Between 2013 and 2023, Americans’ spending on home appliances increased by 53%. Adjusted for inflation, that’s an increase of $390 per year to $558. But over the same period, the cost of home appliances fell by 12%.
Does such a thing ever happen?
Now, as wall street journal explainone of the “reasons for the discrepancy between” [higher] expenditure and [lower] The price has a high exchange rate[.]”
In just two years, “Yelp users requested 58% more quotes from thousands of appliance repair companies last month than in January 2022.”
“The situation is becoming more and more complex, making repairs more difficult and more expensive,” said a home appliance repair expert. journal. This means that “when a complex machine breaks down, engineers have a much harder time understanding what went wrong.” And when the problem is finally diagnosed, “consumers are often left with repairs that cost more than half the replacement cost, rendering the machine worthless.”
This can be seen everywhere, not just in home appliances. We see it in cars, electronic devices, and even our own homes.
Part of it has to do with our fascination with gadgets, our desire for all the bells and whistles. However, some of them are regulated. If the federal government requires a certain level of energy efficiency, the only way to achieve it is by leveraging a number of technologies. Now we are burdened with “.[h]High-efficiency motors and compressors also use less energy and can therefore be less demanding. ”
more:
Peel back the plastic on a modern refrigerator or washing machine and you’ll find some sensors and switches that were missing from refrigerators and washing machines from 10 years ago. According to engineers, these additional components ensure that the appliance uses only the energy and water needed for the task at hand. But they say more parts tend to fail sooner.
When I was in high school in the early 1980s, I spent all 12 weeks of my summer working and living on my grandparents’ small dairy farm. One day, I saw my grandmother putting a toaster in her car. I asked her what she was doing. She told me to have it repaired. I was shocked at the time too. No one fixed the toaster. we threw them away. She explained that her toaster is 40 years old and her $15 repair will give it another 40 years of service, which is much cheaper than replacing it every five years. Its toaster is all metal, dictionary-heavy, and simply designed.
Hey, I remember when my TV broke and my dad ordered me to open it and test the vacuum tubes. There were about a dozen of them. At the drug store down the street, tube tester It is located next to the display with all the necessary replacement tubes.
When my wife and I first got together, I remember replacing the washer motor, dryer belt, and stove thermocouple.
No real skill was required as anyone with half a brain could open one of these and see how it worked.
today? It’s all computer electronics. What exactly does a “display” do?
This is all by design. American religion is now consumerism. We have changed from a country that makes things to a country that buys things. The crazy idea that instead of building self-worth through family, faith, accomplishments, and friendships, we must remain celibate, form meaningless relationships through social media, abort children, consume, and continue to consume. has been accepted. For many of us, a broken appliance is less of a problem and more of an opportunity to experience the rush of endorphins that comes with tapping Amazon’s “Buy Now” prompt.
How do you know that? Because you’re not immune. far cry.
Another terrible consequence of this consumer self-worship is the loss of skilled traders. Instead of living a good life and experiencing the meaning that comes from fixing appliances, televisions, vacuum cleaners, and toasters, our young people waste shelves and stand behind the cash register. . In other words, pure castration.
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