General > General Technical Chat
Right to repair, my problem with it
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langwadt:

--- Quote from: TimFox on July 22, 2021, 05:37:11 pm ---Exactly.  GM wanted each consumer to purchase a new car every two years so they could produce new cars accordingly.  Eventually, the used cars purchased by later owners would be recycled at scrap yards as the money continued to flow.  GM’s share of the money was mainly at the sale of new cars.

--- End quote ---

of consumers wanted a new, better, bigger, faster, etc. every couple of years and manufacturers were happy to oblige   
langwadt:

--- Quote from: bdunham7 on July 22, 2021, 05:23:03 pm ---
--- Quote from: TimFox on July 22, 2021, 04:31:10 pm ---“Planned obsolescence” was a strategy adopted by the American car-making oligopoly after the War.  By 1955, the average length of car ownership had fallen to two years from five years in 1934, as reported by GM.

--- End quote ---

Average length of new car ownership, perhaps?  Those 2-year old cars weren't scrapped and their trade-in value was a major driver of sales.  There's a difference between obsolescence caused by the introduction of new and better products versus that caused by cheap, unsupported crap breaking in ways that can't be fixed. 

As for what constitutes 'obsolete', it depends on the product.  Often high-quality products that lasts longer also perform better, such as appliances and cars.  My 'old' cars are comfortable and reliable and I can live without bluetooth or navigation.  My old garage fridge can't browse the web or text me when my milk has expired, but it cools and freezes very efficiently.  I'd be very unhappy if I had to scrap either over the unavailability of some small part.  OTOH, hardly anyone wants their old bag or brick phone back.

--- End quote ---

but then a new car is substantially safer and a new fridge uses less power
TimFox:
Back in the 1950s, next year’s car had bigger tail fins.
J K Galbraith, my favorite economist of the 1960s, pointed out that the lack of price competition between the major US manufacturers was not as bad as it sounds, since they competed instead by technical improvements, by which we made progress.
Fixed_Until_Broken:
Don't boot me for spam but I made a funny one today. I just was reading this thread and was like you know what guns don't have this problem.
bdunham7:

--- Quote from: langwadt on July 22, 2021, 06:00:25 pm ---but then a new car is substantially safer and a new fridge uses less power

--- End quote ---

Not necessarily and not significantly in the cases of my car and fridge.  Progress is these areas, like many others, is 'lumpy' and some products are way out ahead of others--it isn't a smooth continuous improvement unless you are looking at aggregate statistics.  If you compared the most safe car from a decade or so ago with the most safe one(s) from today, there might be some improvement.  If you compare the most safe cars from a decade or so with the average today, you would not see any improvement, quite the opposite.

Modern fridges are a different story.  If you move up to an inverter drive, that I would concede is a significant improvement.  If not, you are likely just buying some extra insulation and cheaper, lighter heat exchange components for a 10-20% improvement.  If my fridge was a decade older, or hadn't been a higher-end model at the time, the numbers would all be different as it would be a power hog.

In any case, IMO both products are still well worth keeping, using and if need be, repairing--within reason. 
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