Disposable World...

I'm finally getting over my cold (over a week later!) and I am gathering the strength for a rant.

When we moved to the UK, we did not have very much "financial leverage". We had spent our savings on moving expenses, and we could not get a UK bank account, so when we had to buy things like a fridge and a washing machine we had to put them on the credit card. My preferred method for buying such things is to find them used, but the credit card just does not work for that (sadly, not everyone in the world has a paypal account). We were forced to go to one of those horrible appliance stores and buy a brand new fridge and washer / dryer.

Fast forward a year and a half to today, and we now have a broken washer / dryer and a broken refrigerator! Both are out of warranty, and both cost more to repair than they do to just replace. Granted we did get the cheaper units available in the store, but I expected better than a year and a half out of them.

Sadly, most products are made like this today. Cars, appliances, electronics, computers, furniture, even buildings seem to be made to last a few years and then replaced with something new. And all of the old broken junk ends up in a landfill. Quality is virtually nonexistent and out of reach of the average consumer. Even once famous marques like Mercedes-Benz have fallen. They used to have the highest owner satisfaction, known to run for millions of miles in the most adverse conditions, but now they are known to be unreliable having some of the lowest owner satisfaction.

And the problem seems to extend into the arts as well. Look at pop music today. Artists are made to be forgotten and replaced by new music. Record companies don’t look for quality acts that will live and grow for many years. They are all looking for the newest teen sensation that they can milk for a few years and then toss aside when they are all used up by the age of 23. Movies also seemed have lost that intangible “quality” that they used to have.

So the question is why are we falling down this slippery slope? Why, in the age of information and constantly improving technology, are our products all about the initial wow factor and less about doing the job for a lifetime. It is a complex question with many different answers and I am by no means an expert, but I do have a few ideas… I blame it on the consumer driven capitalist society that we have created. Our economy is only successful if it continues to grow. Companies are judged by how much return they give their investors. Stock prices must go up, and for stock to rise, more profit must be made, for more profit to be made, more products must be sold. So products are designed with a few new must-have, whiz-bang features, and a limited lifespan. You own your computer for a year, then it is time for a new one, and the old one is worth nothing. I fear it is a fragile bubble that is doomed to burst. The economy cannot continue to grow forever, the resources will run out.

So what can we do? Perhaps nothing, I fear that the only way to snap people out of their consuming frenzy is some kind of major catastrophe. “I’m sorry, there is no more oil left to make gasoline”, or “I’m sorry, there are no more trees left with which to build your house”, or maybe “I’m sorry, we can’t supply you with any more electricity”. But in the mean time, I will try to be less of a hypocrite. I will try to think about why I buy things, and try to buy things that will last longer. This may be a bad example, but I will use it anyway…In 2000, I bought a Mac G4 400Mhz, I still use it today for all of my music recording, internet, and word processing. Of course I am tempted by all of the shiny new computers out there, but the truth is, the old G4 does the job just as well as it did when I bought it (sadly, one of the hard drives died last night, but I think I can save it).

I have found a replacement refrigerator. It is a German made Bosch brand, and supposed to be better quality. It is also a few years old and is costing me less than half of what the broken piece of junk that is currently in my kitchen cost me…

I know this post is a rambling mess, and not completely thought out. But I think the important thing is to have these thoughts at all. The funny thing is that I make my living doing the very thing that I am preaching against. I design shiny new stereo equipment for people to buy to replace their current stereo equipment. My living requires people to continue to consume…

JE

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that Heather was telling her parents about our appliance woes. Her mom said that they have had their fridge for over 30 years!!! They didn't get anything special just your standard everyday refridgerator. Products simply aren't built with the same quality any more!