New Refrigerators, Washing Machines, Furniture and Tires Will All Have to Last Longer, Europe Mandates
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Or impossible to buy spares for, or when you can get the spare part it's often so expensive with shipping that it's almost worth buying a new appliance on offer with the warranty that comes with it.
Tiny plastic part that holds the handle to my fridge broke. Need a new 50 cent plastic part.
GE wants $200 to replace all 3 metal handle assemblies. Can't just get the plastic part, it comes in a bundle with all 3 metal handles. Which would immediately go in the garbage.
If we can't get them on the "intentionally gouging customers" angle, we can surely get them on the "creating excess waste" angle.
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And work without apps.
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That's weird. I'm changing tires every 2 to 3 years and so is the norm in Europe.
Yeah I put 30k+ miles on the car just doing instructing, then I often also drive when I go on holiday, putting at least a good 500-600 miles on the car if I go away on the weekend (which is often).
I've had dedicated works vehicles which I've put fewer miles on the clock
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Obligatory Pratchett:
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
I've carried that with me for years. I always try to buy long-lasting quality items for this very reason.
Not to mention that, due to inflation, those ten dollar boots themselves will cost 20 to 30 dollars before long.
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Isn't this already a thing in the yearly technical check?
Idk, I'm in the u.s. without any inspections whatsoever. There's an app that works with newer ios devices that can check very accurately because of the finer tuned gyroscope. Hopefully an android variant comes soon. Then trucks, buses etc. can check every trip without a lot of hastle.
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I only use IKEA, and they last forever for me.
That's weird. I tried IKEA first and they died super quick too.
Only thing that makes sense to me is they are somehow overheating which doesn't make sense since they weren't fully enclosed and room temp is normal.Maybe I've give them ago again, it was 5+ years ago I tried them.
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The three biggest things that kill a tyre are;
- shitty roads
- aggressive driving
- heavy vehicles (like EVs and oversized SUVs)
That said, cheaper tyres are typically made of cheaper compounds that age poorly.
Under inflation is terrible for longevity, handling, and safety. You should maintain proper tire pressure.
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Idk, I'm in the u.s. without any inspections whatsoever. There's an app that works with newer ios devices that can check very accurately because of the finer tuned gyroscope. Hopefully an android variant comes soon. Then trucks, buses etc. can check every trip without a lot of hastle.
Wait what the fuck, you don't have yearly technical inspections there? So people can drive whatever deathtraps without functional brakes or shit?
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A welcome mandate, especially for electronics. However people are already throwing away so much perfectly fine furniture that I donât think it will help much in that regard. A lot of people want something new, not something that just works.
People have been conditioned to throw away perfectly good shit, now we are surprised they throw away shit. This policy is obviously not gonna fix the issue on its own, but as you said, it's welcome.
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Where are you living? Here people give away (emmaus for example) or sell it online, for cheap equals you don't even need to throw it away, someone comes and picks it up for you.
Those appliances are so simple too, making them durable is very low cost. Good move EU.
Where I live you can easily give your stuff away or donate it to a charity shop, but it's a tiny bit less effort to chuck it in the trash so there are people who do that. Not all of them, thank god, but you can come across decent stuff every one in a while. Do have to say people are more likely to dump cheap stuff than reliable stuff from known brands.
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Wait what the fuck, you don't have yearly technical inspections there? So people can drive whatever deathtraps without functional brakes or shit?
Yeah, it's kinda bullshit when you see perfectly smooth tires on a grain truck, which also doesn't require a special license if driven by a farmer or their family. I think you could be 16 or 18 and juat hop into a truck to haul 20 tons of grain with a car license.
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Well, for furniture, I totally agree with you and honestly: I don't think there is eomething wrong with redesigning your living room every 10 years, especially when you move around.
I mainly want to be able to buy old washing machines, dish washers, TVs, because I don't care about their appearance.
If the produced stuff last longer it wouldn't mean there would be less competition on innovation, people would still have a reason to sell you their old appliances because they want certain new function. This law is against making stuff that can't be repaired or breaks easily. Don't think you'd buy a 2 year old tv if it doesn't work, right.
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Hell yeah. This is the good shit.
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They did mention being a driving instructor. Driving (and teaching students to drive) all day every day is going to put a lot more wear on the tires than a typical driver.
They also mentioned getting good tires after they started doing that, not before
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We really need to stop with this âbuild to breakâ mentality for products. Our wastes, as humanity, would significantly lower and reduce wastesâŠ. But hey, we also have to think of the investor's, right?
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Isn't this already a thing in the yearly technical check?
Did not happen here in Finland just a few days ago.
The way I see it, they check mostly for stuff that could result in unsafe breakage/conditions, endangering yourself and others.
Of course misaligned front tires aren't good even if you ignore tire wear, but they don't make your car a death trap.
Not saying I'm agreeing with this, just my observation. Some of the things that are important to them, while others aren't even checked, the logic eludes me.
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That's weird. I tried IKEA first and they died super quick too.
Only thing that makes sense to me is they are somehow overheating which doesn't make sense since they weren't fully enclosed and room temp is normal.Maybe I've give them ago again, it was 5+ years ago I tried them.
My first Led for a regular lamp at home was an Osram for nearly 20âŹ. It died after ca. 3 years. After that Ikea had launched their cheap LEDs and I started buying them. I can't really say how long each of them lasted, but I moved and started reusing them in different lamps. I guess most of them are over 5 years old by now. Every now and then one of them dies but my subjective feelings is that they offer great value.
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Tiny plastic part that holds the handle to my fridge broke. Need a new 50 cent plastic part.
GE wants $200 to replace all 3 metal handle assemblies. Can't just get the plastic part, it comes in a bundle with all 3 metal handles. Which would immediately go in the garbage.
If we can't get them on the "intentionally gouging customers" angle, we can surely get them on the "creating excess waste" angle.
Find someone with a 3D printer?
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Well, for furniture, I totally agree with you and honestly: I don't think there is eomething wrong with redesigning your living room every 10 years, especially when you move around.
I mainly want to be able to buy old washing machines, dish washers, TVs, because I don't care about their appearance.
If it's quality furniture you can sell or donate it. If it's recent Ikea or other cheap stuff, it won't survive being disassembled, moved and reassembled. Ikea's surfaces scratch so easily, even on desks. It's ridiculous. That kind of fast furniture is terribly unsustainable. But I wouldn't be bothered if you bought a new sofa every ten years and make someone else happy with a used sofa that will last another ten years in it's new home.
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That feels like a move on the slippery slope from a market economy to a planning economy.
The objective is honorable, but better value should come from customer choices, not from regulations.
Instead of making those rules and establishing institutions that enforce them, the EU should create infrastructure that allows consumers to compare products objectively. Add the opportunity to finance more expensive but also more durable products easily and there is no need to suffocate everything in regulations.
Why can't you have both?
Create the best value for customers, but you have to adhere to these regulations.Seems like a perfectly reasonable position to me.
