Built in Redundancy

[maltrab]

I watched a show on BBC "The Men who made us Buy" and it confirmed my long term belief that many products are built not to last, the electric toothbrush that you have to throw away as it will no longer charge,you have to damage the brush to get to the battery,which would cost around a pound,but no you have to go out and buy a new one.

I think we have been suckered into a cordless age,where often you cannot replace the battery,any apple i-product is built that way, a chap on the show explained how he paid $400 for a i-pod,after 16 months the battery died,Apple wanted $250 to fit a new one and advised him he might as well buy the new i-pod,on the later i-phone 5 apple developed a new screw,just 2 were fitted on the case purely to stop you getting into it to replace the battery,this chap developed a screwdriver to fit these screws and now sells them with a replacement battery and instructions and it cost far less than sending it back to apple.

Cordless drills are another of these items,buy the drill with battery for around £40, the battery dies 1 year later,replacement battery cost £60.

Another interesting subject covered was soap,these days it is all antibacterial,we will all die if we don't wash with it, in the show test showed that ordinary soap cleans the hands just as well,but of course cost less,but the show pointed out that companies now use fear to sell their products

 

[Pearl]

I never buy antibacterial anything we need germs to keep our immune system topped up.

My dad bought a reclining chair, he's disabled and needs to have his feet supported, he paid £600 for it and after 13 months the battery wouldn't charge so he rang place he got it, DFS, and they told him there was nothing they could do because it was a sealed unit and could not be fixed!! But he could buy another if he wanted! We were not happy.

We got a new one from a disability shop, that wasn't cheap but it be fixed if need be.

 

[barmpot]

..

Cordless drills are another of these items,buy the drill with battery for around £40, the battery dies 1 year later,replacement battery cost £60.

...

Yes and the cheaper ones eventually run for about five minutes before needing to be charged.

 

[barmpot]

Another interesting subject covered was soap,these days it is all antibacterial,we will all die if we don't wash with it, in the show test showed that ordinary soap cleans the hands just as well,but of course cost less,but the show pointed out that companies now use fear to sell their products

I was talking about this with a friend the other day and we commented on the ads which point out various products kill 99% of all germs - so does soap and so does plain hot water just off the boil!


Years ago we had a bath on Friday night whether we needed to or not and most other washing was perfunctory (when there was ice on the inside of the bathroom window in those pre central heating days one did not hang around a bathroom too long). I can not recall any serious outbreaks of illness to a little more grubbiness.

Also remember that many men would not have a suit cleaned as it "would knock the stuffing out of it" so the best it got was a sponge and press.