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sarhoshamiral t1_irrbd4h wrote

Reply to comment by gooberstwo in My mom’s 1982 GE toaster. Same age as me. Used every day. by TummyPuppy

Have you looked for a toaster in Amazon at all? There are hundreds of different styles, colors and even with images on the side.

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gooberstwo t1_irrcomi wrote

I try not to shop there, but you make a good point. I bet going direct to manufacturers websites would be a good place for me to check. Thanks!

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Huphupjitterbug t1_irrxv23 wrote

I doubt a majority of those would hold up to 40 years of use though :/

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wimpymist t1_irsaop0 wrote

Toaster tech hasn't changed much they would probably hold up just fine

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sarhoshamiral t1_irs0usw wrote

and so the majority of ones that were sold in 1982 unless you maintained them properly, cleaned them up so on. We are seeing a sample of 1 here don't forget that. I had a toaster from 2001 that went on for ~10 years just fine (and was still working when I replaced it)

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Ok_Skill_1195 t1_irs3j53 wrote

While you're absolutely right there's some survivorship bias at play, let's not pretend planned obsolescence hasn't become a huge issue.

That's not even to talk about the number of products on Amazon from drop shippers that are essentially hot glued together to work for the bare minimum time to complete the sale

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sarhoshamiral t1_irshy20 wrote

I actually haven't seen a study suggesting it did. My perception is that we have cheaper options now that used to be not available and as you said for those you get what you pay for. On top of that complexity of items increased drastically as people want more features which adds more points for failure.

But overall, at least based on my experience, a mid-tier priced appliance still goes a long way if you maintain it properly. The latter being a huge point. For example, for anything that use water the lifetime will heavily depend on your water supply. If you have hard water, the appliance's lifetime will be much shorter compared to someone who uses that appliance with soft water. That has always been the case though.

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Helhiem t1_irt6xdu wrote

It’s really not a huge issue. Even the testing they do products nowadays is way more stringent. We also demand things to be complicated so they do more things giving more chance for things to break.

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