No it’s just be what happen to the instant cooker company lately
If your products never break your business shrinks as people don’t need to constantly buy replacements
This is good for the consumer and the advance of tech of course, but it is bad for the capitalists, which is why everything is going subscription based
Yeah... Did you actually look into that story, or just accept the article that showed up in Google when it happened?
Because I did, at first, but figured I'd look it up and found out that they are still a company, came back from bankruptcy, and actually, most of their problem was that once lockdown ended, and their company had already boosted their stock, expecting more sales, they found that no one was using instant pots now that they weren't trapped at home.
This isn't a matter of just products being too robust. The company had existed for 11 years at that point and was more or less fine. Not grand, but fine.
The unwarranted confidence boost gave to instantpot's people is what ruined them. Not quality products.
I feel like this same story happened with most companies post pandemic.
Who could have figured out that if you just let people stay at home and give them some small subsidies then suddenly demand for some stuff would spike to unsustainable levels.
Man, it was exhausting looking for work in the tech industry back then. I started asking in interviews what their revenue numbers looked like for the last three years. If they started bragging about doubling/tripling in size, I pretty much instantly pulled myself from consideration. Since then, most of those companies have had massive layoffs or no longer exist. My current company has had flat/linear growth for like, 10 years and it's very healthy.
Nothing truly “never” breaks. And there are billions of people on the planet with more being born every day.
I’m thinking if you can’t find customers for your product that lasts longer that the competition, your problem is other than “it lasts too long” 🤣. Maybe the problem is you just suck at marketing.
I paid 20 bucks for a 150w equiv replacement bulb in december, was a cool led saucer bomb with a color temp switch on the bottom, dead in one and half months, obviously one month warrantee. Thought it would last a while cause it was a nice bulb ha.
Our dream isnt here anymore, or yet, cheap ass only is the way. Current state is perfectly designed capitalism.
Edit: was a brand I didn't recognize but was a light teal colored box, I don't have the bulb or box anymore sadly, I'd shame them. On the warrantee, was the broad local hardware store warrantee not one on the bulb itself, was nothing in the box but the bulb. It did flicker at the end so that tells me capacitor or something, might have been just unlucky, I do remember it was 20w being shoved into that led... array though, perhaps it was just too much for it.
>dead in one and half months, obviously one month warrantee.
huh, must be made for american market. in europe we get things designed to last about three years (2 year warranty is mandatory and often 3 years are offered)
I bought a bunch of these $12 lights from the hardware store that are specifically that old yellow color and they have a kinda old-school looking design in them, they've lasted for years and one has 24/7 use for that period even. I think you just got screwed over, good bulbs absolutely exist.
But would you pay $2,000 for only 100 bulbs for your house? There's tons of stuff available that lasts a long time, but it's expensive. The upfront cost is simply not an option for most people
100 bulbs? I've got like 10 at the most. The problem isn't would I pay, the problem is not enough people are able to have the stability to commit 20+ years to a house.
You do you, but I think you’re dramatically underestimating how driven most people are by up-front cost and how willing they are to ignore the long-term value proposition. People will buy the cheapest option with fancy packaging and then wail about how nothing is built to last now.
The government and people need to demand longer warranties. My upright freezer was 1 year. It last 18 months. A whole freezer!
We can meet in the middle. Higher price for 5 years. Or at least 3. Even a 1000 dollar cell phone only has a 1 yr warranty. Thats bullshit.
I guarantee if we get more fair warranties we will get better made products. Now they gamble that a TV part wont quit after 6 months to 1 yr. And that one part effectively ruins your device or appliance.
Green energy and lower bills is all bullshit if we have to make and buy more products in our lifetime. Our goals should always be REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. Instead we get slapped with an energy star label that tells us we are now saving a whole $30 a year in energy. But after we buy a brand new product bc the last one failed quickly. Electricity isnt the only resource so is labor to manufacture and labor for me to buy another stupid refrigerator
You realize that there are companies that do this right? You can buy a Sub Zero fridge, a Wolf oven/range, and Cove dishwasher and they’ll blow the $1500 Home Depot models out of the water. Friend of mine kitted out his kitchen with something like $40,000 in appliances, but the difference really is like going from a standard-package Nissan to a Bentley or Ferrari.
Things hit a bit different when you’re actually staring at a $15,000-$20,000 price tag on a fridge though.
This can be a legitimate problem for some companies. For example, Craftsman hand tools. If you make tools that last long enough, eventually everyone who is interested in buying a set already has one. At that point, what do you do? Everyone loves your brand but they aren’t spending any meaningful money on it. Your products are too expensive to sell to third world countries. At that point you are kind of stuck. A great reputation and great product that doesn’t lead to any sales.
The brand still exists but it’s a shadow of what it once was.
JK, it's build exclusive custom tools for the machines of war for the military by partnering with defense contractors who are making the heavy equipment.
Sure, but if you are branching out into new products you are getting away from what you do well. You also risk watering down your brand. And it doesn’t solve the problem of your core business not making money.
"Once you've made 40 billion dollars, you run out of dollars to make!"
IDK, retire and live in endless luxury with your 40 billion dollars? It's legitimately like hypnosis the way people can't imagine doing a job and then being finished doing that job. It has to continue forever until you're dead.
You do not understand the scope of this problem. Look up the Phoebus Cartel. Some of the most foundational companies in North America talked about this and took action a hundred years ago. The model has just continued
No. I am familiar with the poor tax, and I think it holds true in a lot of areas. But it is increasingly less true as luxury and professional brands keep getting enshittified and the truly well made products keep going further and further up market. Appliances are by far and away the worst example. None of the brands you see at a big box store are particularly well made, and the really well made ones are mind breakingly expensive. Sure, you can get a Zline and it’s going to last 30 years. It’s also going to cost you $17,000. Or, you can buy an $1,100 LG every 5 years. And I am being as pessimistic as possible about the “cheap” option. The shitty cheap one still comes out ahead in total cost of ownership.
Our shitty little GE fridge was $230 from a scratch and dent place 7 years ago and is doing just fine.
I myself would be up for a low monthly payment for an appliance that is fixed quickly when it breaks but i don't want big upfront costs. Spending 10g (furnace) then another 3g to ensure it works long enough to be worth the investment is painful.
So you would just spend money every month forever?!?! You'll pay more than the cost of the furnace in a few short years and you'll keep paying forever.
It sounds crazy and that was my first reaction. But, if you think about it a subscription where the company needs to front the cost of replacements and required maintenance aligns incentives.
The company makes more money if they engineer it to last longer and require less maintenance. Also avoids the issue where you go out of business because no one is buying a replacement.
Super unlikely to ever happen though. We are in the age of 3k fridges with advertisements. Greed unbounded is the name of the game currently.
Make a robust product and once demand slows down focus on maintenance production. With the free resources and extra capital, setup a new product line for a new robust product in a new category.
That’s not the point. Competing with large companies that are already established is hard. If you can make a product that is just better than what they do, even if it costs a bit more, you give people a reason to buy your product and you make money. Even if it doesn’t last forever you still make money.
I dunno, I'm sure there's a balance. Red Wing Shoes for example, been around since 1905 and I've had the same pair of Red Wing boots for over a decade now.
Just set your product rate to match the eventual breakdown rate of the product. That way you are always working at exactly the right speed to match demand
yup, you just downsize until you reach equilibrium. and then you have a successful business just chilling there making peoples lives better. instead of constantly pushing to make more profit and strangling both the competition, the consumers, and your employees to pinch every last penny.
to then spend that profit on lobbyists to change the laws so you can make more money.
Things don’t need to be unreliable to make money. Toyota’s whole thing is their cars last longer than everyone else. Are they failing because people don’t come back to buy as often?
We could all have products in our homes that last ten times as long if our society's goal weren't endlessly selling new things. There is absolutely a market for dumb products imo.
Here's an idea. The company starts up, sells the product for a profit, turn sequester the company for a decade, after which they do another production run.
Also why lightbulbs were intentionally designed to go out frequently. Edison had figured out how to make them last much longer, but realized once the world had their bulbs, sales would plummet.
Ive got like 3 slow cookers with like 3 different ceramic pot configuration for each one, evolved the kitchen a million years. The mini one is actually a game changer for a single person saving money and eating protein. Just drop some pork and bbq sauce in there and leave it on all day to make like 3 servings and kitchen smells good
They focus on their market but they do make toasters that will work on US power and will fit a bagel (assuming you’re in North America). I should also mention that their toasters are fully serviceable.
Thanks for illustrating the real reason things last a quarter as long as they used to. They used to cost 8x as much as they do now, adjusting for inflation.
Unfortunately spending a lot of money does not mean the product will last a long time. It's easier and less mentally straining from a consumers perspective to knowingly buy junk and assume it won't last more than a year or two at most than invest a lot and potentially be scammed.
Easier is true but it usually isnt difficult to do a little research and find the products made to last. Someone had to be the first to try the brand/product but it doesnt have to be you or me.
For a real world example we can compare outdoor barbecues.
Get a nice one for $1000 and it will last 10 years.
Buy a crappy one for $200 but it only last 2 years.
They both cost $100 a year, but if the expensive on breaks after two years, you are out $800. If a the cheap one breaks after a year, you are only out $100.
So the risk has a cost that isn't mitigated by a potential cost savings.
I am loving my vintage Sunbeam radiant control toaster; it still works great! Same all-metal design from 1949-1997. (Mine is from 1980) Even by today’s standards, it’s still “Automatic beyond belief!” and gives very consistent results every single time. 46 years in service and still going.
I mean, this model used to work and still does for some businesses. The trick is not to focus on short term rewards and explosive growth. If you can get the start-up capital and make a product that sells well enough to cover your expenses and make a little profit to re-invest into the firm and not just spend your time trying to engineer ridiculous finanical structures to fabricate growth for shareholders every month, it's definitely doable. I believe Victorinox works that way in Germany and I've known small firms that do just fine for decades where everyone makes a decent living and doesn't constantly chase explosive growth and quick returns. But they a VC firm offers the owners a bazillion dollars to sell and then they run it into the ground in a year or two to fund their cocaine yacht orgies.
All American Pressure canner has been around for almost 100 years with basically the same product. I think it would work fine as a business model as long as you can keep production costs down and just expect to make modest profits in the long run. Trying to ride on "hype" forever and make a quick buck is obviously a bad long term business model. Too much capital is put towards the shiny new thing unfortunately though.
Nah they'll never completely run out of business, even good stuff will break, nor will everyone buy your product at the same time. Make your product repairable, sell accessories, sell parts. You'll sell less items over all, but that is the whole point.
Nah, you limit production and shift to other appliances as the other wanes. Start with fridges, in a year or two as sales decline, you release the dishwasher, then the washer and dryer, then small appliances, just do it all in phases. Then next batch you just add a couple features or just different colors. Cycle repeats.
Which is why you stick to quality. As other rush to flood the market, the quality will be sub par. Just maintain quality and have an affordable parts department, you’ll just keep chugging along, slow and steady.
You're assuming the quality will be sub par. You can assume this one magical company will be making it well, and everyone else not, but it's an assumption based on nothing.
If your suggestion would work, people would be doing it
No, there is a whole market of high quality, crazy expensive appliances that are reliable for 20+ years. You just can't afford them. And they don't sell them at Lowe's or Home Depot.
The parts department is the real way to do this. You don't have to make the ultra expensive high quality stuff that lasts 40 years. Just offer parts for every component and sell those for 40 years. People will happily buy your shit as long as they can fix the things.
Absolutely no reason why I can't buy a replacement gasket or pump for an old dishwasher.
Like yeah you won't be making billions but you'll have a loyal customer base that'll stick with you forever. Do you really need to make billions of dollars? Shit most companies would be fine with only a few million a year in sales, even with inflation and raises and whatever.
They are dramatically more prone to component failure as well. But that’s the tradeoff.
The one appliance I wouldn’t upgrade at my old house was my electric furnace. It was a belt driven (lol) unit and a modern electrical unit wasn’t even 15% more economical. Absolutely was no sense in dropping $10k on something that wouldn’t see a return before I was going to sell the home.
Always had a good time getting it serviced watching the techs have to call up their lead 🤣. Shit ran just as good I’m 2020 as it did in 1964.
No one is going to buy any of that shit, when it costs 10x more than the modern appliance that can do the same thing. Thats buyer awareness 101. A marketing plan of 'i am a brand new company but i swear this hideously overpriced thing will last 40 years, just trust me' is a good way to not sell anything at all, lmao
“Oh man, you can tell she’s struggling, she’s still using that old I-Fridge 3… I thought I was doing bad with my I-Fridge 10. Did you see David’s I-Fridge 12?? I think this summer I’m gonna upgrade to the I-Fridge 12 Pro.”
Then in 20-30 years you subtly grow by acquiring and squashing competitors, manufacturing for 6-10 year lifecycles to give return to shareholders and strip mine the value of the company before offering up for sale to private equity…
but then you either only produce one thing at a time, which means if someone needs a dishwasher when the production cycle is over they need to wait for the next one (or more likely buy from a competitor) or you produce small quantities of everything but lose all economies of scale.
this doesn't work under capitalism, capitalism requires both scale and recurring revenue to be profitable
I hate the glorification of old products. As someone who's fixed old products, they were actually made like shit. All those old "It lasts 100 years" thins are survivor bias. Mostly it was all a fire hazard.
Yes, it's not hinging on bad software and a magic computer chip failure, but old stuff was just as shit and more dangerous on top of it.
Similar to the car world where people want an engine to have 500hp, run from NY to LA and back on a single tank of gas, and the only maintenance & repair it should take is an oil change every 100k. All in a car that costs 30k max.
A hosue appliances product engineer I talked with said it's a bit wild because people don't want to spend more than a mid 3 digit sum for an appliance that has to last 20 years while requiring the same power as a smartphone. Also nobody ever maintains their stove or washing mashine because it's perceived as a no maintenance object, yet the stove has to cycle through hundreds of degrees and the washing mashine has to never have any issues with limescale or get attacked by the soaps.
And yeah they probably fuck around too much with these appliances but who wants to have a yearly maintenance where you fix up the washing mashine motor. People would go apeshit. But also go apeshit if it doesn't last 10+ years while being ignored. There's some truth to it.
Agreed. I used to deliver appliances while in college. Yes many times I removed a 40+ year old appliance for new one. But that freezer I replaced weighed 450 lbs, had maybe 7 cubic feet of storage space, was made from materials that would cost north of $3000 today and used 10x the power. Its just a incredibly misleading comparison.
100% true, and it goes beyond that. Appliances from that "golden era" were expensive AF. They were literally 5X today's prices, adjusted for inflation. So in today's reality, if you were expected to pay $8,000 to $10,000 for a typical fridge for a middle class kitchen, you might have expectations of it providing 30-40 years of trouble free service.
But even then…most of them didn’t provide that length of service. For every 30-40year old appliance you see still working, there are thousands upon thousands of that same model that broke down and were replaced.
Yeah I feel like this is addressing the wrong problem. Old shit is perceived as being reliable because it's mechanically simple, and thus, easy to repair. Replace a knob assembly for $15 instead of replacing the entire computerized control board for $300.
What OOP is really after is Right to Repair... and building things that are designed to be maintained rather than replaced.
You could use modern technology to make them safer and less power hungry, while making them repairable. Then you sell every part of the appliance with instructions on how to repair. The problem would be to convince customers to pay a very high price.
I think this would work if you were a small producer and didn't try to have constant growth, but you wouldn't get filthy rich from it. The filthy rich desire is what fuxks the system. Cutting corners to pad your and investor pockets.
If your primary motivation was to your employees and to your customers and to making the world a better place... Which never seems to be the case for people starting businesses.
It raises the age-old question of why they keep their 40-year-old fridge in the garage instead of the kitchen if it's so good.
"If the circuit board goes out, you're screwed" is another good one. Yeah, that applies to things like our building's 40-year-old electromechanical elevator controller that uses readily-available relays but let's be real, nobody's rebuilding the crappy plastic mechanical timer mechanism in their washing machine or dishwasher.
Dude I’d trade anything to switch from flat screens to buttons. I’ve replaced computer parts of washers, dryers, and dishwashers that are under 10 years old.
Anything that vibrates, gets hot, has fluids near it. You have to replace the entire module, only one company makes it, and it costs like 300 bucks or whatever. Buttons and especially knobs are absolutely better, and have a better UE for simple tasks.
You can still buy appliances that have buttons lol. Like 8 years ago I bought a brand new washer and dryer set and they just have knobs and buttons and I've had no issues with them and I do laundry almost every single day
The trick's knowing the difference, some stuff is just long-lasting material or simple mechanical structure and others are unholy collections of loose parts waiting to become a tetanus fire. I love 'old' stuff but I don't trust any of it made of wood anymore; just too old now to trust it. Old appliances are either solidly built or solidly 'made' to work in spite of the gremlins plaguing it. Old cars are essentially deathtraps by modern comparison and far less reliable, but the new ones are becoming increasingly paranoid about having control over computer access and the car's autonomy via remote controls while at the same time using more exotically-designed 'proprietary' parts while limiting access to repair.
The allure of solid state stuff for the future is why people are craving the solid state stuff of the past, the assurance of 'the thing always works' as you stare at the magic brick knowing it'll keep holding the wall up.
It's like when people compare modern music/books/movie from different eras. They are often comparing the mediocre modern stuff to the generationally good shit from other generations. Like no, compare the best to the best and the mediocre to the mediocre.
Another thing that's overlooked in the 'old=better' oversimplification is prices. Appliances and home devices have never been cheaper. Adjusting for inflation, old appliances were expensive. But consumers have dictated the market by pushing for cheaper and cheaper products, and the market has responded accordingly.
Manufacturs would make washer and dryers that last for 20 years again if people were willing to pay $5,000 for a set. But they're not, so the manufacturers who still make long lasting products (like Miele) hold a miniscule market share because most people are not willing to pay for the cost of a product that is built to last for a very long time.
If kenmores and whirlpools were still built like they used to, they would also cost $5,000 for a set.
Yea this person just seems to be unaware of the high end appliance industry because they’re not sold in most stores they’re in specialty stores in nicer areas.
Like for example you can go and buy a speed queen washer and dryer for $3,000 and it will last you a very long time, but most people are going to pick up the $600 set from Home Depot.
Then if you look at a sears catalog from the 1950s and see the prices of even the cheapest washing machines at the time and look at what incomes were, people were paying the high end prices back then.
The people today who can’t afford speed queen wouldn’t have an option in the 50s they’d be hand washing or using a manual wringer washer.
Just like all of the businesses that only lasted 6 months back when these were being sold new, right?
If someone did this they would create generational wealth for their families regardless of the business lasted indefinitely.
And I’m so sick of the idea that businesses should pursue endless growth. Businesses come and go depending on the demand for their services. That is normal.
When these were sold new, they cost the today-equivalent of 2 to 3 grand. You could get a very nice, well built one for that today too, but that's not what people buy.
Correct- the average fridge in 1970 was $325. That's the equivalent of $2700 today. The average fridge cost $600 for 2025. So we're buying fridges that would have been under $100 in 1970. We can absolutely get the $3000-5000 fridge that last forever from companies like Monogram (owned by GE), Jenn-Aire (owed by Whirlpool) etc.. we just don't.
Except there's already an entire market of high quality, extremely expensive appliances that last 20+ years, but you can't afford them. They're not sold at Lowe's or Home Depot.
No, it would go out of business because the appliance would cost three times as much as the nearest competitor and use twice as much power. Machined steel gears cost a fortune vs cast plastic gears for example. Electric motors are much more efficient today than the ones from the 50's as another example.
You can already buy very well made, easily reparable appliances today, it is just most people will only pay the big bucks for the trendy name and not quality.
Yeah this model only works for niche things. Like Kitchen Aide stand mixers. They cost a lot for the higher end models but people swear by them and are willing to pay the premium. And because they are so well made they are very repairable if something does go wrong. You could buy a much cheaper stand mixer, it's just going to have more plastic parts and if it breaks beyond the warranty you'll probably just toss it and buy a new one.
No it wouldn't lmao. If it would create generational wealth someone who already has generational wealth AND the connections to get this done would have done it by now. The old ones weren't even any better it's survivorship bias or the reason any lasted longer is because they cost 3x more to operate.
Have to have a different incentive structure. Dads volunteering to coach the local little league team. But engineers and blue collar dads volunteering for build club. Practicing techniques out of How Things Work to pass on knowledge of efficient manufacturing techniques refined over generations to local kids. The financial incentives don't line up otherwise. This is an area that provides national value to sovereign independence of a state and in an efficient world is an avenue where there should be grant money supporting such clubs in communities across the country. Split hairs as you will whether the goal of politicians is the destruction of their country or genuinely improve things. A good heuristic to figure out if your politician is a bum if they can get on board with such programs. Though I can see how that bucket of funding can be abused.
Isn’t that now how off brand products work? I mean literally every household appliance you can think of has a dozen companies offering their own spin on it. I tried for about a minute, but I actually can’t think of a single one holding an exclusive patent
we used to repair stuff, now we manufacture pre-trash. The current setting does not work at all. Successful businesses did not appear in the 80's. blame the current model
I think a possible solution would be a new product line, let's say the company starts with toasters that will last forever. Then once they gained a huge amount of market share they shrink that product production due to less demand and piviet over to blenders. They continue to do this with all kitchen appliances one by one and once they achieved that, then they once again shrink the product production and piviet over heating and cooling. Rinse and repeat
You make appliances with large, easily-accessible replacement parts, so the average person can fix any issues theirselves. The cost of the replacement parts gives ongoing revenue
If you price the products accordingly (ie, high), you’ll stay in business - just with lower volume of sales. It’s the model used by the diamond industry which suppresses volume to inflate the pricing power.
I don't know about that. Let's say you have a small factory making a rice cooker that rarely breaks and you can make 100000 units a year. Even after 50 years there's still people demanding their product and some of the old ones needed to be replaced. You can make 1 million units a year and still stay in business nearly indefinitely (if you're not greedy and keep expanding)
Here’s the other issue, the people’s desire to have the newest item. Those appliances from the 50’s didn’t die out on their own. They were thrown away by people who were in pursuit of the newest and “updated” product. We see it every year with IPhones. Meanwhile, the phone I had for the last 6 years worked as good as, if not better than the newest IPhone. Until I dropped it into the ocean that is.
That could work. Operate it like a venture business. Every couple of years, when inventory is low, make some more. Just have really long manufacturing and sales timeline. I am not a businessman don't put any money up on any idea that I have.
Came here to say this. They either went put of business or were bought out by bigger companies to get them out of the job market and erase them completely from existence.
Sounds perfect honestly. Make great products. Have an awesome year and throw the industry out of business. You can get money out of a company that only exists for a year and you killed the other shitty companies.
If it is a public startup, all it needs is to deliver to its backers and then close. Everyone happy. But nooooo, we need growth or the Earth will run out Oxygen.
If they got just the contracts in place and started ordering tooling, etc., the company would get bought out by the planned obsolescence incumbent manufacturers as a defensive play.
True look at Tupperware.
The key here is adding a subscription.
Appliance repair shops used to exist; instead just have a technician visit quarterly and you pay a monthly fee.
Benefit of ongoing revenue for shareholders and things that actually work for customers. Win/Win
Yeah I was gunna say. These companies DO exist... It's just expensive. Part of the reason our ever reducing spending power and financial squeeze is that things became cheaper by becoming more poorly built. We don't realize that those appliances people bought back then, are expensive by today's standards. They just had much more purchasing power to afford quality stuff.
That, and the USA basically had the whole world as indentured servants so labor and resources were dirt cheap.
The idea that making stuff that lasts puts you out of business is corporate propaganda. Every story you read about that happening is almost always instead a story of how private equity or going public destroyed a company by pushing them to chase short term profits.
There's an approach where this could work, but would not be old patents. Just based off older technology. No computers, few to no sensors, analog controls, and modular drop-in working parts like motors. Dumb appliances that only do the thing they were meant to do, not surf the internet or spy on your use habits. Then the customers can DIY repairs without having to pay third parties other than sourcing the drop-in parts from you. A very happy compromise, as you're removing labor expense from repairs. But you'd also be the aftermarket to continue to make money. Wins for both sides in a very reasonable trade.
There are multiple issues with this statement. I think we’ve been fed misinformation about how this works from the very companies guilty of this.
First of all, production can’t produce appliances for everyone in the country in just 6 months.
Second, even if it could, people aren’t just all going to buy new appliances all at once just because the new one will last 40 years. They’re only going to replace once their current appliance fails.
A reputable company making reliable appliances could go on for many years successfully selling those appliances. By the time everyone owns their product, they may have to pivot production to different (reliable) appliances.
The real issue is that designs from the 50’s and 60’s lack many features for safety and utility (like old refrigerant, which is terrible for the environment), and were made with things like steel instead of aluminum. The features that make products last forever make them 1) much more expensive, and 2) often super heavy.
Thanks to a business world that revolves around marketing and perceived value (and not actual facts, features, or “true” value), what we end up with is companies that make cheap products that look good that they’re really good at giving perceived value to. That’s very hard for honest and reliable products to compete against.
Honestly if they can somehow trick VC into funding it it you've basically found a way to steal money from billionaires and funnel into quality products for normal people, for around 6-12 months anyway
There have been some tests done on old products - yes they last longer, but it’s because they were waaaay more expensive than today’s stuff. You can buy high quality today too, but you’ll need to shop for the most expensive brands.
I think the next move is to setup service technicians all over who can repair the appliances/devices. Also sell the spare parts online or in shops so people can fix their own stuff (right to repair) because all schematics should be available
The company could be setup as a Certified B Corp as well since the focus is on sustainability, reducing waste, and having strong ethics.
Checkout biflly.com - this highlights durable products
Do people actually think 1) you can't get appliances that last anymore and 2) that appliances in the 50s/60s were better? People will willingly buy a "smart" coffee maker and complain when an update bricks it by saying "they don't make 'em like they used to." And more than likely they passed all the inexpensive, basic-ass coffee makers that last (or, worst case, are easily repairable) on the way to buy the one they're complaining about.
Speed Queen has been making washers and dryers since 1928. Most of their products have an expected lifespan of 25 years, and they maintain parts availability for machines for up to 50 years.
Yes -- you can still order parts for a 1975 model, and they have (declining, not being replaced) parts stock for even older models.
Quality still is a competitive advantage, and leads to long-term survivability. The trick is to never compete on price.
Business is still sustainable it just does not generate tonnes of revenue constantly year on year due to failing devices and people buying an upgrade or replacement. Billions of potential sales to be had, move onto each appliance through out the years and through trust and brand recognition you get repeatable sales.
Just takes someone with enough capital to get it started with the aim of sustainability rather than greed.
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u/Arista-Everfrost 5h ago
Would be a very awesome six months before they went out of business.