Why is everything so crummy!! warning CAPS have been used

[lovemysan]

I'm 28 years old. I remember when I was a youth that things didn't break. You buy a rake, it has a nice long handle, etc. Now you go to buy a rake you have to pay extra to get the long handle and the rake falls a part after raking about 3 hours, and remember you paid $10 extra because your over 5' tall and don't want to bend over to rake. A week ago we were using a marshall town sheetrock sanding pole. It was brand new it broke after 20 minutes use. RIDICULOUS!!!
Its a pole sander!! You should only need a new one every few years if your using it daily!!

Whats going on? I went to the midwifes house yesterday. She a new used whirlpool stove, natural its was "digital", which of course means its 3 turkey cookings from the scrapyard, anyway she had used it to can some veggies. Well the burner legs bowed under the heat and weight of a 5 quart canner. I realize that its 40lbs in all but please! When you design a BURNER ELEMENT should you not design it to withstand some HEAT!
RIDICULOUS!

Why is every consumer product made anymore a piece of JUNK! I cringe every time one of my 40 year old general electric furnaces rust out. Why? Because the junk they sell now is packed with cheap, junky electronics and made out of BUGGARS AND TOE-JAM by a poor third world worker and I know that in 5 years I'll be poking my eyes out in disgust because its broken and needs replacing AGAIN! I have a dozen 2 ton GE condensing units that were set on the roof in 1967-1973. And they still work and require very little attention. While I loose one occasionally I replace many of the more "modern" units. Cheap junk!

I went shopping for a mixer for my wife's birthday. I went to a place that sells refurbished kitchen aid products. After looking at the hand mixers(what she had asked for) I made a decision. I noted that the mixer bits were extremely flimsy, the weight of the machine itself was suspect, and the nail in the coffin! A DIGITAL speed control. It might has well said on the box "I will break or burnout 3 days outside the warranty!" I went and bought the 575watt stand mixer instead, yeah, the one with METAL gears.

Anybody bought a printer that works lately? It seems to me I see as many printers in the trash as coke bottles, I had an HP laserjet 2 that lasted a decade. A DECADE and then the fuser roller wore out. I bought another refurbished one. Guess what happened. Ran it 2 years and then the fuser roller wore out. WHY? because when it was refurbished they used a fuser roller out a YUGO imported from china.

Lawnmowers, LOL, do they make a good one anymore. It takes very little engineering as to what makes a good mower, good. Have you looked at what they sell at wallyworld lately. If you were to sneak over there and spray water on the pushmowers the handles and wheels would literally rust off in one season. I see mowers all the time on the side of the road for free. When you buy a mower its not really nessecary to maintain it, just use it for 50 hours and then toss it out. What happened to toro, lawnboy, cub cadet.

What happened to portercable tools. I still have some of there tools, american made in jackson, TN. But no more. These tools when they die will be replaced by cheaply manufactured tools that last only a year or two at most. I have a 19.2volt cordless drill that was purchased in 2000. Its still a very potent tool. I mix full buckets sheetrock mud with it using an 8" bit. I'd give this new lith ion HD ryobi about 2 minutes to live doing that. Porter cable's R&D department used to chuck drills of different manufacturers together. GUess who would win. The ones with metal gear boxes. Pick a drill up and run it in high if its buttery smooth its probly got nylon gears, but don't worry the crummy switch and battery will die long before anything else does.

But cars........cars are the best they've ever been. Very dependable, even the cheap ones.


Thats my rant! enjoy!

[theclencher]

it's because today's consumer doesn't demand quality and longevity

they demand up to the minute styling and low purchase price

ish i don't want that old GREEN one anymore- this cool new one has STAINLESS on it!!!

gimmicks are always a good draw too

what does a digital display have to do with boiling water in a pan? how about a fridge that goes online- does my beer surf when i'm not looking?

the consumer isn't interested in serviceability

it's been over 50 years since consumers en masse took an active role in maintaining/repairing their appliances. since almost nobody is willing/able to do that anymore, they are at the mercy of repairmen. and repair jobs are so damned expensive premature replacement does become a viable option.

ah what the hell throw the new one on the charge card

also since product life cycles are now measured in months instead of decades, repair part availability and price are nothing like what they used to be. can you imagine how easy it was to fix maytags in the 50's, 60's, 70's? Same parts, same mechanisms for decades- easy to always have the right parts on hand too, didn't need to have 50,000 different ones. now you need to talk to someone from india to find the part that's in a warehouse somewhere, if it exists at all

[lovemysan]

You know what, we should start a list of GOOD products that come from reputable companies. Like

Linear logic scangauge
Staber appliances
Lodge cast iron pots

Know a good product? add it to the list

[trebuchet03]

So I'll add to the list of experiences ....

A couple years ago I went to buy a socket/wrench set - it was my birthday and I'm weak for tools.

I spent $200 on what I thought was a nice craftsman set - my father had one, still does - so I figured I'd go for a similar thing thinking it would last as long as his. I got home, opened it up and everything was in nightmarish bags... Okay, fine - I'll put it together once. NOTHING snapped into place, so guaranteed that things would fall out when opening the case. Then, the quality was terrible. Rough cast edges, smaller diameters overall and shorter lengths.... Moving parts felt terrible with way too much play (compared to my father's older set which should have had more play due to use/age)

I returned that crap and bought a Husky set from Lowes. It was also $200, but was back chrome and laser engraved (looks nice anyway). The quality was no comparison - and now I have a case that holds everything together nicely with the same warranty (just not as convenient as sears).

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So at home, my parents got a new range/oven when the old one died in a very terrible fashion... It's got all the digital crap in it and such + convection... But really, they (And I when home) have used the living crap out of it - no problems thus far and the temperature is so freaking accurate. You tell it 325, the temperature is 325. The oven in my apartment is about 15 years old - you guess 325 on the dial, it's likely going to 375 before hitting 300 and then overshooting 325 again (poor feedback loop) - it never hits it's target.

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My laptop.... Back light went out... While it was a PITA to change, I did successfully disassemble the LCD assembly, remove the offending CCFL - solder together a replacement ($12) and put it back together It was that, or pay $400 for a new screen assembly o.0 I posted instruction on instructables

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My printer has been a champ... I've had it 6 years now and it works perfectly. My only qualm is the cost of ink - I'm working on converting it to an external ink supply with hoses and such The problem is how accurate those ink cartridges are (they use electromagnetic fields to direct tiny ink droplets).

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I have one cast iron pan and a cast aluminum dutch oven.... When I have nice cash coming in after I graduate - I want to buy Le Crueset enameled cast iron (expensive, but so nice to cook with).

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I bought a first gen roomba at a garage sale.... I've been using it for about a year, it's awesome. Just clean/maintain it

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I'm probably not a good example - I fix things that aren't fixable (or at least re purpose them)

You know what, we should start a list of GOOD products that come from reputable companies.

The hilarious thing is.... I have "crap" from harbor freight that works better (at least equivalent) than the "good" stuff - it probably comes from the same place too

[GasSavers_TomO]

Originally Posted by theclencher

it's because today's consumer doesn't demand quality and longevity

That's exactly how Dodge gets away with saying they have a lifetime warranty!

People will buy new, or lease, and after 5 or so years, they trade in and get a new vehicle. Of course the lifetime warranty is non-transferable.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by TomO

That's exactly how Dodge gets away with saying they have a lifetime warranty!

People will buy new, or lease, and after 5 or so years, they trade in and get a new vehicle. Of course the lifetime warranty is non-transferable.

lol so people like my dad who buys cars and keep em till they rust apart/engien falls out are gonna have a hayday when 20 years later the engine has a problem, and ooh looky here still under warranty

but anyways, yea what has happened? our water heater is a good 25+ years old yet still scalds you plenty...

lol our pushmowers are amazing... we have one of those old murry 20 mowers (everyone did , you know the 3hp engine and the handles awlays break) this one looks like it hit a grenade yet still starts up and runs. our kmart specual has had a horrid knock for 5 years now yet still runs...(my mom hit somehting so hard it bend the blade a perfect 90* DOWN) our other one is a mongomery ward from 1989 (gave it its first oil change 2 months ago...blackest oil i have ever seen) yet prime 3 times and pull the cord and guanteed to start every time.

but yea weve broken about 3 of those thin walled rake handles. yet our metal tined aincent thing from the 80's still here!

tools are a crap shoot. we have several harbor freiht tools and they work perfectly fine still. i have busted one of thier sockets before tho. i use benchtop stuff and it works quite well. quality seems good-exceltnt

lol printers, my dad stil has and uses those old old printers that use the special paper that has the holes along the edges, takes 3 swipes to print one line and is noisy as hell, uses the ribbon ink cartages. YET still works! now his epson printer took a dump after 2 years, my epson apollo works but the cartages keep clogging with gunk so nothign comes out on the paper or if it does theres major streaks thru it. hes usign a cannon now he got from Best buy for liek $50.

but yea, i see it most in automobiles. you cant work on ANYHITNG much newer than 2000.... cant get to anyhting! 8,000 plastic covers hiding everyhting, simple htings are in inconciveable locations. they have WAY over complicated simple stuff which =more screw ups and harder to repair. take my moms tarus for example, to just turn on somehting simple as a domelight, it has to go run thru the body control module which also controls the wipers and about 4,000 othe rhtings it seems.

[2000mc]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

but yea, i see it most in automobiles. you cant work on ANYHITNG much newer than 2000.... cant get to anyhting! 8,000 plastic covers hiding everyhting, simple htings are in inconciveable locations. they have WAY over complicated simple stuff which =more screw ups and harder to repair. take my moms tarus for example, to just turn on somehting simple as a domelight, it has to go run thru the body control module which also controls the wipers and about 4,000 othe rhtings it seems.

its just what you know.... i started working as an auto tech in 2000. to me everything older isa pain in the butt. idiot light comes on, plug in a scanner and you about know whats wrong already. online service information, bulletins, etc... there so much faster than using book manuals, service bulletins are searchable and updated daily. for me, working on non OBDII cars is whats hard.

to add usefull info on quality products...

hand tools (and toolboxes)
1. matco - really top notch, downside is dealers are few and far between
2. snap-on - dealers everywhere, good quality, but you pay for the name
3. mac - slightly limited tool selection vs. snap-on, matco. quality that of snap-on usually at a slightly lower price
4. craftsman - start here, when you break em, get free replacement, buy quality replacement, sell craftsman on ebay, limited tool selection, low rank on quality, low cost, sears is everywhere

DMM - fluke
pnumatics - ingersol-rand
electrics - makita

favorite newer tough tiny bright as hell flashlight - fenix cree/rebel led
no joke, its a quality product from china

[theclencher]

s-k sockets

[Erdrick]

My qualm is the snow shovel. My dad has one that he got back when he first got his license (he is now 55), and I kid you not, he is still using it. This thing has seen some serious use too. He has a snow removal route and I can tell you that this shovel has earned him quite a bit of money. 95% of the route is done with his snow plow, but the shovel comes in handy for the odd sidewalk.

Fast forward to the crap we have today. Weird bent shapes that are supposed to be ergonomically correct just make it impossible to balance a full scoop of snow as you go to toss it. Insane designs that make it impossible to clear a sidewalk.

Yeah, they don't make snow shovels they way they used to.

[MnFocus]

Originally Posted by 2000mc

favorite newer tough tiny bright as hell flashlight - fenix cree/rebel led
no joke, its a quality product from china

Fenix L1T with SSC p4 led ,custom cr123 battery body and rcr123 3.7v li-ion battery -quality China made and Good Ol' Boy American modified product .