22 Jul
2007
22 Jul
'07
3:11 p.m.
On 22 Jul 2007 at 14:58, Roy J. Tellason wrote:
Having been there and done that in the past, it's
not the repairability of
the sets, its the economics of running a service business and the amount of
money that you need to charge to stay in business vs. the cost of simply
replacing it with a new one. _That_ is what killed it for me...
Roy, one thing occurred to me. What is the current service life
designed for by the major manufacturers? I ask because of a recent
episode with a microwave oven.
We replaced a microwave oven that dated from about 1980 with a newer
one about 4 years ago. The big difference (both were Japanese
brands) is that the oven box in the old one looked to be a very tough
porcelain enamel--almost impossible to scratch. In the newer model,
the coating was a simple baked-on epoxy enamel paint that failed in
less than 2 years. After recoating it a couple of times with ratttle-
can epoxy, I gave up and purchased a new one with a stainless steel
interior. But the oven itself is much lighter and I suspect that the
electronics will not have 20 years of life in them.
Is a shorter service life by design a feature of modern consumer
electronics (and in particular, computer gear)appliances and
automobiles?
Cheers,
Chuck