How'd you get in this house?
Big fridges - make ya wanna buy more stuff that goes bad and ends up getting tossed.

Those hard plastic shrink wrapped packages. I cut myself every time trying to open those things.
Cellophane wrapping around CD/DVD's
Any cheap a** appliance they make now. Washer/dryer/frig/freezer/vacuum/television, the list goes on and on.
They used to last 25 years. Now they last 2.

Warranties that really aren't warranties. They never seem to cover the part that breaks. Everything else is covered but oh no, not the part I need!

Touch tone phones that NEVER let you speak to a human being.

"Any cheap a** appliance they make now. Washer/dryer/frig/freezer/vacuum/television, the list goes on and on.
They used to last 25 years. Now they last 2."

Wow...this is a timely post. Our FL washing machine sprung a leak so we had the appliance repairman out last night to see what was going on. We've been using this gentleman for quite a few years ad he's very honest, straightforward, and resonable. He said that the bearing was going and it's not worth fixing because the repair would cost around $450. Holy cow! So I told him that the machine is only 7 1/2 years old. He said that the newer appliances are built with "planned obsolescence" in mind and the average life-span for a washer is between 7-8 years. Not like the older ones where they'd last 12-15 years. He also said that we were smart in buying a basic model because many folks think that if they spend twice as much on a top of the line as opposed to spending half the amount on a basic model it should last twice as long. Uh-uh, because that's just not so.

A year old toaster that we had to throw out because the bread or whatever wouldn't stay down but kept popping up. I can remember toasters that lasted forever. Not no more.

He said that the newer appliances are built with "planned obsolescence" in mind

Reminds me of my buddy who sells high end laser printers... I was blown away when he told me my high end color laser printer's chip was factory programmed to shut down after a certain number of prints. No way to replace chip or reprogram, must replace entire printer!

Another reminder... anybody heard those "Just Brakes" radio ads? Pads and shoes... "designed to wear out" UGH!

When we first were married 25 years ago my dad gave us his Hoover vacuum that my mother purchased in the 40's. He purchased a new Hoover. Every time I spoke with him he told me that the old one was twice the machine. DH used it until 1995 when dad passed away. Dad taught him early on that vacuuming and washing floors was not a woman's job.
He still misses that old Hoover with all the attachments. LOL

With the prices of ink cartridges you can buy a new printer anyway! Cartridges for my printer cost almost $50.I put $20. with it and got a new one,cartridges included! LOL

Sounds a bit like ...

... they give ya the car free ...

... and charge ya $10.00/gal. for gas (and they're the only purveyor of gas in the country).

I think that those expensive cartridges stink.

And printers preprogrammed to shoot themselves after so many thousand impressions ... even worse!

Let's give 'em hell!

How be we haul all the old printers to the headquarters and throw 'em through the windshield of the boss' car!

One per week.

Till his insurance co. won't cover him (her?) any more!

Seventy years ago there were horse-drawn wagons in town hauling ice to put blocks into "ice-boxes" a couple of times a week. Farmers had to settle for a pan of cold water in the basement - or cut and store their own ice in sawdust (sawmills nearby), which some did.

Sixty years ago they began building fridges.

Fifty years ago they made fridges that lasted 40 years.

No longer.

It costs a good deal of money to mine ore, haul it to smelter, then to a factory to roll metal into sheets, then to another place to press the sheets into formed items, then haul them to the factory where they're assembled, and then to the store to sell to you.

And all of that jiggledy-pokery costs a great deal of precious energy (plus smelters are energy hogs). And adds to the pollution of air and water. And land as well - I live within 2 miles of a landfill that was recently bought by a big city ($220 mill.). Not to mention the adding to global warming ... are there still people out there who claim that to be a fairy tale?

So - they recycle the metal in the appliances/cars/ etc.??

It costs a lot to haul the junk to the smelter - and, like I said, it costs a lot to re-melt the flat steel, as well. Plus takes a lot of energy. Pollutes. Heats the atmosphere.

Unnecessary - if they built them properly in the first place.

I hope that these damn fools that are being so profligate with our precious resources don't have grandkids - cause there's a day of reckoning coming, and it isn't going to be fun for the inhabitants of the currently rich world.

They don't need guns - just cheap labour.

The Berlin Wall didn't work.

The Israeli one won't, either.

Same for the one along the Rio Grande.

A major reason?

People here are too uppity/lazy to do menial jobs, e.g. picking tomatoes, making beds.

When you're busy diggin' your own grave ... the first/best thing that you can do is ... quit diggin'!!

End of rant!

Gg-g-rr-r-r-u-u-mm-m-pp-p-p!!!

ole joyful

FYI, there is a printer - I think Kodak that just came out that uses $15 cartridges. The expensive part is the chip that is attached to the cartridge. This new printer has the chip in the printer itself, thereby reducing the price of the ink. I still think that's high, but much better than $50!! I just did as you, and purchased a new printer for an additional $50!!

Appliances with built in computers- ya' pay for service call & diagnostic test on appliances, then pay again when part arrives. (You can bet I'd never have bought that darn fridge had I known it, but am now told ALL W/D's and fridges do.)

Cars that require mechanic shops/dealer's "lift" to replace spark plugs & cost a fortune! Last trip to have plugs replaced, transmission serviced, etc. was over $300!
Suzi

That's my main complaint too...the newer cars are just about impossible to work on yourself. In the past, my husband could always do just about any of the work. Now everything is so tightly crammed in there, you can forget that.