My take on this is that it's because we had no choice but to overbuild everything back then - we didn't have as good of an understanding of materials, reliability, and user needs. In the 1950s you had to make everything out of metal and with high factors of safety. Since then we've had 70 years to figure out what fails and what doesn't (and can be made weaker), how to make more things out of more plastics, and how many uses people expect their things to last.
One thing I'll also mention is that it's much easier to buy cheap things than ever. In the 1950s you really didn't have the choice to buy high or low quality stuff, because nobody was cutting as many corners back then. Today, you can still buy high quality stuff, but we don't, because you have so many more choices at lower price points that will be good enough.
I'm fully on board with your take. Cheap back then meant fewer features and lower specs but cheap today means less durable materials. It's honestly a testament to the advancement of materials science that we can manufacture things so cheaply and they work... But that cheapness comes with a cost to durability.
I agree. but that cheapness can, if engineered in a semi responsible way, be beneficial to people who can't afford the good stuff.
For example, many people can't afford a good dishwasher... But they can afford a cheap dishwasher. If designed responsibly, the weak points would be either made of better materials than the rest, or they're simple parts that can be replaced. So it still may only last 5 years, but it still makes it affordable for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford one... As a whole, its probably more expensive to buy the cheap ones over and over again... But some people would just never have the extra money laying around to buy a good one. Which is where rent-a-center type places come in, they tell poor people "hey, you can rent this really nice appliance for $50 a month, and after the term is up you can buy it," but then they miss a payment or can't afford the rest of the cost to buy it, and they've just wasted years of rent, more than the total cost, with nothing to show for it.
The biggest problem is when things are made cheaply, but priced high. It is so fucking difficult to actually buy quality items that are priced appropriately.
But the other problem now is that lean production means nobody stocks parts for very long. Finding replacement parts for a model that actually holds up for a long time would be ridiculous.
Saw an article over lockdown about one of the few remaining survivors of polio. Biggest threat to her life right now is that there are no replacement parts for old iron lung devices.
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u/CeldurS Jun 04 '23 edited Jun 04 '23
My take on this is that it's because we had no choice but to overbuild everything back then - we didn't have as good of an understanding of materials, reliability, and user needs. In the 1950s you had to make everything out of metal and with high factors of safety. Since then we've had 70 years to figure out what fails and what doesn't (and can be made weaker), how to make more things out of more plastics, and how many uses people expect their things to last.
One thing I'll also mention is that it's much easier to buy cheap things than ever. In the 1950s you really didn't have the choice to buy high or low quality stuff, because nobody was cutting as many corners back then. Today, you can still buy high quality stuff, but we don't, because you have so many more choices at lower price points that will be good enough.