Had a weird talk with a customer in Bakersfield about his fridge

This guy called me out for a noisy compressor, and while I was checking the charge he asked if I ever felt bad 'fixing things that are meant to break'. He said his last fridge lasted 22 years, but his new one made it 5. It made me think about all the planned obsolescence stuff we see daily. What's the oldest appliance you've kept running with repairs?

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3 Comments

ray_miller415mo ago

Planned obsolescence is a bit overblown. Newer stuff is just more complex and runs harder, so it wears out faster. My parents' microwave is from the 90s and still works fine.

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jamie_white5mo ago

From the 90s" proves my point, not yours. That old microwave is simple and built to last. New stuff is designed to fail faster so you buy again.

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joelh645mo ago

Yeah, just buy commercial grade stuff. It's built to handle constant use.

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