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New UK plan "could spell end of throwaway culture" (BBC News)
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SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on March 12, 2020, 12:47:27 am ---Some alternate economics.  That twenty year old beater may only be worth $1500.  And a new transmission might cost $2000 or more.  So many will say it isn't worth it to put a new transmission in.  And I agree if you are a re-seller.  You will never recover your costs.  But if you are a user of transportation you already own a vehicle, which unfortunately doesn't work right now.  So your choices are to buy a new (presently working) beater for about $1500 which will have an unknown service life.  Or put $2000 into your beater and have a known good transmission and perhaps reason to believe other parts are working well.  Or put $25,000 into a new vehicle (which will also have higher insurance, licensing and other costs).  With this analysis it might well make sense to put that transmission in.

Seems like the "throwaway" moniker needs to be used with some care and precision.  From the 1970's to the 1990's personal computers made no sense to repair.  Because technology was moving so fast that by the time something broke you didn't want it anyway.  As performance growth slowed repairing/upgrading made more sense.  Improved efficiency in freezers and air-conditioners has reduced operating costs enough to make replacement make economic sense.  Adding costs to the disposal chain (which I believe is the mechanism for these attacks on throw away culture) may actually make sense.  But it puts you in the uncomfortable position of forcing continued use old, inefficient devices because it costs too much to dispose of them.  Dumping CO2 into the atmosphere to avoid dumping plastic in the landfills.

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Yes, I agree with this analysis.  The cost of actually changing a vehicle (time, risk, and $$$) can make it worth spending "theoretically too much" to fix.
james_s:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on March 12, 2020, 02:53:56 am ---Yes, I agree with this analysis.  The cost of actually changing a vehicle (time, risk, and $$$) can make it worth spending "theoretically too much" to fix.

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It almost always makes sense provided you have taken reasonable care of the rest of the car. I've never understood the "but it costs more to fix than the vehicle is worth". So what? With few exceptions a car is not an investment, you're always going to pour much more money into it than you get back out later if you sell it. That's especially true if you buy brand new cars, you lose tens of thousands of dollars in value. I don't even know how I'd manage to spend that much repairing my car. I don't care how much I could sell it for because I'm never going to sell it, I'll spend the money to maintain it and just keep driving it until someone hits me and wrecks it again.
Cyberdragon:

--- Quote from: james_s on March 12, 2020, 02:44:33 am ---I don't see the issue with retrofit LED bulbs. I retrofitted my entire house from 2011-2013 and can count on one hand the bulbs I've replaced since then. Even the ones that have run dusk till dawn every night in my porch lights and other outside lights are still going strong. I bought quality bulbs from Philips and Cree and they have served me very well, and I didn't have to throw away all my nice fixtures. Additionally since they all use standard sockets, changing the light output, color temperature, or other characteristics is as simple as changing a bulb.

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I don't see a problem with LED bulbs either...

*Buys cheap bulbs from dollar store like most average folk*

They seem to last just fine...

*porch light burns out after just a few years*

Ok...nevermind...

 ::)
bd139:
Some of them are pretty crappy to be honest. Usual failure mode I see is the thermal compound being applied poorly and one of the LED chips burns out. That is as always due to them being really shit bottom rung units made to a price point so they can be sold to idiots in dollar stores / pound shops though.

Our race to the bottom economics are the reason these things exist. Plus you make more money shipping volume than quality so the incentive to make barely fit for purpose products with a high margin and guaranteed repeat customers is higher than single shot products.

Real problems that we need to deal with are these though:

1. Disposable kids toys
2. Printer cartridges
3. Retail and food packaging
4. Deep supply chains

Edit: just on a point here. I buy Philips bulbs and they’re all nearly 10 years old now and still good. The aforementioned idiots actually bring me their £1 light bulbs and then ask me to fix them because they’ve seen an oscilloscope sitting on my desk  :-DD :palm:
tom66:

--- Quote from: blueskull on March 12, 2020, 07:20:04 am ---That's stupid, and I can't comprehend that. And I've never seen that.
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Perhaps the idea is not something the Chinese would accept but these are everywhere in the UK and the very idea of throwing away a perfectly reusable Li-Ion cell and DC-DC converter, with all the plastic casing components after just two hours of use just disgusts me.
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