What Happened to being able to get small parts?

[chim]

Buy it - break it - toss it - buy another has become a standard. Gone are the days when you could take a mixer or toaster to the repair shop down the street and get it fixed at a reasonable price.

 

[jyoutz]

Buy it - break it - toss it - buy another has become a standard. Gone are the days when you could take a mixer or toaster to the repair shop down the street and get it fixed at a reasonable price.

If it takes 1 hour of labor time to fix a small appliance, is it cost effective to pay someone to fix it?

 

[ultrarunner]

Nope…

Only way it works out is if you have the time and derive satisfaction doing it.

With labor rates let alone the cost of parts and freight and the time it takes many things are now disposable.

When I managed a fair amount of low income rentals the amount of after Christmas toys tossed was eye opening.

A little girl with her pink Barbie Bike was so happy on Christmas…

A few months later I saw the bike in the dumpster and thought a mistake.

I asked the mom and she said she put it in… I was baffled.

The mom said the tire is flat and she doesn’t have money to fix it… all it needed was air and I used my van compressor to pump it up.

Monday I saw two nice office chairs next to the work dumpster… they came from a sublet tenant’s office.

The manger saw me and said she bought new ones because the chair backs were wobbly… the hand nut for the back was loose. Only needed to be tightened and for the hospital chairs I add a drop of thread locker and problem solved.

 

[chim]

If it takes 1 hour of labor time to fix a small appliance, is it cost effective to pay someone to fix it?

Not anymore. With the demand for cheaper things, durability decreased and wages increased. I'm 75 and still have a Lightning Guider sled from when I was a 6th grader that is still good. Admittedly it's been a few years since I used it. It survived my three grown sons who went through various saucers and toboggans.

When repairs were common I'm assuming the new (and most likely higher quality piece of equipment) represented a bigger part of the consumer's paycheck. Those were also the times that plastic bread bags were repurposed, old nails were reused, etc.

 

[JasperFrank]

I think, and this is my opinion only. That a lot of this was due to a decision by Congress years back to tax inventory.

This made for a very short influx of funds before companies eliminated warehousing or sent it out of reach of the inventory tax by placing it outside the country.

Now the only things that are stocked are high-turnover items constantly being sold and replaced, or specialty items that are accordingly priced to offset the inevitable tax.

Yet another thing to prevent items from being made here.

That is a very good insight! I think western adoption of Toyota Production Systems and JIT may have also been a factor.

 

[ultrarunner]

I believe the wealth of a people can be determined by what is cast off…

I’ve seen some very resourceful and innovative repairs in what would be described as third world countries…

Right now a person could fully equip a lawn and garden service with equipment tossed to the curb on bulky pickup day here.

My nice free to me Honda mower only needed a dose of seafoam.

Picks, shovels, axes, raked of very good quality left for the pickings…

2 nice Echo trimmers free… one needed the primer bulb and the other was as new but tossed because it is now illegal to use in city limits.

I’m certain there are plenty with a money no object attitude but surprised when I meet those in assistance with the same attitude like tossing a new bike because a tire is flat?

 

[grsthegreat]

With my generac standby generator business, i can generally find any part needed on any generator i have to work on. My problem isnt the cost of the item, it may only cost $8, but the packaging, handling and shipping can add $25 to the cost. And the customer then complains. I have to add my time searching for trouble and for part, plus for replacing part. It gets to be ridiculous sometimes how a small part can suddenly become a major cost. I carry a pretty substantial supply of parts to service the generators i maintain, but i cant stock everything. The overhead would be too much.

 

[ultrarunner]

I’ve noticed fewer and fewer stocked service vans…

Growing up if you called GE to fix your GE oven anything needed would be on the truck… same for Kenmore washers and dryers.

Today a factory service call is often nothing more than paying for an estimate…

Seen way too many under warranty LG refrigerators take weeks or months for repair to be completed.

I bet if LG had to provide a loaner for any warranty repair taking longer than 72 hours it would stock more parts in the USA.

My home came with a 20 year old built in subzero refrigerator and the compressor died…

The replacement box from Subzero with loyalty discount was $11,500…

I asked how much to replace the compressor… $983

The repair was white glove all the way… most I have ever paid for an appliance repair but a a tiny fraction of replacing my made in USA refrigerator.

 

[RandyT]

Buy it - break it - toss it - buy another has become a standard. Gone are the days when you could take a mixer or toaster to the repair shop down the street and get it fixed at a reasonable price.

Back when labor rates for $5/hour and a toaster cost $30 you could fix things reasonably. Now the toaster is $6 and labor rates are $75-125.

If it takes 1 hour of labor time to fix a small appliance, is it cost effective to pay someone to fix it?

If it can't be fixed in 15 minutes or less it is not cost effective to repair.

With my generac standby generator business, i can generally find any part needed on any generator i have to work on. My problem isnt the cost of the item, it may only cost $8, but the packaging, handling and shipping can add $25 to the cost. And the customer then complains. I have to add my time searching for trouble and for part, plus for replacing part. It gets to be ridiculous sometimes how a small part can suddenly become a major cost. I carry a pretty substantial supply of parts to service the generators i maintain, but i cant stock everything. The overhead would be too much.

Nothing like a $5 part and 4 hours labor to install.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yup…been there done that. Like taking entire side of generator apart to replace a $10 set of brushes.