Old furniture not being compatible with laptops and charging cables really shows how utility is always the first priority.
I'm reminded of a YouTube series which walks around malls on the brink of bankruptcy. Malls put forward a psuedo-utopian view of society, a place where people can come together (for commerce), but all of that matters 0% if there's less utility than Amazon.
>It's really hard to find something that was better in the pre-internet era.
Big ticket home items like fridges, washer/dryers, TVs. They're all planned to shit the bed just after their warranty wears out so that companies can squeeze out extra money from them. Nothing is made with pride anymore. There's many facets as to why this is, but as a civilization I don't think we're ever going to be able to go back to the way "the way things were"
I’m dying at how wrong this take is. One because it implies a world view where new is somehow better (with vague insinuations that “not poor” wouldn’t buy used) and because you’re ignoring how hugely successful Depop and the like along with upscale secondhand shops are to well to do young people.
I have a lot of the same motivations — I have plenty of money, could buy anything I want brand new within reason. Yet almost everything I own is secondhand — my phone, laptop, tv, clothes, car, cookware, records, guitar, furniture, picture frames, headphones, camera. I’m not even particularly environmentally conscientious or frugal compared to my peers. For me it’s bit of sustainability, a lot of being frustrated at how much waste comes from new things, a good bit of “good god why are new literally cut every corner”, and a lot of fuck capitalism and this consumerist bullshit.
What's wrong with cheap things? Is there really something so terribly wrong with the ability of everyone to acquire basic, somewhat decent functional furniture, clothing, entertainment electronics, household appliances, and automobiles cheaply? Would it be better if only more expensive, long-lasting, luxury goods that most people couldn't afford existed?
We've lived in that world before, it wasn't a better world for anyone. Since the same people who could have afforded expensive, high quality goods back then can today (a tiny subset of the population).
I may not like the style of most of the furniture at IKEA, but I am glad that it exists so that people of modest means can outfit their homes and spend the rest of their money on items that have a greater impact on their quality of life.
I would address the other points in the piece, but I thought this point was worth making on its own.
It's because they're fighting the arguably true reality that the majority of their furniture is designed to be disposable, and consumers are generally fine with that. I'd like to be wrong, though until we require companies to be responsible for all costs associated with the full lifecycle of a product so externalized costs are incorporated, we're not going to develop the most sustainable practices.
imo, the appliances breaking is also a choice and one that is a real shame. No one actually wants to buy new refrigerators or dishwashers, and the improvements in that space have all be pretty marginal.
Fast fashion is shame too - clothes ought to last a bit as well.
And cardboard/particle board furniture that services .5-1.5 moves is also basically bad.
Cars have been steadily increasing in durability and reliability for decades
I enjoyed the list too and think about a lot of these things when I encounter them in my daily life too. But the major downside I see is that a lot of these improvements are coming via an escalating consumerism. Things like disposable clothes are probably more the product of exploiting labor and externalizing costs like polution than they are the product of technological improvements increasing efficiency. The same thing is happening with larger items like applicamcea which are increasingly being replaced due to part failures rather than repaired.
Counteracting this though is my personal favorite innovation of our times, secondary markets for everything! eBay, Postmark, Amazon, surplus resellers like Marshals and Ross etc have made it so much more possible to connect a good with its buyer rather than hording or junking it.
There were some comments here not so long ago in a related thread about the enshittification of either (cannot recall) furniture (compared to ikea) or household appliances (why a 1950’s fridge may still be working while one from 5 years ago is already dead). The bimodal sentiment/comment was also applied for those markets, as a complaint of why couldn’t there be some midrange stuff for ecologically-conscious but luxury-adverse people.
The “conclusion” was that people looking for the cheapest stuff are going to inevitably buy at the cheapest end, provoking a race to the bottom for manufacturers. People who like brands, quality, or status will go to the high end, independent of price, creating incentives for the companies to just sell things more expensively for a higher margin. There just wasn’t (according to the comments) enough market mass (nor business interest) to cater for that middle spot that ironically so many of us are looking for.
Imagine a World where your appliances just work in some sockets and not in others. Where the tires of your car can just be bought from one supplier because it was limited by the car manufacturer. Your toaster just accepts some kind of bread. Your pencil can't be sharpned except with one specific equipament. Your mechanical pencil can use just one kind of pencil lead because it has some specific size.
And now imagine a step further, where all cars, mechanical pencils, toasters, wall sockets... everything is disposable because some small detail or component has just one supplier.
Imagine how much you'll spend to have things, and how much you'll have to throw away when any small thing of it gets broken.
Single use stuff seems easy enough to fix. What seems less obvious to me is what I experienced when shopping for a potty chair for our youngest there were dozens of options at just a single store for a big hunk of plastic that's only useful for a period of months. We ended up not buying one at all.
I had a similar experience the last time I was at CES and was deep into the "South Hall" where there's kiosk after display booth after kiosk of just completely pointless crap of every shape and size. Thousands of practically identical cheap cell phone cases. Thousands of cheap bags and backpacks adorned with battery packs and/or Bluetooth speakers. Each and every booth staffed with multiple people who have to stand there and try to convince you that their big mountain of garbage is somehow special. At the same time as it's astonishingly wasteful and kind of insane when you think about it, it's also completely existentially debasing to the people involved.
If we have a global addiction to anything that seems like it needs fixing, it seems like we're addicted to producing stuff we don't need for problems we don't have just for the sake of doing something.
I'm not trying to moralize against anyone, nor am I trying to sound like I am in any way more "right" than someone who cannot afford to simplify as much. I only stated that the quality of these items these stores sell is generally terrible. You are entirely correct in your statement that places like Wal-Mart bridge a gap or present a temporary standby until someone can afford to "upgrade" and simplify.
As it stands, I'm likely going to be buying Ikea-produced furniture next year because I need to furnish an apartment cheaply, and I will only be keeping it for a couple years. I don't have the money or the means to buy furniture that will last me a long time at this point...but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about what I am doing. I still am aiming to buy as little furniture as is necessary, and avoiding anything I can do without or simply don't need.
Yes, the idea is simplistic, but that is the point: if you can reduce and purchase quality then you should, and if you can't, at least have an awareness (and perhaps simplify another aspect of your life). I'm at a point where I can do both, but understandably, not everyone can do that.
It's all about reducing as much as you can, within your current circumstances. I'm not trying to say that you need to buy that $100 knife now, but in that case, perhaps you could do with one or two less forks (this isn't a literal example, mind you). Less waste and less worry, without entirely sacrificing comfort.
> Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items.
Indeed. So I skim the article and wind up agreeing with how some things seem to be built to fall apart or under perform (modern HE washers, I'm looking at you). Then I get called to the shop floor to check a machine and the operator, an older gentleman gets to talking with and starts the same conversation! He is in his mid 60's his you'd think he'd go on lamenting the loss of the sturdy goods from his youth but nope! He too said there was plenty of cheap flimsy crap to be had.
Though one thing I will say has changed: the ability to repair stuff. Computers stuffed with proprietary code have taken control of even the simplest appliances (washers, stoves, refrigerators). Things that were made from multiple pieces of stamped or cast metal are now made from a single piece of plastic that is less sturdy which melts or deforms under heat (some eventually become brittle and crumble). I can see how it makes things cheaper and easier to make but they don't sell the plastic bits separately requiring me to toss everything over a single broken piece. And even if something is made of metal, the stamping or casting is so thin that it might as well be made of plastic (e.g. the tin foil harbor freight stock carts.)
But the retailers and consumers are adjusting to this model: goods are so cheap they are disposable. Don't bother returning it, just toss it. This has lead to people buying new items and tossing them right into the trash because amazon will ship another. Or maybe return the broken item in its place. Or you buy a new item to take a part off and toss it because amazon told you to. Consumers get to keep buying cheap crap and companies keep the money rolling in. This low effort thinking is filling landfills with unused or barely used items at an alarming rate which is a great example of unchecked capitalism. Whats worse is I guarantee you most people could live happily without most of the shit they buy.
It seems like we're moving out of the 1900s world where manufactured objects carried inherent value on their own and people paid high prices to retain control of the valuable object. People even passed furniture, dishes, books, and clothes down from generation to generation because they were so valuable but now you can't even give this stuff away most of the time. TVs don't get stolen much anymore because they're worth so little. Physical things are getting cheaper to a ridiculous extent and are being merged with services. That world of industrialized materialism might have been an aberration historically. I still encounter old people, myself included who have an aversion to destroying books, electronics, toys, etc. no matter how cheap and useless they are.
I really prefer a model where the market niche for the budget conscious is filled by second-hand high quality products. Much less waste gets produced this way, and no one has to suffer using cheap plastic crap.
I do this with all the technology I own - be it cars, phones, computers, audio gear, motorcycles, sports equipment... you get the best of both worlds.
Of course, in order for this to be possible, these products have to be repairable, and that's why we have to fight for it.
Interesting - didn‘t notice that.
I‘m only buying quality stuff and stick to it as long a possible. Most of my cloth are years old. I’m buying a new iPhone if the one i have doesn’t get any updates anymore, and furniture has to outlive me.
I always thought this is reasonable and that everyone would do it that way: Always having high quality stuff, saving money instead of wasting it by continuously buying cheap things!
Seem‘s like i’m really out of touch with the world.
> Furniture is a great example. Another is home appliances. Refrigerators, washers and driers etc have absolutely tanked in quality.
We also have a tendency to replace them when broken for simple things.
When I tell people I repaired or had someone repair an appliance in my house they are often surprised. They just think of tossing it and getting something new. Repair isn't even on their mind unless their part of one of the older generations.
There is something to that. But consider household tools like Craftsman (had lifetime warranty). Now Craftsman is cheaply made with poor metallurgy and has a limited warranty. People will buy that at the HomeDepot. Sure, you can buy more reliable brands, but most people like you say won't know which ones to buy since many have been shipped overseas.
Furniture is now disposable. Clothing is disposable (even if you didn't mind fashion, it will end tattered after a couple of seasons. You can still buy excellent clothing, it just costs 5x.
I'm reminded of a YouTube series which walks around malls on the brink of bankruptcy. Malls put forward a psuedo-utopian view of society, a place where people can come together (for commerce), but all of that matters 0% if there's less utility than Amazon.
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