We should just stop buying new products.

[BigBlue1]

Things become 'throw away and re-buy' when the cost of parts and labor increases to the point where it approaches or overtakes the cost of new. This is really a function of the fact that a lot of things, especially electronics, have come down in cost significantly. I've been into personal computers since the early days of Atari/Commodore/Apple ones were released. Some of the computers which were only average in capability used to cost $3000+ back in the late 80's and 90's. In today's dollars that would be close to $6000. If I want to go buy an average desktop today I can probably get one for under $500. Back then repairing was more feasible because labor costs were much less. Today, the costs for both parts and labor that go into repairs end up with costs much closer to the overall cost of new. And the push for higher minimum wages (along with increasing costs of everything due to more regulation, more insurance, higher litigation costs and lower costs of imported goods in relation) will keep that trend going. This kind of expands on what RandyT touched on above.

I'm totally for reusing and fixing things whenever possible. Just pointing out some of the 'why' we face.

 

[JasperFrank]

"Sometimes if you get a cheap printer on sale the ink cartridges cost as much or more than the printer." Yes, this verges on criminal behavior from many printer companies. I found a way out though, even after they put "termination" chips in the printer Cartridges, and refilling was no longer working. I buy old stock Original Carts, for about $3 each for the three HP printers we have. Peel off the clear head and contact strip, then set them print head up right, add two drops of print head cleaner solvent on the print head and let them sit for 24 hours. So far this works 90% of the time for the 5610, the 1350 and the 1210 HPs. The last two take the same 57 Color and 56 Black Carts, the stupid 5610 takes only the 22 Color Cart. but it does take the 56 Black Cart. Turn off any sort of HP update and just use the original drivers.

 

[kenmbz]

I bought a brother printer with ink tank and that is lasting me really well.
Had epson - high ink usage and awful drivers.
Had Canon-head failure every two years, high ink usage
HP - worst software on inkjets and most expensive for me to run, and the print heads broke every two years.
I buy mid line printers , never bottom of the line. and HP,Canon,Epson were all total junk

 

[JasperFrank]

Brothers are the Best! In the recycling and refurbishing field, I can say they don't mess around like the others. Finding one that isn't entirely worn out, usually the drum is worn out in the laser family, is the problem, cause people get to use them well in to the many thousands of jobs before they quit. Most of our printing is B/W. And these are work horses.

 

[Hay Dude]

Well as far as tractors go, everyone here should be able to buy older tractors and fix them up. There so many available and they’re simpler. We have some resources (each other) to help fix them, too. I helped a guy do a front seal.
I hate seeing what the new tractors cost and warranties arent much better, if at all despite vastly greater complexity. Shop rates are approaching $150/hr.
I agree hard times are coming for this overinflated stock market and easy money.
Hopefully it won’t be ‘79-‘81 again.

 

[kenmac]

Looked for a circuit board to repair a friend's range. The part is discontinued and can't be found.
Told him he could send it off for repair for $250.00
He declined saying it's 20 yrs old..I put 250 now, and next another 250 for something else, and so on. I'll just go buy a new range

 

[sandytrail]

I called the Ford dealer in San Antonio to ask when I could bring my F250 in for an electrical issue. The lady asked what year the truck was. I told her its a 2003. She said, "We don't work on anything more than 10 years old." That tells you where ford and probably all the auto dealers are headed. They don't want you to fix that old car. You know the rest of the story.

 

[Goose1776]

I agree hard times are coming for this overinflated stock market and easy money.
Hopefully it won’t be ‘79-‘81 again.

Fairly certain. It’s going to end up much worse, and for a broader swath of people.

 

[Reddogs]

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.

Oh, the horror...I lay awake at night with the memories of the coding we had to do with UNIX...

 

[piper184]

Having been in the IT business for most of my adult life I understand re-furbing PC's and re-using as much as possible because I am cheap. I also understand that you can't afford to pay someone else to do it if they are charging a reasonable rate because it is time consuming. Dumping a linux distro on old hardware is certainly doable but not for the "average user" who can't run email software without help. The other problem is old hardware isn't supported in newer OS's. Anyone seen a driver for a SCSI board from 1993?

As for planned obsolescence, I remember my Dad using that phrase more than 60 years ago...

I just bought a 50 year old South Bend lathe and am teaching myself how to use it, just to make parts that can't be bought so I can avoid buying new, as espoused in the opening post of this thread. Take that, big throw away company!