For those of you who were around even two decades ago, you’ve probably noticed that household appliances don’t last anywhere near as long as they used to. I can prove this with a 25-year-old fridge I have downstairs that still works.
There are a few reasons for this dramatic change in lifespan. Let’s just jump right into them, shall we?
Mass Production
Appliance production firms are required to mass produce their products these days due to the increased demand. Obviously, the more you produce in a day, the less time you have to spend on making each product perfect.
Every production firm, no matter what they’re producing, has a quota that must be reached every day in order to satisfy their clients. All we can hope for is that these firms do all that they can to produce the best appliances in the time they have.
Large Business Strategies
Many of you have likely guessed this point already, but I’ll spell it out anyway. What happens when an appliance you bought breaks down? The most likely possibility is that you hire a repairman to come in and fix it.
Usually appliance repair can become quite expensive depending on what was broken. Eventually, you reach a point where it’s cheaper to just buy a new appliance. At this point, who are benefiting from the lesser lifespan of the appliance? Why the company that you bought it from is! The quicker your appliance breaks down, the more appliances they can sell off.
The Mindset of a Consumer
That’s right! We, the buyers even have a part to play in this change. The average consumer who checks around for a new appliance will look for the best deal which usually refers to the cheapest deal.
If a company is to keep their consumers happy, they must provide an appliance that is cheaper than everyone else’s but just as powerful. To do that, they need to produce the appliances at a faster rate if they still wish to earn a profit from the lower cost.
The decrease in cost for the sake of the consumer also causes a lower-quality appliance to be produced. (If you refer back to the first point)
As you can see the reason for appliances breaking down more often these days follows a loop between the production firm, the business who sells them, and the consumers themselves.
The conclusion of this is that appliances are breaking down more often because of the increase in demand these days. At the end of the day, you can point your finger anywhere, and you’d be right!
