We should just stop buying new products.

[dodge man]

Just another observation, this seems to be a problem with electronics and appliances. Tractors, cars, and trucks seem to get repaired and not thrown out as easily.

 

[jyoutz]

Fixit shops are disappearing because locating parts is becoming too time consuming (labor too high). Had a broken headlight lens on a little JD 3032e. Called and ordered a new one, wrong part shipped 3 times. 4th was the right lens but “new and improved“ bulb holder that was not compatible with existing wiring. JD did not offer a fix for the problem, answer was sorry thats been discontinued. Ended up splicing and dicing wiring. Big deal? Tractor was less than 5 years old and under 700 hrs. Have a 1952 hay rake that’s still usable but the tractor to pull it wont last near as long.
Had a Poulan saw dropped off the other day, starts wont stay running. The plastic cage that holds the rewind assembly flexes under vibration loading down the motor.
Maybe frustration with fixing things is why some people opt for new. Others just dont have a clue how. Local machine shop, good luck. Places like Tractor Supply have more clothes and Knick knacks than hardware or tractor stuff because thats what sells.

Also, it often costs more to buy parts than a new machine, and ordering parts often takes weeks. I had a weed wacker with that situation: repairable, but a new one cost just $10 more than ordering parts, and I couldn’t wait weeks to use the machine. I threw away the old wacker and bought a new one.

 

[sea2summit]

Call me crazy but I think in the next 12-18 months you'll be seeing a lot more folks interested in fixing and maintaining what they have vs trying to find or afford a replacement.

 

[IndyJay]

Appliances are really bad as well. Had a double oven that was only a few years old, one of the touch keys stopped working. A new touchpad was a couple of hundred dollars if you could find one. I could never find one; discontinued.

 

[kenmbz]

I still try to fix things.
Just replaced the inverter/driver for my washing machine, again.
Win11 needs a TPM chip or won't install, making many usable computers into trash in the near future. Apple is doing the same as they move to more proprietary chips.

There are many sites for parts and getting used boards from Ebay has worked well.
I just bought a new PCB mount USB connector to fix one of my sons music boxes.

most new phones are difficult to fix, many it seems are on purpose.

 

[Reddogs]

Just another observation, this seems to be a problem with electronics and appliances. Tractors, cars, and trucks seem to get repaired and not thrown out as easily.

You just have to pay through the nose unless you can find a good mechanic or shop...

 

[Reddogs]

Call me crazy but I think in the next 12-18 months you'll be seeing a lot more folks interested in fixing and maintaining what they have vs trying to find or afford a replacement.

I will give all my PC desktops and laptops to any student to use, but most will say they want cellphones or iPads. None of that "old stuff"...

 

[Vigo327]

Consumerism / Consumer Culture / Consumption Culture.

I agree about all its ills, but stopping it has unintended consequences we've all been seeing during the pandemic.

 

[JasperFrank]

Reddogs. You can put a light Linux distro on computers going back to Intel 386 era machines. As stand alone devices they work just fine. Occasionally, I can bank serious coin fixing industrial processing machines, cause the new computers don't have the old ports and can't read the old media. If I was to give a suggestion to young people, as to a career path, I would say, learn all you can about Late 90's and early 2000's computers and the industrial machines they can run. The computer is nothing compaired to the 1/2 million dollar machine it controls. You can name your price, and get to travel all over the world on their dime.

 

[IndyJay]

Reddogs. You can put a light Linux distro on computers going back to Intel 386 era machines. As stand alone devices they work just fine. Occasionally, I can bank serious coin fixing industrial processing machines, cause the new computers don't have the old ports and can't read the old media. If I was to give a suggestion to young people, as to a career path, I would say, learn all you can about Late 90's and early 2000's computers and the industrial machines they can run. The computer is nothing compaired to the 1/2 million dollar machine it controls. You can name your price, and get to travel all over the world on their dime.

Not to mention all of the companies still running old software that will not run on newer (64 bit) OS.
Some old legacy systems cannot be easily upgraded or ported to newer platforms.
There is more of that than you might think.