Fix Before Trashing
On this, another lazy day of this strange summer, I ran across an article on repair cafés. Apparently, a movement began in Holland, and has reached other countries, of setting up establishments where people can get their old things repaired, and learn to do it themselves. It's a push-back against the all-consuming consumer society.
I have been very frustrated by the "throw away" mentality that seems to permeate every level of life, particularly the commercial. Phones are designed to only last two years at the most, cars around five years, washing machines another five, coffee makers from a few months to a year, computers two years, etc. I try to fight back as much as possible, but sometimes the challenge is insurmountable.
I bought a new phone this January because the last one, which lasted just over four years, ran out of memory to do just about anything. It didn't matter that I had an SD card inserted, there were things I couldn't move to it. When some of the apps I most use wouldn't work without being updated, and the phone wouldn't let me do it because it had no memory, I had to cave in. I hated to do so, but I had no choice.
Our cars are second-hand, and contain the germs of on-board computers. This means, that though they aren't as mechanical as older cars, with the change of a fuse or small motor, they can still be fixed. Newer cars, with their panoply of lights, sounds, pretty voices, and autonomous trappings, are more difficult and expensive to fix. When we have to visit a garage, most of the vehicles I see are about ten years old or younger. When our cars die, and one is threatening incapacity, I fear for the next car we buy.
Our washing machine, around 18 years old, died this month. It was the third my parents bought after moving back here in 1991. The first two gave up the ghost quite quickly. My mother had been used to strong, sturdy, top-loading washing machines that would take anything you threw at them (In 22 years, we had only had two washers back in Boston.). So, when she saw a top-loader in a local appliance store, she snapped it up, even though it was quite expensive at the time. It was wonderful, until it died. It had already had problems in the past, but we called in a technician every time with magic in his fingers. This time, though, the technician had retired, and his is a dying breed. We know of no other person who can fix appliances like he could. So, I had to bow my head to the inevitable, and buy another one. I bet that when its warranty runs out in five years, so will the washer.
I haven't counted how many coffee makers have graced my kitchen in these last twenty-four years. The one that lasted the longest must have lasted about two years. The one that lasted the least, a couple of months. At their price (the most I've paid must have been around thirty euros), it doesn't make much sense to pay a similar amount to find someone who can fix them. But that is the intention of the corporations that create appliances; make them so that people buy another "new and improved" one as soon as possible.
I haven't seen those repair cafés around here. What I have seen are smart phone repair shops. Sometimes, though, they make more money re-selling fixed phones than repairing them for their owners. When the price of a cheap phone is as much as, or less than, the cost of repairing a more expensive one, then people will opt for a new one. It's understandable, but only because things are now made to crack and break in five different areas, one at a time. What sense is there in re-soling a pair of shoes for seven euros (even that is getting expensive) when the following month the shoe leather will split, and the shoes will definitely have to be replaced?
Also, things are made to make it difficult or impossible to take them apart. Plastic tabs that break and can't be re-used, or special screws without heads, are some of the things integrated in products to make them difficult or expensive to fix. Parts are impossible to find, or as expensive as what you're trying to fix.
Even clothes have joined the buying spree. Once upon a time clothes was made to last. I still have a cardigan that belonged to my mother. She bought it some years before I was born, but gave it to me many years ago when it wouldn't fit her. It lay in my closet for ages until I decided to use it. Now, it's one of my favorites. Its only problem is a missing button that I can't match. It's over fifty years old, and still new every time it's washed. It isn't even made of wool, but of acrylic. Now, cotton t-shirts that are only a month old get filled with holes at the slightest provocation. Or seams unravel. Socks last a couple of weeks until holes appear. And why darn socks when three pairs will cost you only four euros? Or bother with the t-shirts when you can find them for as cheap as three euros? Even the expensive clothes don't last long before calling for a replacement.
This is the society we live in, where we are continually replacing objects we need and use, and others grow fat off our imposed buying habits. Corporations have bigger and bigger earnings, while we feed them because they sell us products designed to be thrown away and replaced after a short period of time. One way of rebelling is by trying to fix the old ones. Another is by refusing to invest in things you really don't need. The only big-ticket items I buy are the ones I need. And, when those break, I try to fix them. Sometimes it's impossible, but whenever it can be done, that's an appliance I don't have to buy, and trash that isn't created.
I have been very frustrated by the "throw away" mentality that seems to permeate every level of life, particularly the commercial. Phones are designed to only last two years at the most, cars around five years, washing machines another five, coffee makers from a few months to a year, computers two years, etc. I try to fight back as much as possible, but sometimes the challenge is insurmountable.
I bought a new phone this January because the last one, which lasted just over four years, ran out of memory to do just about anything. It didn't matter that I had an SD card inserted, there were things I couldn't move to it. When some of the apps I most use wouldn't work without being updated, and the phone wouldn't let me do it because it had no memory, I had to cave in. I hated to do so, but I had no choice.
Our cars are second-hand, and contain the germs of on-board computers. This means, that though they aren't as mechanical as older cars, with the change of a fuse or small motor, they can still be fixed. Newer cars, with their panoply of lights, sounds, pretty voices, and autonomous trappings, are more difficult and expensive to fix. When we have to visit a garage, most of the vehicles I see are about ten years old or younger. When our cars die, and one is threatening incapacity, I fear for the next car we buy.
Our washing machine, around 18 years old, died this month. It was the third my parents bought after moving back here in 1991. The first two gave up the ghost quite quickly. My mother had been used to strong, sturdy, top-loading washing machines that would take anything you threw at them (In 22 years, we had only had two washers back in Boston.). So, when she saw a top-loader in a local appliance store, she snapped it up, even though it was quite expensive at the time. It was wonderful, until it died. It had already had problems in the past, but we called in a technician every time with magic in his fingers. This time, though, the technician had retired, and his is a dying breed. We know of no other person who can fix appliances like he could. So, I had to bow my head to the inevitable, and buy another one. I bet that when its warranty runs out in five years, so will the washer.
I haven't counted how many coffee makers have graced my kitchen in these last twenty-four years. The one that lasted the longest must have lasted about two years. The one that lasted the least, a couple of months. At their price (the most I've paid must have been around thirty euros), it doesn't make much sense to pay a similar amount to find someone who can fix them. But that is the intention of the corporations that create appliances; make them so that people buy another "new and improved" one as soon as possible.
I haven't seen those repair cafés around here. What I have seen are smart phone repair shops. Sometimes, though, they make more money re-selling fixed phones than repairing them for their owners. When the price of a cheap phone is as much as, or less than, the cost of repairing a more expensive one, then people will opt for a new one. It's understandable, but only because things are now made to crack and break in five different areas, one at a time. What sense is there in re-soling a pair of shoes for seven euros (even that is getting expensive) when the following month the shoe leather will split, and the shoes will definitely have to be replaced?
Also, things are made to make it difficult or impossible to take them apart. Plastic tabs that break and can't be re-used, or special screws without heads, are some of the things integrated in products to make them difficult or expensive to fix. Parts are impossible to find, or as expensive as what you're trying to fix.
Even clothes have joined the buying spree. Once upon a time clothes was made to last. I still have a cardigan that belonged to my mother. She bought it some years before I was born, but gave it to me many years ago when it wouldn't fit her. It lay in my closet for ages until I decided to use it. Now, it's one of my favorites. Its only problem is a missing button that I can't match. It's over fifty years old, and still new every time it's washed. It isn't even made of wool, but of acrylic. Now, cotton t-shirts that are only a month old get filled with holes at the slightest provocation. Or seams unravel. Socks last a couple of weeks until holes appear. And why darn socks when three pairs will cost you only four euros? Or bother with the t-shirts when you can find them for as cheap as three euros? Even the expensive clothes don't last long before calling for a replacement.
This is the society we live in, where we are continually replacing objects we need and use, and others grow fat off our imposed buying habits. Corporations have bigger and bigger earnings, while we feed them because they sell us products designed to be thrown away and replaced after a short period of time. One way of rebelling is by trying to fix the old ones. Another is by refusing to invest in things you really don't need. The only big-ticket items I buy are the ones I need. And, when those break, I try to fix them. Sometimes it's impossible, but whenever it can be done, that's an appliance I don't have to buy, and trash that isn't created.
You speak such truth. Or write it.
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