Why don't appliances last anymore? What can we do about it?
Our so-called high-end refrigerator, which we bought just three years ago, leaks.
Our “smart” TV died after about five years.
Our kitchen stove only lasted about seven years.
From heavy duty appliances to high-end electronics, nothing seems to last very long these days — especially compared to things that were made decades ago.
My mom and grandparents had the same fridges and stoves in Bayonne, New Jersey, for decades. My 60-something year-old neighbor still has his mom’s avocado green fridge cooling his family’s food. The boom box I bought some 30 years ago at the long-closed Nobody Beat the Wiz chain is still playing cds and cassettes, along with broadcasting on its AM and FM radio.
What gives?
“That stuff just isn’t built to last anymore," agrees Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association advocacy organization. “Manufacturers don’t have the incentive to build long-lasting products. They do have the incentive to sell new products, which means using the cheapest components to meet a certain price point.”
Which essentially means planned obsolescence.
“The old appliances were made of metal with fewer parts,” explains Gordon-Byrne. Now, not only are they made from plastic to meet that price point, everything seems computerized — with way more tiny integrated components that can break down.
Plus, with extras like ice makers and water coolers so common on refrigerators, “there are so many things that can go wrong,” says Liz Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability for iFixit, which offers free manuals to fix everything from tractors to toasters and sells repair parts for those items.
To make this frustrating and expensive situation worse, manufacturers of electronic goods haven’t had to make replacement parts or repair instructions available to the public. That often meant only the manufacturer, or a manufacturer-authorized outlet, could try and fix it — often at an exorbitant price.
That’s why, when I asked the place where we bought the smart TV about fixing it, I was told it would be so expensive, we might as well buy a new one.
When some wonderful appliance repair folks fixed our old refrigerator for the last time, they told us they had found the last replacement part in existence.
Hopefully, the situation will get a bit better for consumers now that a new New York State law makes replacement parts and repair instructions for digital products like smart phones and lap tops available to the public. That way, digital devices can be fixed with more ease and, hopefully, less expense. It only applies to products made after July 1, and goes into effect Jan. 1.
The law — the Digital Fair Repair Act — should have been even more consumer friendly, covering large appliances like stoves and refrigerators, says Gordon-Byrne. But that coverage provision disappeared from the original bill after intense lobbying by the appliance and tech industries, which also won the right to only sell a more expensive assembly of replacement parts, rather than just a cheaper single part if a company claims there’s a safety issue. A similar, but much stronger “right to repair” law that includes large appliances and allows the sale of single parts, recently passed in Minnesota. It goes into effect July 2024, but covers devices made on or after July 1, 2021.
So how do we find stuff that lasts?
Buy more simply made items with fewer bells and whistles, says Gordon-Byrne, who explains that if you have a choice between something with dials, touch pads or digital controls, go for the dials,
Ask a trusted repair person — or a locally owned store — about the most reliable product.
Trusted consumer guides like Consumers Reports are also useful.
“Don’t be afraid of independent repair of your old item,” says Chamberlain of iFixit, which offers about 100,000 free guides for repair and sells the parts you need.
Steve Israel, a longtime editor and columnist at the Times Herald-Record in Orange County, New York, can be reached at steveisrael53@outlook.com.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Why don't appliances last anymore? What can we do about it?
