I always wondered why I run into people who have some machine or electronics that seem to last forever. What was worst that I never had a story like that nor could I find a particular brand to buy and have a story one day. I now figured it out to be a "catch 22" situation. The things that last so long were bought during a period where they were build to last (mostly US made) and now they are using wrong parts because it is cheaper to make (China stuff). For example I bought a Colman home electric pressure washer made in usa which last a while. The most expensive part was the continuos duty brush-less motor. I picked up one made in China that lasted two weeks and another for two months (They both started smoking and quickly lost power and died). It was half the price and I found out why. They had substituted the lot cheaper high speed intermittent use motors ( brushes, or the same moter in vacuum cleaners). There are so many things they switch out to save money. Am I paranoid or this is really a peek at the future?
Relying on name brands is no longer a good guide because as you said, they are cheap models also.
another example is these new lighters that have a blue flame (sorta like a little torch). I bought one many years ago and used it for a year, lost it and found it a year later in the dirt and used it another two years. Now they last a month at best. I looked for the difference and the good one was made in Japan while the junk was made in china. There was one major part that was different, while the Japanese one use all brass for the burner assembly with filters at two points, the chinese ones use a non metal flexible tube and a screen.
My parents bought a dryer back in the late 60s. It was "only" a 120 volt dryer but it does the job quite well. It has had to have 3 belts replaced since bought - one due to the lid bracket coming loose and cutting it. The pulley was also replaced as well as the pig tail (thanks to a bad outlet). A total of say $40 in parts. They paid about $100 for it then. It STILL works like new. Oh yeah, they didn't have much money - bought it on a "Scratch and Dent" sale.......... They sure got their monies worth. You "might" think the electric bill is higher - but the total bill complete with the dryer used 2 days a week and TVs on all night - not to mention many other uses of electric - $38 per month. The clothes get dried in "A" cycle with no problem.
Our Fire Station bought a $5300 or so dollar Big Screen Tv. Within the first month, it had to be repaired. DO YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR? NOT ALWAYS. Lets go another route....... Air Jordan Tennis Shoes. They go roughly $70 a pair. I can buy 7 pairs of cheap shoes for that price, and get almost as much wear out of one pair as one pair of the Air Jordans. NAME is NOT always "Everything"... Sometimes - you are paying FOR the name - NOT the quality.
In my own opinion, MOST items today ARE JUNK - regardless of price OR name.
Also - in SOME cases (not all) - some things ARE cheaper ONLY because the manufacturing method has been made more efficient. That process is a savings for the company AND consumer - alike. Then too, there is "competition" or "price-wars" as you please............. THAT is good for us - the consumer - too.
Tennis shoes example is a really good one where you are paying for a name rather than the quality of the show. If fact last month on CNN another basketball star opened a tennis shoes brand. They are the same quality as some that go for $200 this fall. He is selling them for
14.95 a pair . US used to make quality products when they made them, I don,t know when price became the most important feature of a product.
The old story - you get what you pay for, still holds up!
Examples:
For 15 years ago I bought A Philips "el-saver" light bulb, you know...those new "fluorescent" tungsten-lamp-replacement-bulbs that uses neon tubes rather than those tungsten lamps.
This one still works, and I've used it everywhere. Cost me a pretty penny back then. They used to cost about 30 dollars just for the "bulb" but for 15 years (and still going strong) this is a bargain.
People don't understand "quality" today - they only understand "price - what does it cost today?" nevermind if it works only a year...just so they get it "half-price!"
Same with video (although most use DVD-recorders today) I used to pay 1200-2000 dollars for a nice home S-VHS recorder (usually from some fancy brand like Panasonic) - worked for 10-12 years easy..
Today? Purchased some crappy 200-300 dollar S-vhs recorder from JVC that looks like a re-born ghetto blaster (more ghetto than blaster) plastic-form-factor-all-in-one-idiot-design....last 1-2 year and gets worn out.
Piece of JUNK!
Of course - there are exceptions - I bought a UNITED DVD player that can literally take ANY format and ANY region. Cost me 60 bucks or so...lasted over 4 years...and is still going strong, so there are no rules without exceptions.
But yeah - the old rule still goes...you really DO get what you pay for. Don't ever get fooled into believing anything else.
MaxWell McHamster - yours in technology as always.
Speaking of profits, etc........ I'm hearing Wal-Mart is not doing so well all the sudden. Losing profits, laying off workers, cutting hours, freezing pay increases, etc. I've heard this from someone who said they either read about it in news or heard it on TV. I've also heard it from several Wal - Mart employees. Suddenly - the attitude went from "nice" employers - to - "pricks" - according to those I've heard from. Hmmmm.
Looks like the "instant" giant is about to go down to it's knees........ As they say - the bigger they are - the harder they fall. Strange, seems like most of the "giants" have come and gone OR at least been brought to their knees. Mom and Pops - don't give up yet, we may still need you after all.
"Homer J Simpson" wrote in message news:FT4Ig.19137$tP4.5587@clgrps12...
However, there are exceptions. Take cars. When I was first buying them back in the 70's, you were lucky to get 60,000 miles out of an engine, and had to have it serviced every 6000 miles. New plugs, new breaker points, new oil, new filters. It rained too hard, the engine stopped. Too cold ? Wouldn't start. Set of tyres ? 12,000 miles tops. Spluttering engine ? New distributor cap. New plug leads. Clutch ? 20,000 miles - less if you're a hill-holder. Transmission ? Synchro cones worn 60,000 miles. Brakes ? Not very good at the best of times. New shoes every 6,000 miles. Think about it now. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, cars probably cost less now than they did then. Engines now are still going strong at 120,000 miles. Major service intervals are 20,000 miles, and the EMUs work so well that even then, you wouldn't know that it needed a service. Modern synthetic oil just doesn't wear out or turn black. Only really needs topping up. Filters last for ages. There is cartloads of electronics - I think I read somewhere recently that there are over 200 microprocessors in a modern car. the reliability of this electronics, considering the hostile conditions that it has to work under, is unbelievable. Clutches these days just never wear out, no matter how much abuse you give them, and transmissions are as sweet as the day the manufacturer put them in, even after 100,000+ miles. Brakes nowadays are so good, and so reliable, that you can almost forget them for the life of the car.
So all in all, it can be done. A lot of what drives the crap electronics business, is the incredible rate at which development in the field is driven these days. Most consumer electronics goods these days, are seen as short-ownership items, whereas a car isn't. There are new developments coming out all the time now - faster than you can read about them, and Joe Consumer wants them - all ! So what's the point of building a VCR or whatever, that's going to last for 10 years, if by the time that it's a year or so old, there has been another three developments in the field, that you know your customer is going to want ?
When colour TV came in I used to set aside 4 hours to set up a set in a customer's home and tweak the thing into shape. Now you buy it and take it home and it works.
True, but a good product is hard to find used, I remember trying to buy a particular model car used and no private party was selling them. I finally found one way above the blue book, I went home to close the deal the next day and he had raised the price! why? He showed me the new blue value just realized with higher prices. He changed his mind and I could not get the extra money. That is the problem with good old stuff. The issue is really durable goods here, appliances and such. Things that are supposed to work at least 15 years are now at half. Sears is really the only good service I remember at least in the eighties. In collage we had a small sears air-conditioner that mounts in a houses window. We put it in our buick limited drivers side window and ran it of a gas generator on a rack. The airconditiner eventually burned out the compressor for lack of current. We went to sears ( year or so later) without proof of purchase and telling what we did and they replaced the compressor but warned that they will not do it again if we use it with low current.
That is well beyond any warranty I have ever heard of.
Though it really could use a bit of setup, especially for the nicer sets. Out of the box the brightness and contrast are cranked up so high it just about burns your eyes out, and you're lucky to get 5 years out of the CRT(s).
My neice had a TV set which died JUST (a day or so) after being a year old and out of warranty - of course! I called the company who "sold" the set - they said the set's manufacturer was now out of business. How convenient. Without a schematic - I went as far as I could - tested a few "suspect" parts to no avail. It had other issues too, but I've since corrected those. Still trying to get it going and find info.........
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