Our so-called high-end refrigerator, which we only bought three years ago, is leaking.
Our “smart” TV died after about five years.
Our stove only lasted about seven years.
From high-performance devices to high-end electronics, nothing seems to last very long these days—especially compared to things made decades ago.
My mom and grandparents had the same refrigerators and stoves in Bayonne, New Jersey for decades. My 60-year-old neighbor still has his mother’s avocado-green fridge, which keeps his family’s food cool. The boom box I bought about 30 years ago from the long-defunct chain Nobody Beat the Wiz still plays CDs and cassettes and broadcasts on AM and FM radio.
What gives?
“This stuff just isn’t made to last anymore,” agrees Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the advocacy Repair Association. “Manufacturers have no incentive to build durable products. They have the incentive to sell new products, which means using the cheapest components to hit a certain price point.”
Which essentially means planned obsolescence.
“The old devices were made of metal with fewer parts,” explains Gordon-Byrne. Now, not only are they made out of plastic at this price point, but everything seems to be computerized too – with many more tiny built-in components that can break.
Plus, with refrigerators that so often come with extras like ice makers and water coolers, “there are so many things that can go wrong,” says Liz Chamberlain, sustainability director at iFixit, which provides free repair manuals for everything from tractors to trucks Toaster, offers and sells replacement parts for these items.
To add to this frustrating and expensive situation, manufacturers of electronic devices have not had to provide replacement parts or repair instructions to the public. This often meant that only the manufacturer, or a manufacturer-authorized retailer, could attempt to fix the problem – often at an exorbitant cost.
So when I asked the retailer where we bought the Smart TV about a repair, I was told it was so expensive we might as well buy a new one.
The last time some wonderful appliance repair people fixed our old refrigerator, they told us they had found the last spare part in existence.
Hopefully things will improve a bit for consumers as a new New York state law makes spare parts and repair manuals for digital products like smartphones and laptops available to the public. This way, digital devices can be repaired more easily and hopefully at less cost. It applies only to products manufactured after July 1st and comes into effect on January 1st.
The law — the Digital Fair Repair Act — should have been even more consumer-friendly, covering large appliances like stoves and refrigerators, says Gordon-Byrne. However, that coverage provision disappeared from the original bill after intense lobbying by the appliance and technology industries to ensure that it also had the right to sell only a more expensive assembly of replacement parts, rather than just a cheaper part, if a company claimed it existed a security issue. A similar but much stricter “right to repair” law, which includes large appliances and allows the sale of individual parts, was recently passed in Minnesota. It comes into effect in July 2024 but applies to devices manufactured on or after July 1, 2021.
So how do we find things that last?
Buy more simply made items with fewer frills, says Gordon-Byrne, who explains that when you’re faced with a choice between something with dials, touchpads, or digital controls, go for the dials.
Ask a trusted repair technician – or a local shop – for the most reliable product.
Trusted consumer guides like Consumers Reports are also helpful.
“Don’t be afraid to try an independent repair for your old device,” says Chamberlain of iFixit, which offers around 100,000 free repair guides and sells the parts you need.
Steve Israel, longtime editor and columnist at the Times Herald-Record in Orange County, New York, can be reached at steveisrael53@outlook.com.
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https://www.recordonline.com/story/opinion/2023/07/19/why-dont-appliances-last-anymore-what-can-we-do-about-it/70424273007/
