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Re:Repair cafés waging war on throwaway culture by rootusrootus on Saturday March 17, 2018 @02:02PM (#16608182)
I have found that many older folks who reminisce about the good old days when everything lasted forever and was repairable, have conveniently forgotten one little detail: cost.

For example, a bog standard plain white washing machine in 1962 would run you about $200. An equivalent no-frills washing machine today will be about $300. So yes, of course things back then lasted longer -- you were paying about ten times more for them. If there were a market for it, a manufacturer today could easily make a $2500 basic washing machine that would last 50 years with relatively little maintenance and make it inexpensive to repair if it does break.

Re:Repair cafés waging war on throwaway culture by verall on Saturday March 17, 2018 @02:11PM (#16608230)
There is a market for that - commercial washing machines intended for multiple-use like in dormatories or laundrymats.
Re:Repair cafés waging war on throwaway culture by refurb on Saturday March 17, 2018 @05:26PM (#16609143)
Exactly, I know folks who shell out a lot for a Speed Queen commercial washer and dryer. Like 3x what a consumer model would cost.

Very well built, very repairable.

Re:Repair cafés waging war on throwaway culture by watersb on Sunday March 18, 2018 @04:35AM (#16610988)
Actually there is an end-user brand that makes such things. Staber. When we got one, the county appliance-repair guy drought all of his buddies to check it out.
Re:Repair cafés waging war on throwaway culture by LifeLiverTransp on Saturday March 17, 2018 @07:25PM (#16609621)
I want evidence for this- meaning, parts where costs are reduced - and the lifetime reduction they create- i want to see the correlating curves without spikes before i swallow that myth. Once we had handwoven goods- and they where expensive, and im sure the very first luddites had lots of tails, how machinery would reduce the quality of non-guild woven material.