Appliance Compliance

[talktooloose]

First of all, thank you for the support around dealing with my brother. It would seem that setting boundaries was effective. He arrived (unannounced, but what else is new) on Tuesday with the VCR in a great mood showing no apparent rancour. I will take this as a sign that I can, in fact, set boundaries in the future. I rewarded him with fresh pesto sauce, scratched him behind the ears and said, "goooooood brother".

The VCR ended up needing $75 in repairs and it had to be done to retreive the tape. But in reality, I don't mind. This old RCA was purchased in around 1993 and is still going strong. The idea of an appliance lasting 13 years is now considered ridiculous. The modern model is cheap initial price and landfill in two or three years.

This is a model that makes me see red. It's hard to describe the fury this puts me in as I witness a witless parade of human waste being put forward as an appropriate lifestyle.

I have to confront this today as my two year old Panasonic microwave has just died for the second time. When it died after only three months, the repairman told me that Panasonic was great because they never challenged warranty repairs. Beyond that, he said, it is just as crappy as every brand out there.

Clearly, I will not be able to leave the repair shop without spending another $75 even if the part being replaced costs pennies. What I'm supposed to do at this point is toss the unit into landfill (or rather, have my tax dollars spent to haul it to landfill and then truck it somewhere where it will pollute the land) and go spend $150 on a new one. Rinse. Repeat.

Anyone have any suggestions on how I can break this cycle? I've said before that I would happily spend twice as much to have something that lasted 15 years — but twice as much only seems to get you designer crap with a brushed-aluminum finish.

Comments

[corduroyarmy.livejournal.com]

fix it yourself!
most of the time when something goes wrong with a machine, it's something simple, but (due in part to that model you mentioned where things are thrown out) since people don't immediately know how to fix it, they assume it's doable only by someone who knows the mystic arts of small repair.
So anyway, I say take it apart and try and get it on the go again, but that's just me.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Good point. I do that with lots of things (plumbing, for instance) but I haven't really learned much about electronics. How would you figure if it was a capacitor or a framahoozis? Or then entire electro-bamboozler gone out of whack?

[painglass.livejournal.com]

VCRs- I have one give to me by D right before he moved to Philly. Its from 1983 or something (as old as I am!) and, except for having the panel that covers the front buttons missing, works better then my roommates 2004 model. Yay tried and true stuff!

Microwaves- Mine had a life of about 9 months. What i suggest is putting it up on Craigslist Toronto(is there such a thing?) for free, then looking around at garage sales (also, craigslist or freecycle for your area) and seeing if anyone has an older microwave- say 1980's or early 90's. Assuming no one puts metal into it, that 'wave'll probably last you much longer then its newer counterpart.

Waste- I agree! It upsets me to throw things away, which is why I freecycle and craigslist things alot. Also, I like to curb shop for furniture and such. Why let a perfectly awesome chair/trunk/lamp/etc go to the landfill when often all that's needed is a little spray paint or a good scrubbing? bah!