They’ve also gotten more complex over time, increasing difficulty of repair.
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hobowillie@lemmy.world 2 months agoPeople also have survivorship bias with these things. Sure your refrigerator might have lasted forever but quite a few others did not. There is a reason why appliance repair places existed and were much more common than today.
Voyajer@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
That’s to increase perceived obsolescence, where it still works okay but the bells and whistles broke. Also why they put pretty colorful thread on fancy truck seats. Your ass wears it off and makes an $80k truck look ratty.
RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Right but often unnecessarily so. Nobody asked for “smart” fridges or washing machines.
frunch@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Exactly this!! The function of appliances hasn’t changed hardly at all since their inception: washers wash, dryers dry, refrigerators cool, ovens/stoves heat. No “smart” capabilities necessary, or at least nothing that simple mechanical controls and switches couldn’t handle.
booly@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Plus they’re cheaper, relative to repair professionals’ labor.
If a new refrigerator costs the same as 100 hours of skilled labor, then a 10 hour repair job (plus parts that cost the same as 1/10 of a refrigerator) will be economically feasible.
But if a new fridge costs the same as 20 hours of skilled labor, and the more complex parts come in more expensive assemblies, then there’s gonna be more jobs don’t pass a cost benefit threshold. As a category, refrigerator repair becomes unfeasible, and then nobody gets skilled in that field.
umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
yeah thats because they are made intentionally uneconomical and difficult to repair now
ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world 2 months ago
While that is true, items are purposely made unrepairable now. You don’t have right to repair movements because John Deere and Apple devices are so much more complex to repair for common failure points. You have those movements emerging because companies make it extremely difficult in the name of profit or style with equally skilled and capable repair personnel not being able to even partake in the process.