Disposable Planet

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A friend's television set broke down. He was told that it would probably cheaper to buy a new set than have the old one repaired.

Why? "Because people just don't put things in for repair anymore... they just buy new".

I think this happens across the board on many items. In consumerism, perhaps our attitudes and the way we deal with situations like this have changed greatly compared to decades ago.

It made me think of this topic. Whatever the item, clothing, electricals, household appliances etc, how fast are you to dispose and replace with new, taking into account that not every occasion will it be cheaper to buy new?

Last edited by squonk on 30 Mar 2011, 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Not very fast. I am aware of such matters. I tend to buy second hand, and I don't give up my stuff until it's truly useless. I'm also careful to only purchase things I really need and get much use of.

Goodwill baby.

Furniture, forever; clothing and major appliances, 20 years; cars, 15 years, electronics, 10 years. Basically, I keep stuff as long as it's useful, gradually moving it from best to backup status. Actually, I still have the inexpensive Realistic stereo I bought in college 42 years ago; for the last 20 years it's been providing music when I work in the garage. The controls on the receiver are about shot and soon I'll throw that out, but I'll keep the speakers because they might work with something else.

I'm not expecting long service from anything I bought recently. I just hope I don't have to make too many more replacements, because it's always wrenching.

I keep & use everything until it falls apart.

Where possible with electronic stuff I repair it but that's getting less practical these days.
In the UK, since all TV services will become digital in my area next year (IIRC) and make my trusty analog TV redundant, I'll either stop watching altogether or by a cheap adapter box. I'm certainly not going to get a whole new TV because of it.
But I did get a shiny new smartphone last year, for no other reason than the toy value of it. (and no, it's not an iClone )

i hate replacing things. i get attached to them [things] emotionally. i still use my 1974 sharp microwave oven, it has a nice easy-to-use knob for cooking, no muss no fuss. i still listen to my 1980s-vintage magnapan magnaplanar loudspeakers, nothing else can touch their [stereophonic 3D] imaging. a 1970s-era pioneer stereo receiver still sounds excellent to my ears and the wooden case looks excellent to my eyes- why don't they make electronics with wood-look cases anymore? i still have a 1983-vintage sony discman, that has a noisy volume control knob but otherwise still sounds as good as it did when i first plugged it in. my 1970s-vintage gulbransen theatrum organ still sounds nice, if only i could play something on it more complicated than "pick up sticks." i would love to have my late father's 1975 mercedes 300d [got wrecked], that thing was luxury- built like a bank vault, roomy and comfortable, no squeeks or rattles, the road bumps were all filtered out. they don't make 'em like they used to. i still have my collection of vinyl, some of which dates to the 1950s, and some 78 rpm records dating to the 20s. i drag 'em out now and then to give em an ear. only when i am dead and gone will these things end up somewhere else, god-willing.

This is certainly a good topic for nostalgia! I forgot to mention cars (autos) but they didn't cross my mind maybe because they can be very expensive and with a wider margin, a repair might be more viable.

Digital is the reality where i am. i have my set top box for over a year then something happened. Now it is in black and white. we still use it. most people say i should replace because it isn't colour!

I really couldn't care less.

I also use things until they fall apart. It is wasteful to just throw things out.

Recently I have started making new things out of old. Eg, I cut M's old khakis and made it into a pair of shorts for a toddler.

Does anyone know what happen to new clothes that didn't sell in shops? Do they get sent back to the manufacturers and get turned into something else?

Yeah. Crap is still crap, even when it loses the colour.
Apparently I'm 'supposed' to update because it's 'better' - which it is for many reasons, technically - but what's the point if the content continues slipping downhill towards idiotic?

At best, they're probably sold as scrap to be pulped and used in the manufacture of cardboard. At worst, they're just dumped as landfill.

Me too.

When they went digital here, they gave out vouchers for free adapters so you wouldn't have to buy a new TV. But at that point, ours had not been turned on in so long, we just gave it away instead.


There are stores which sell overstock items, leftover items which have been pulled, or items that are slightly damaged, stained, or have slight glitches in manufacture which they can't sell in the normal stores. My mom used to shop at one when I was a kid and we'd get good quality things for practically nothing. You just had to rummage through loads of clothes that were all lumped together. It was like a treasure hunt. I can't remember the name of the store we went to though, but I'm not entirely sure that particular one wasn't just local.