How long should a school bag last

billingeuk

Interesting conversation at Sports Direct today.
We bought a new backpack in September ahead of the new term.
3 and a half months later, two of the zips failed.
So, today, we took it back to the store.
Granted, the bag was a little dirty, although we'd attempted to clean it at least, but the issue was the broken zips rendering the bag unusable.
The store said, as it was a few months old, and itbwas clearly used, there was nothing they could do.
I asked, how long would they expect such a bag to last, and the response was, 4 months at most!
Really!?!
I would hope to see at least a year out of such a bag surely.
The manager said she bought at least 3 bags per year for her children.
Thankfully, after some calm discussion, it was agreed that a refund would be given, but had we not pushed and asked to speak to the manager, who was also suggesting 4 months was reasonable, we may have left with nothing.
Has anyone else encountered such an issue/response?
How long do your children's school bags last?

Emmia

Not a school bag, but I expect my work backpack (for papers, laptop... etc to last at least 5 years, (and more like 10)

I do spend money on my bags though, the current one is a Knomo costing £229

https://knomo.com/products/beaufort-laptop-backpack-black-119-410-blk2

Aylesbury_Duck

It depends on the cost. SD sell some very cheap stuff that is never going to stand up to typical use for long.

IvanOpinion

I used to go through at least one school bag a year. It probably didn't help that they got used as goalposts and sometimes the ball. Given it lasted less than 6 months I would definitely push for a new one though - not of suitable quality.

daveyjp

Army surplus canvas rucksacks with straps were all the rage our our school.  They lasted years and no zips to damage.

Grumpy_chap

Emmia said:

Not a school bag, but I expect my work backpack 

I suspect the typical school backpack is initially selected for value as a predominant decider in selection plus sees a far higher level of abuse than a work backpack:

• When was the last time you used your work bag as a make-shift goal post?
• Or football?
• Or had the bag taken off you and flushed down the toilet?
• Or over-stuffed it to the point the zips were literally bursting at the seams?
• Or over-loaded with heavy books that strain the bag even if the volume is not busting the bag?
• Or whacked someone with it?

Please note - comments are reference to what can happen to a typical bag and not necessarily specific in the case of the OP's child...

TELLIT01

I suspect zip failure is more likely to be caused by the bag being over stuffed and/or impatience on the part of the user when trying to open and close said zips.

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

Emmia said:

Not a school bag, but I expect my work backpack 

I suspect the typical school backpack is initially selected for value as a predominant decider in selection plus sees a far higher level of abuse than a work backpack:

• When was the last time you used your work bag as a make-shift goal post?
• Or football?
• Or had the bag taken off you and flushed down the toilet?
• Or over-stuffed it to the point the zips were literally bursting at the seams?
• Or over-loaded with heavy books that strain the bag even if the volume is not busting the bag?
• Or whacked someone with it?

Please note - comments are reference to what can happen to a typical bag and not necessarily specific in the case of the OP's child...

The point is that cheap back packs for school or whatever tend to die more quickly.  But my own school bags lasted substantially longer, 1 year?

Bags like this for school / work whatever often fall into the camp of "buy cheap, buy twice"

Ergates

Sports direct tend to sell low quality crap, so you wouldn't expect a bag (or anything) bought from them to last forever, especially as kids don't tend to take particularly good care of their schoolbags.

However, 3 months is very quick for something to fail - I think your expectation of a year is probably fair.  Obviously depending on how the child in question.

marcia_

 My son's bag lasted the same time, I just bought a new one. It wasn't an expensive brand and it's simply through being rough and overuse, in and out if it all day. 

strawb_shortcake

We've still got rucksacks that are probably getting on for 30 years old, but haven't been used daily for a long time. 

My Children however tend to take every book to school every day and completely overload them and this has seen new bags usually required each year. 

I was quite impressed with Smiggle, my Son used that for two years before that was no longer usable. But probably not that suitable for older teens