Why does new equipment fail early

50Twuncle

Can anyone beat this ?

I have an old Nokia 9000i phone (the brick shaped /sized one) – originally purchased in 1997 – still used on occasion !!

My wife has an old Nokia phone – from 2001 – still in use every day

I have an Olivetti Laptop from 1996 – originally running Windows 95 – now upgraded but struggling on Windows XP – Still running

Plus in the kitchen – we have a Hoover washing machine – that has moved house with us, three times – and was given to me by my parents for my first house in 1985 - it was second hand then.... !!

We got rid of our 1960’s fridge, last year – it was still going strong – just the rubber door seal had finally decided to call it a day !!

The replacement is not going to last much out of its two year warranty – things are not designed to last these days

Why – Surely with resources running out and technology improving – things SHOULD be made to last longer than previously ?

Happygreen

50Twuncle wrote: »

Can anyone beat this ?

I have an old Nokia 9000i phone (the brick shaped /sized one) – originally purchased in 1997 – still used on occasion !!

My wife has an old Nokia phone – from 2001 – still in use every day

I have an Olivetti Laptop from 1996 – originally running Windows 95 – now upgraded but struggling on Windows XP – Still running

Plus in the kitchen – we have a Hoover washing machine – that has moved house with us, three times – and was given to me by my parents for my first house in 1985 - it was second hand then.... !!

We got rid of our 1960’s fridge, last year – it was still going strong – just the rubber door seal had finally decided to call it a day !!

The replacement is not going to last much out of its two year warranty – things are not designed to last these days

Why – Surely with resources running out and technology improving – things SHOULD be made to last longer than previously ?

I'm fully with you on this, obviously we are both of an age to remember better lasting products :rotfl:. Three reasons I can come up with:
1. You are supposed to upgrade/buy new products to keep the economy going.
2. People WANT new things, thinking new is better, effects of advertising and peer pressure.
3. MADE IN CHINA

anotherbaldrick

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27253103

molerat

I am using the built in fridge and oven that were here when we moved here in 1990, I assume they are the 1985 originals. My other fridge, which moved with us, is from 1981. The freezer we had to replace in 1995. Tumble drier was purchased when we moved here. The washing machine is 3 years old and the 3rd since living here. We also still use a free standing spin drier that we bought in 1974 !

rustyboy21

Also have a read of this


http://www.whitegoodstradeassociation.org/


Does explain a little at how things have changed. Also says consumers have forced the reduced prices, so that makes manufacture have to be cheaper.


If you think about it, 30 years ago a washing machine used to cost about 2-3 months salary, now you can get one for a average paersons weekly salary.

Nilrem

One thing to remember is that the older appliances were often in production (and tested for ages before sale*) for years, and cost a huge amount more in relation to your income than they do now.
They were often massively over engineered compared to what they are now, partly because of the fact they were expensive items.
Also newer devices are often much more complicated than older ones, thus more potential to go wrong.

For example my parents bought their first tumble dryer in about 1970, apparently it cost them £40ish (their house cost about £2000), and lasted years.
Our most recent tumble dryer cost £160, and the same house is worth about £150k...

The "testing" aspect is also part of the reason almost any technology used in space or for aerospace engineering is often quite a long way behind what is possible, or very very expensive compared to the consumer versions - it'll have been tested for years before use either specifically as testing, or it'll be tech that has been around in other uses for years and thus the design has been "tested" and the bugs worked out in normal use (from memory NASA ended up buying a load of old computers when they realised that they needed a specific CPU, as they needed spares for their spacecraft and it was far easier and cheaper to buy up and test old parts that were the same batch as their originals**, than to totally replace the the hardware they were using with the massive costs in extensive full testing for a complete new design, despite the fact the newer design would have been massively faster).

Unfortunately we, the consumer, like the new and shiny, and thus tend to ignore older models that will often have been in production and use for several years (thus that faulty control board in your washing machine which had it's design changed after 10% went faulty after six months..), because they're not the latest, which combined with the need to compete with other manufacturers means that we, the consumer are often guineepigs as the manufacturers testing phase has been cut right down.

In short, if you want reliable either pay more for better build quality, or look to get units that are more basic or have been in production for a while
One of the big problems with modem mobiles is that to make them smaller, cheaper and easier to produce they've done things like used glue rather than screws, and stopped making batteries easy to swap out (that little hatch to get to the battery is pain to work around for design and production...), and the modern large screens are far far more fragile than older small screens that didn't go from practically one edge of the device to the other.


*IIRC in the 50's and 60's it was reasonably common for employees of the likes of Indisit and Hoover to get pre-release versions of their products to test in a home enviroment, with feedback leading to changes in the final products (so that bearing on the motor that fails after 100 hours of realistic home use would be spotted and the design or part changed).

**I think it was 8086 or 8088 CPU's when they realised that some of their hardware that was due for retirement was going to keep being used for another 10 years, and Intel (the original chip manufacturer) had long since stopped production and run out of stock of the original part (there was an updated version, but it wasn't directly compatible and would have required a full test cycle).

50Twuncle

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

You might want to change your title ... you accidentally typed 'old' instead of 'new'.

People are now trained to buy the most modern look. As soon the equipment looks dated, it's replaced so it doesn't have to last.

Not just equipment, it's furniture too. I've been surprised to realize how often people replace their sofas nowadays If they get 5-10 years out of it they consider their purchase a success.

I'm comparing this to my parents' sofa which was bought in the 1960s, my sister's in 1979. Both still in use every day and my sister is very wealthy so replacement cost isn't an issue.

It's not just about new cheaper materials not lasting either. Mine were bought far more recently in the mid 90s (and were only a thousand pounds each so not particularly fabulous quality) and I think there's decades left in them yet.

Thanks - Changed title !!

cyclonebri1

50Twuncle wrote: »

Can anyone beat this ?

I have an old Nokia 9000i phone (the brick shaped /sized one) – originally purchased in 1997 – still used on occasion !!

My wife has an old Nokia phone – from 2001 – still in use every day

I have an Olivetti Laptop from 1996 – originally running Windows 95 – now upgraded but struggling on Windows XP – Still running

Plus in the kitchen – we have a Hoover washing machine – that has moved house with us, three times – and was given to me by my parents for my first house in 1985 - it was second hand then.... !!

We got rid of our 1960’s fridge, last year – it was still going strong – just the rubber door seal had finally decided to call it a day !!

The replacement is not going to last much out of its two year warranty – things are not designed to last these days

Why – Surely with resources running out and technology improving – things SHOULD be made to last longer than previously ?

Simply figure out what you paid back then and compare it to todays prices;);)

The simple answer is that we want cheap and we can't be assed to pay for the longterm, sad state of affairs to be honest.:A:A:A

wallbash

Looking at buying a new dishwasher, I can get a Miele that will last for 10 years, but will cost £1000, or I can get a Bosch for £350.
So I can get three Bosch for the price of a Miele .
If the Bosch lasts for more than 4 years ( 3 x 4 = 12). logic says go for the cheaper model . Also would hope that there will be model improvements on the way.

Mankysteve

Planed obsolescence as others have said

macman

Manufacturers can make far more profit selling new white goods every few years than repairing existing ones, so they price and design them accordingly.