff. If everyone was able to fix everything, and lived a more minimalist, slower lifestyle, bye bye economy.

Planned obsolescence is horrible, and it's part of capitalism, which is also kind of horrible, but people do love to cling to it as long as they're the ones making money.

Printers are the worse and they make it so hard to do workarounds from buying their damn ink. I used to do small print jobs for my business, sales books flyers posters, etc. So I buy a damn nice wide-format printer which is perfect for my needs, but when I bought 3rd party cartridges it took me a while to just ignore the lights and print. One time it was miss printing and skipping lines I called the manufacturer and they wanted me to send it back for repairs, I insisted isn't there something else I can do? No, send it back it's no longer under warranty gonna cost x dollars.

Finally, I got on the internet and found a message board where somebody had a similar problem, evidently with my larger printing jobs or over time there is an electrical ribbon that sends info to the print heads these get ink residue on them and malfunction. The fix a paper towel and a little bit of alcohol and gently clean that ribbon. Boom works like a charm I've had this printer for 7 years and has another similar at our office and I ignore the warning lights get super discount ink, paper, and laminator, etc., and make everything myself and save a bundle.

a reply to: eXia7

I'll tell you that the video and what it presents is, for me, old information. Those of us that are older remember things lasting a long, long, long time and over the years the entire planned obsolesce idea seemed to have caught on.

There are some things that have gotten better like vehicles but they cost as much as my first house.

Another issue is parts to repair what has broken. Aside from computer parts, industrial replacements often cost more than a new machine which is how sales are made. I worked in the printing industry for 40 years. Our paper folding machines (medium format) would last 30-40 years. But when the rollers needed to be replaced, they cost as much as a new machine.

The other thing that grinds me is the whole alternative energy thing. A solar panel will last 20 years. Care to guess how long it takes to pay off a full grid tie system? If you guessed 20 years you would be right.

a reply to: putnam6

Printers are the worst. Why would there be a need for more than a few easily fixable printer designs for home printing?


My most annoying thing relates to a medical device called a Dexcom. It's used to continually monitor blood glucose levels and alert you when they're high/low, whatever.

Per manufacturer, it only lasts for ten days, but in reality, it lasts for more like 20 days, because you can reset it.
Now, the whole thing is cheap plastic and the value ($100 CDN per sensor) is in the research and development, I get that. But the company continually changes the product without really adding functionality just to prevent people from being able to extend the wear of the device.

I imagine each sensor would last for 20+ days, and the batteries/bluetooth transmitters (which they shutdown at 90 days) would last almost indefinitely if we were able to change the batteries.

All of the users could pay for the app that runs the Dexcom system instead, but! That would definitely at least cut profit by 75%, but who knows how much more they could make if more people could afford something that is truly life saving and life extending.
Such a weird, weird world we live in where we could probably all live pretty well, but we just don't for some reason.

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

Seems like you may have wiring issues in your fixtures. I bought a four pack of LED bulbs for like 12$ at cvs. The led last forever as i have kept and used some from years ago when i was more active in metal salvage. The diodes themselves are not something that degrade easily.

The problem with LED's though is they have small PCB's in the bulbs and it is there where the failures occur. The led keeps on trying, but the circuits in the board fail to deliver proper current i guess to keep it on consistently.

The last three salvaged LED bulbs i had did not blow out, they just constantly flicker between dim and bright . however i have no way of telling how much use they had prior to me finding them in the old ceiling fans and lamps i found them in.

My CFL's lasted between eight and ten years. Started buying them when i moved out at 21 with my lady and. First kid. They came with me to each new place and only started dying off at year 5 or so. Im pretty sure i ran through the original batch a few years ago, which i would replace with salvaged CFL's and LED's around year 6. I only buy LED bulbs now. I have not bought any traditional incandescent bulbs since my second child was 3 or so and only to replace in the fixtures i may have lost the original bulbs to when i first move in.

I stopped buying CFL's when LED Became cheaper (relatively speaking) due to lower power consumption than CFL and no mercury or glass. All boards are also lead free since ROHS .

a reply to: billxam

The solar panel scams are real! Where I live , even though it's totally legal to have your own solar panels, companies make it seem like your only choice in to sell excess power back to the power company and finance the panels like a mortgage!

And the market is fully flooded with that propaganda, it's no wonder people don't see the affordable ways to buy them.

My in-laws still have the first working refrigerator ("ice box') they got as newlyweds in the '50s... and it still works.

My husband cherishes his dad's old hand tools. Tools of such quality that they will outlive both of them! Tools of such quality that my husband literally cannot find comparable quality today. Not Mac, not Snap On, etc.

Now we have manufacturers creating unique "tools" to patent to make sure no one can repair their products. And plenty of other means to ensure (under color of law) that they hold a monopoly -- or as close to it as possible -- to ensure no one can repair their shoddy products.

It doesn't stop there. A few years ago I practically had to fight to get my own Microsoft Word program that could be loaded directly onto my computer, and not subscribe to their "365" program or whatever it is, for uploading to their site. I don't and I won't. But Microsoft still prompts me to "sync" everything -- ha!!!

So many other things we must subscribe to or "rent" as opposed to outright own.

We need leaders that will advocate for and execute true consumer based protections and rights, including the "right to repair."

the instant click-to-access, minimal attention span world of today lends itself to inbuilt obsolescence, which of course is a profitable business model. people used to fix things themselves and stuff lasted. a lot of folks these days literally can't fit an electrical plug.

The add-on costs on medical devices are off the charts, the lancets and strips for my glucose monitor were outrageous. Lancets that fit in the monitor's own little finger pricking machine cost way too much, will definitely get the old manual lancets if I have to continuously monitor it or just a needle and some alcohol save 25 bucks on a box of 100, hell even the strips are outrageous. It's like my BP monitor wanted me to pay 7 bucks a month to send enhanced bp pressure stats from my phone. Finally, read the ultra-fine print you can send the raw data in a CSV or excel file free.

One reason I like my doctor she knows I have no insurance when I told her about this she said she didn't need all that other BS. But I can see millions of other people like my Mom and others just signing up for this crap that you don't need. Hell it's like every med she has given me is very reasonable or they have a card again in ultra-fine print where you can usually get a huge discount off something that they are charging 5 times as much to people's insurance. It's such a racket.

a reply to: putnam6

Yes, the BS that's put on Type 2 diabetics especially is insane. And now diabetes monitoring companies are even slyly trying to make money from people doing the keto diet by making low key promotion videos of people using monitors andnstripsnto check their blood sugar and make sure they're in ketosis.

A racket for sure.

And don't even get me started on dieticians and nuteitionists and the planned obsolescence of nuteition advicen to aid the dieting industry.

a reply to: Snarl

Excellent video and thread Snarl. I was an executive in manufacturing of electro-mechanical goods both for DOD military specification products, consumer [cars] and in the Heavy Truck sectors of USA.

Cars and planned obsolescence? Who knows as that is so high level only the ones at the very top are in the know. But we have have 100,000 Powertrain and bumper to bumper warrantys.

The military stuff lasts an extremely long time as they are intentionally designed at generally 1 1/2 times working average conditions as exposed to throughout its useful life. At issue is that when your a prime contractor who wins the very first contact the feds are also paying you for your specifications, procedures and drawings [blueprints] such that when they buy it again it goes out for competitive biding on Commerce Business Daily or other. That has lead to the original winning OEM to establish a double set of drawings. One for internal use and the other for external.

Industrial and life support equipment along with anything gas related is generally not messed with as they are designed to last for years. Heavy Truck is also set up to last years as all OEM truck manufacturers have warranty's at 250000, 500,000 , 1 million or more miles.

What is the 2021 wild wild west is consumer goods. ALL of them. Ever since PRC came on board things are wide open. Light bulbs, buckets, shovels, some electronic equipment along with tires on a new car. Yes at 29,000 miles we had to replace all four tires on my wife's 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe. Guess what. NO mileage pro rated warranty? Was the wrong rated tire put onto that chassis by some Engineer back at the design center?

With respect to light bulbs my hero company was SATCO. Not the sheet bulbs they sell at Home Depot or Lowes. But it appears they are being "forced" to divest of some of their best LED bulbs.

SATCO has a in-writing 5 year warranty and a minimum rated life of 30,000 hours on a LED retrofit for a 65W incandescent flood light. Meaning you remove the existing bulb and screw in the SATCO. It has spring loaded clips to secure to the drywall ceiling. I replaced over 25 in our current home. They are EXCELLENT

They also made a clear LED bulb with a A19 base [typical incandescent female screw in bulb] in different watts , lumens and color. No those are disappearing. WHY oh WHY

The answer could be in the video...........................

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: TrulyColorBlind
This thread is so true and right on the mark! I recently bought a four-pack of 100 watt light bulbs and three of them blew out the first time I turned them on. So, to replace those, (because I needed light in my house - I'm funny that way), I bought another four-pack from somewhere else. They all blew out within days of each other, all in different light fixtures, after about three months. Talk about planned obsolesence! Sheesh! And that's just light bulbs. Don't get me started on everything else.

What type of lamps? Incandescent, LED? If LED those were under warranty and should have been returned for a refund/exchange. There's also a thing called 'hot starting' which can effect the electronics of some LEDs if you screw them in while the power is on.

They were incandescent. I prefer those because they put out full light without having to "warm up" first. And being an electrician, when I work around electricity, the power is always off first. It's safer that way.

originally posted by: TrulyColorBlind
They were incandescent. I prefer those because they put out full light without having to "warm up" first.

LED's don't need to warm up, that would be fluorescent.

Big business rebuilding to ne old farm tractors the big ones 40 HP on up. No computers and built tough. Cost more than they did new but worth every dollar.

Gotta keep the Chinese slave labor gadget factories in business...Garbage in ~ Garbage out.


The Light Bulb Conspiracy: An “illuminating” conspiracy theory

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
a reply to: Snarl

Planned obsolensence sucks and is very wasteful.
It only benefits the corporations,by design of course.
Its one reason I like old stuff,from cars to appliances-You can often fix them yourself(or with a bit of help).

The EU,who I very rarely agree with on many matters has recently brought in a "Right to repair" law,which is designed to combat planned obsolescencee,and may hopefully lead to less waste.
Feels odd to agree with them for a change

www.bbc.com...

Poland really does a lot of repairs. Not much goes to waste in that country.

a reply to: carewemust

Unfortunate but true. Older workers have a better work ethic than what is what is being graduated today.