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Electronics: repair or discard?

Not so very long ago when things broke down we took them to the magician in the repair shop who rixed them up as good as new. Now we mostly throw them away and buy something new.

What are the pros and cons of a throwaway culture?


Posted - March 24, 2017

Responses


  • 6477
    Cons are way too many to mention, greed, selfishness, lack of caring for goods and increasingly people, environmental pollution, land-fill pressures, waste of precious resources, etc.. too many to mention
      March 24, 2017 3:29 PM MDT
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  • Can't argue there. Of course there's a positive side, too, but I'll leave it to others to bring out. 
      March 24, 2017 3:47 PM MDT
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  • Pro:   The goods themselves are cheaper over-all and more readily available to more people

    Con:  Generates more toxic waste and results in a lower build quality. Encourages  planned obsolescence/failure.
      March 24, 2017 3:39 PM MDT
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  • We had a question the other day (might have been from Whistle 6) that virtually asked if people were made with built-in obsolescence. That was painfully close to being true. :(
      March 24, 2017 3:49 PM MDT
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  • Blame mitochondria.

    Does fixing old tube radios count?  I have a soft-spot for them.
      March 24, 2017 3:52 PM MDT
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  • Now you're going back a while. My first portable radio weighed almost 20 lbs and at least half of that was the weight of the batteries. 
      March 24, 2017 3:58 PM MDT
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  • For many items replace is the better and more affordable choice.  When my previous laptop died I could purchase a new part for $80.  It carried no guarantee of success. So, being that the laptop was several years old it was a better choice to up date and replace.
      March 24, 2017 3:57 PM MDT
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  • Wise decision. The growing piles of electronic junk are alarming but I'm not sure if there's a solution.
      March 24, 2017 3:59 PM MDT
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  • 5835
    At one time a person had to find a certain rock and chip it to make an axe or a knife blade. They averaged 1 1/2 inches of cutting edge from a pound of flint. But after a while they were averaging almost five feet of cutting edge per pound. It is the nature of the human animal to find improved methods of production and make things more convenient and more efficient.

    So now we have developed manufacturing to the point that it is cheaper to make a new gizmo than to fix one. You can have a microwave oven for 75 bux, but if there were a repair shop it would cost a hundred bux just to walk through the door.

    You want to whine because things are so cheap? Is that correct?
      March 24, 2017 5:19 PM MDT
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  • What a great answer! And, yeah, you got a big laugh with that last line. I'm still grinning. 
      March 24, 2017 7:38 PM MDT
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  • Well Dozy, for a LONG time I was in the fix 'em-keep 'em going camp...then I took my projector to a repair shop, and they said Yes we can fix it, cost $X.
    But when I came back they said Well we could not fix it after all, but we still have to charge you the $X because it took all that time to figure out we could not fix it!

    So I am a bit more wary now.
      March 24, 2017 7:53 PM MDT
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  • That'd turn you off!
      March 24, 2017 9:24 PM MDT
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