Planned Obsolescence- "an article which refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business"

[coconut]

This topic stems from the TV thread but deserves its own thread. The quote in the title of this thread is from a business journal from the 1920s. There are so many examples of items we buy that were designed not to last. Now many people are accustomed to being used and abused as a consumer. Would like to know your experience with items you had to buy over and over.

 

[coconut]

Your inkjet printer was designed to fail but not in the way you might think.

View: https://youtu.be/ycD4XkUtbIw

 

[coconut]

Excellent documentary about the topic of Planned Obsolescence. Most likely everyone has experienced the examples in this documentary.

View: https://youtu.be/vrMfq5tep5M

 

[ozarkram]

For me the problems have not so much been things wearing out too soon but instead not working from the get go. I purchased a Murray weedeater a few years ago. Simply would not work, right out of the box. Weedeaters are not that complicated. I was pissed. So I took it to the my local small engine repair guy and got educated. I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. He said your not doing anything wrong its junk. Now growing up Murray was a pretty solid name brand. So I was kinda shocked. He went on to explain to me that many of the old trusted brand names had been bought up by one or two companies who crank this crap out then slap a name on it. People buy them believing they are getting quality and instead its junk. He finally got it running but told me it wasn't worth a dime. He was right never worked right. Another purchase several years ago was a Hoover vacuum. Supposed to be their top of the line. Bought it directly from Hoover. You guessed it Hoover isn't Hoover anymore. Dam thing never worked. The first time we tried, it overheated right down to the power cord. So hot you could not touch it. I wont go into all the trouble I went to, to try and return it. I will just say as a consumer I have never been treated as badly as I was by the so called Hoover company. They can still kiss all of my ass.

 

[coconut]

For me the problems have not so much been things wearing out too soon but instead not working from the get go. I purchased a Murry weedeater a few years ago. Simply would not work, right out of the box. Weedeaters are not that complicated. I was pissed. So I took it to the my local small engine repair guy and got educated. I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. He said your not doing anything wrong its junk. Now growing up Murry was a pretty solid name brand. So I was kinda shocked. He went on to explain to me that many of the old trusted brand names had been bought up by one or two companies who crank this crap out then slap a name on it. People buy them believing they are getting quality and instead its junk. He finally got it running but told me it wasnt worth a dime. He was right never worked right. Another purchase several years ago was a Hoover vacuum. Supposed to be their top of the line. Bought it directly from Hoover. You guessed it Hoover isnt Hoover anymore. Dam thing never worked. The first time we tried, it overheated right down to the power cord. So hot you could not touch it. I wont go into all the trouble I went to, to try and return it. I will just say as a consumer I have never been treated as badly as I was by the so called Hoover company. They can still kiss all of my ass.

Murray was acquired by Briggs in 2005 and MTD began making "Murray" products in 2012. MTD is not known for quality. The Craftsman mower I just bought was made by MTD and I hope to get 5 years out of it. I'm still looking for a good used older Toro since I expect to be disappointed with the MTD mower. For all gas powered equipment I've gone with Stihl the last 20 years and have never been disappointed. Great performance and easy to maintain. Well worth the extra cost. Nothing is worse than getting everything in place to work and then your equipment decides not to.

 

[ozarkram]

Murray was acquired by Briggs in 2005 and MTD began making "Murray" products in 2012. MTD is not known for quality. The Craftsman mower I just bought was made by MTD and I hope to get 5 years out of it. I'm still looking for a good used older Toro since I expect to be disappointed with the MTD mower. For all gas powered equipment I've gone with Stihl the last 20 years and have never been disappointed. Great performance and easy to maintain. Well worth the extra cost. Nothing is worse than getting everything in place to work and then your equipment decides not to.

Bought a lower end Stihl chainsaw last year. No problems great warranty. And service. But where is the steel all plastic?

 

[FaulkSF]

Products that always seem to break quickly or shoddy craftsmanship:
Hoover
Most anything Wal-Mart
Black and Decker (not who they once were)
90s Ford

Products I'll trust:
Dyson
Ryobi
Toro

 

[coconut]

Bought a lower end Stihl chainsaw last year. No problems great warranty. And service. But where is the steel all plastic?

If you mean why is the Stihl all plastic? Well it ISN'T. If yours is all plastic then it isn't a Stihl!
I'm sure you are referring to the use of plastic for impact resistance, safety be it heat or moving parts and of course to reduce weight. I own five Stihl gas equipment and each one was designed to take hard continuous use and have done so in my usage. I've never known anyone disappointed with their Stihl.

 

[coconut]

Products that always seem to break quickly or shoddy craftsmanship:
Hoover
Most anything Wal-Mart
Black and Decker (not who they once were)
90s Ford

Products I'll trust:
Dyson
Ryobi
Toro

Ryobi is low end so I'd like to know which tools you have had good luck and how hard were they used? Black and Decker is a sad story. I still pick up the stuff from the '80s if I don't expect the tool to be used a lot. Their newer stuff is practically disposable.

 

[LesBaker]

Products that always seem to break quickly or shoddy craftsmanship:
Hoover
Most anything Wal-Mart
Black and Decker (not who they once were)
90s Ford

Products I'll trust:
Dyson
Ryobi
Toro

Many years ago, as in about 13, I did a deal with Home Depot that netted me $5,000 in gift cards. It wasn't the first time I had done a deal like that but that was the largest, the other 2 times were $2,500.

So we went on a MAJOR spree at Home Depot. One of the things we got was a Dyson Animal. When we got home I was curious about how well it would perform so I busted out the vacuum and emptied out the chamber and thoroughly vacuumed the carpet in the living room. Which was pretty large. Then I broke out the Dyson..........and wow was I surprised. It took out a lot of stuff the other vacuum had not picked up. Probably about 25% of what he original had picked up.

 

[Pancake]

All the tools are made by the same few companies nowadays. I used to think Dewalt, Stanley, Craftsman, Black and Decker and Porter Cable were all separate companies. They are all made by Stanley and not in the USA. Good luck finding any tools made in the USA. Even when they have names like Milwaulkee they are not made here.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Bought a lower end Stihl chainsaw last year. No problems great warranty. And service. But where is the steel all plastic?

Stihl....... three chainsaws dead, repairing is more costly than buying new. Weed whackers - try 4 and they all die and the cost to repair is more than the cost to buy new

SHITE I SAYS

 

[EastRam]

Biggest thing with weed wackers..is the carb. You can get a replacement carb for about 20 bucks on ebay or Amazon.

Of course back in the day we would rebuild the carbs for a few bucks.

So the next time your weedy wacky wacks out and doesn't start and your handy. Order youself a replacement carb and use it for a couple more years.

 

[FaulkSF]

Ryobi is low end so I'd like to know which tools you have had good luck and how hard were they used? Black and Decker is a sad story. I still pick up the stuff from the '80s if I don't expect the tool to be used a lot. Their newer stuff is practically disposable.

Drill bits for odd jobs around the house. They lasted three times as long as black and decker bits.

 

[LesBaker]

Stihl....... three chainsaws dead, repairing is more costly than buying new. Weed whackers - try 4 and they all die and the cost to repair is more than the cost to buy new

SHITE I SAYS

I've never seen a WW that wasn't junk.

 

[Q729]

...You guessed it Hoover isn't Hoover anymore. Dam thing never worked.

 

[coconut]

Stihl....... three chainsaws dead, repairing is more costly than buying new. Weed whackers - try 4 and they all die and the cost to repair is more than the cost to buy new

SHITE I SAYS

That is unprecedented in my experience. Assuming you are mixing to the correct gas to oil ratio perhaps you are not using 100% gas? I don't care what the manual says I only run or mix with 100% gas. I can't get past your "three chainsaws dead"! All bought new?

 

[coconut]

I've never seen a WW that wasn't junk.

Best performance is the straight shaft. I have a curved shaft but it expected to do a lot. Yes Les I know how that reads!

 

[FaulkSF]

I've never seen a WW that wasn't junk.

My black and decker was great for about a year until the battery charger died. So technically it wasn't the ww it was the battery charger.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

That is unprecedented in my experience. Assuming you are mixing to the correct gas to oil ratio perhaps you are not using 100% gas? I don't care what the manual says I only run or mix with 100% gas. I can't get past your "three chainsaws dead"! All bought new?

Yes. All new and the vendor was just down the road. We got to know each other well.
We did use them pretty good to clear tons of cedar for hours and hours on end. But still — they broke all the time. Would up and stop working suddenly. We kept good care of them but to be honest most we hadn’t even had that long. Most of the time they were under warranty but a few times it was just like a month past.

I got this push weed whacker that was awesome though before I sold the place. I loved that thing for pastures.