I have worked for two family owned businesses. One a twenty million dollar business and the other 80 million dollar. I still work for the last one, but it was acquired by a billion dollar, publically traded business. The ethos and work environment are very different between a family owned and publically owned business. There were years in the family owned business where the owners invested millions of their own dollars in the business and i know that they made less money in those years. You could walk ip to owner and talk with him. You could tell him there were problems with a product that needed to be fixed or improved. He actually listened and spent money on improving the product. We never felt the pressure to cheapen the product to make more money, but keep the price the same or lower. We made a lot of the parts in house. Outsourced machining was usually done locally, not made somewhere in china. A lot of that mentality changed once the company was acquired. Lots of systems and processes changed to meet the new owners priorities. The new owners were not a family. They were an invenment company. No one family owner who saw the company and its employees as part of a larger family. So I dont agree with your premis that private companies are chasing quartely profits. They for sure track them, but there is no preasure pf losing your job if you have a couple down quarters or a year. That makes a world of difference in how the compies are run and how employees are treated.

I agree with Cynic. It really depends on your needs. Make a list of your personal needs by priority and go from there. I went from a TL to a FL but that is beacuse my number one priority at the time was the water rates went up so high here it was getting to the point I couldn't afford to wash my clothes. My water bill was cut in half and the FL paid for itself in savings within 10 months. Some of the basic advantages and disadvantages I noticed are as follows: Advantages of my TL 1) My TL rinsed way better than my FL. 2) It was way easier to find detergents for my TL than my FL. 3) The water temperatures on my TL worked way better than the ones on my FL. 4) The wash cycles were faster so I was able to catch up on laundry quicker. 5) No mold issues. Advantages of my FL 1) Saving a lot of money on water use. 2) Can do much larger loads, even comforters. 3) Gentler on my clothes. Our clothes have been lasting much longer. 4) Spins more water out of laundry lessening drying time in my dryer which is saving me on electricty when I have to use my dryer. 5) Stainless steel drum so no more rust spots. (drum in my TL had a nick in the porcelin coating so I ended up with rust spots on several articles of clotheing.) As far as servicing, they are kinda running neck and neck on that one. Both had to be serviced multiple times when I first got both, but the TL only lasted 2 years. It was really inexpensive when I got it so it served it's purpose, and the replacement parts were dirt cheap so it made it easy for do it yourself repair. My FL is covered under warranty, but most of the stuff that has gone wrong with it has been relatively inexpensive parts wise and the inside is so basic it looks very fixable for an owner to do oneself. Cleaning performance? They are neck and neck. Neither one was/is fantastic, and neither was/is horrible. Both did/do the job well enough. For reference, my TL was a low end, real basic Kenmore. My FL is what you would class as a low end, real basic Frigidaire Affnity.

My 10 cents worth: -it must clean clothes (stating the obvious) -absolutely can't leak (we value our house) -must stay in one place when run (again - we value our house) -reliable (you press go - it goes) -durable (they are expensive, you don't want to have to buy one every 3-4 years) -must be a reasonable cost for the projected life expectancy (I require 12-20 yrs) -cycles must be quick (laundry at my house never ends) -must deal with out of balance loads (I wash lots of rugs, shoes, etc) -must offer at least a normal and delicate cycle (wife relates to concept of delicate) -must be energy efficient (money doesn't grow on trees last I checked) -should spin out at least to 300G (I pay for the drying) -has to be simple to operate (no rocket scientists in our house) -must be easy to load and unload (I'm not getting any younger) -must be reasonably quiet (mine is on the first floor, but I can shut a door) -must be offered in materials and colors that are timeless (1970s orange, green,...nasty) -exterior must be easy to keep clean (detergent compartment in particular) -exterior appearance should withstand 20 years of use (and interior for that matter) -should be easy to install and later remove (I do my own appliance installs) -parts must be available when needed (again laundry at my house never ends) -qualified service personnel must be available (doesn't do wash when it won't run) -must come from a company on firm financial ground (see parts and service notes above) -must come from a customer focused company (decisions based on customer needs, not company needs) Things that may have some value to the right person (based on quite a few posters here): -adjustable end-of-cycle signal, at least one loud enough to hear 30 feet away -electric heater - for the times the $&@# hits the fan and you need to nuke the germs -nice styling (ours is in a back room that nobody sees when visiting) -pretty colors (although I would rate stainless steel more timeless) -steam functionality (not sure how this works - see electric heater) -built in detergent/softener/bleach storage and dispensing Always a tough decision since you need to live with it for years unlike the purchase of a vacation. Like picture-in-pictures hocked as a gotta have on TVs 10-15 years ago, do you really need all the bells and whistles touted by the sales guys on the floor? It's just laundry at the end of the day, and we would all prefer to be doing something different if given the choice. laundryvet

OK! Speed Queen, delivered and installed, all taxes, "in the house sitting where is needs to be with old machine gone" price: $2,812.57 - (Canadian) this one https://ca.speedqueen.com/products/front-load-washers.aspx?mn=AFNE9BSP113CW01#build-your-own  Has induction motor! Wow! That is real - deal thinking -cap on engineering- 5 year all in warranty and designed for 20 years. Not denying Miele also has some real - deal engineering and I would admit Miele probably even a better build but not a tank like Speed Queen. Miele- excellent but too small for the 120 volt one, and quite a bit of money - I noted comment about doing laundry all weekend. It was at least $500 more and it was tiny. So it was out. Electrolux - suitable machine no doubt about it- more features- very easy to use controls- unlike 'guessing at kind of' on the SQ.. And Elctrolux has alight in it -kind of neat! - and steam clean - an excellent machine. and could be installed for at or about $1,200 all in. So why not Electrolux but Speed Queen? 1, Vastly and self- evidently better build quality; 2, This! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_motor