RICH COMPANY'S MAKING MILLIONS FILLING LANDFILLS WITH PLANNED OBCELESCENT PRODUC

[Tìtstewan]

Ihre English is shoen bessere als mein Deutche, ma Titstewan.
Ihr/Dein Englisch ist viel besser als mein Deutsch, ma Tìtstewan.

Thanks!
Dein Englisch ist aber viel viel besser als meiner!

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

There are a couple other factors at play here.

For your heater, ma Niri Te, the reason you cannot get that part may be regulatory, not because the manufacturer doesn't want to sell it. The design of the part, and its availability for sale may be regulated. Planned obsolescence aside, most manufacturers want consumers to be satisfied with their products, and regulatory problems like this is a pain in their side.

There was once a company called Ampex, who made the world's best videotape machines. I have one particular example of their machines, called an AVR-1. This machine (a quadruplex format VTR) is a monster-- it weighs 2,200 pounds. The tape transport casting is aluminum, and has dozens of precision machined sections. The precision is so good that individual tape guides, head assemblies, motors, etc. can be removed for maintenance and reinstalled with little or no need for adjustment. Even the brackets that hold the cabinet together are machined blocks of metal. The electronics were equally incredible, and this machine includes the first attempt at a quasi-digital timebase corrector, using a dozen or so hideously expensive glass delay lines. These machines were designed to last many years, and the few still in existence are highly sought after. But when this machine was new, it cost over $100,000 in 1968 dollars. Few were sold because they were so expensive. Ampex's competitor, RCA, sold a lot of machines because they had less complex mechanics and electronics. Today, nearly any Ampex VTR (they are all built like this to one extent or another) still have considerable value, whereas the RCA machines do not. In fact, new accessories are being manufactured for the decades-old Ampex tape machines to help archivists get the images off of quad tape before it all turns to goo. But where is Ampex? They have moved on, because broadcasters these days are unwilling to spend money on that kind of quality (They make mostly military data recorders now, that are mostly solid state).

No American company now makes a videotape machine. The Japanese (professional) ones are of high quality, but they don't last as long. Their parts are not necessarily interchangable (they have gotten MUCH better, though). If you change even a pinch roller in a Japanese machine, you can plan on spending an hour aligning the new pinch roller. Replacing a tape guide almost requires factory training. Getting tape to run right in these machines is an art that took me well over ten years to learn! But the Japanese machines always undercut both Ampex and RCA. And eventually, they took over the market. But I have far more parts machines for the Japanese machines than I do for the American machines. MAny of the spare parts needed for the American machines can be made in a machine shop. Many of the spare parts for the Japanese machines are so 'custom' that they can only be replaced with like parts.

And don't even get me started on integrated circuits!

As far as prices in rural areas, that is true most everywhere. It is due in large part to economies of scale. In a big city, you can run a store that sells lots of stuff to lots of people. On sheer volume, you can reduce your profit margin and still be profitable, even with much competition. Without the sales volume in the rural areas, the cost of doing business eats deeper into profits. Thus their prices are often higher (but service is also often better). (A really notable exception here is gasoline. We have some of the highest non-California gas prices in the country, here in Reno. In fact, sometimes, it is cheaper in nearby California. Go 30 miles east to Fernley or 60 miles east to Fallon, and gas prices decrease by as much as 25 cents/gallon! However, when you get to the center of the state (Tonopah, for instance), they have the highest gas prices in the State.)

Another reason people in rural areas do not shop in cities more is the time it takes to travel to/from the city, as well as the cost. Even here in Reno, I will shop on the north side of town if I can, as it is a fairly long drive to the south side, where most of the really good shopping is.

[Niri Te]

I still have a Ampex 356, 10inch tape deck, (With the separate Pre-amp) that my dad got, how, I don't from the Navy in 1965. When he died in 1066, no one came for it, so I kept it. the quality of that thing, as well as the KWM2-A that I got the same way, can't be TOUCHED by the current spate of plastic garbage being churned out by the manufacturers.
One final note on the heater. If the Government was attempting to "Enforce" their will on me by pulling that stunt, BOTH they AND the manufacturer failed MISERABLY. I REMOVED the part, and circumvented it's interlock. As a result, I have the heater WITHOUT the part, the heater works even BETTER, and I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from "Mr Heater" (Sold at Lowes), again.

[Seze Mune]

On a related note, planned obsolescence is part of the green movement.  One does want things to be easily recyclable, whether by sawtute or by Eywa (Mother Nature).  If a piece is made out of corn-based plastic so that it will rot away appropriately in a landfill, then it most certainly won't be as durable as a petroleum-based product.  Unfortunately, that's not the case here.

Planned obsolescence of other products is probably real.  As 'Eylan said, it could be due to many factors including technological pacing.  It seems to me that capitalistic market forces would work against it though.  If company A produces product X which is less durable and less reliable than product Y produced by company B at a similar price, company A is going to have a hard time offloading their product.  Plus, with the light-speed reach of today's internet, companies can be trounced by people who give the product a bad review and make long, clever, valuable meme-producing posts all over the Web about it.  In a capitalistic free market, there is power to the people so long as the Web is not overly controlled as it is in some countries.

Then again, let me wryly say that we need all these rich companies to produce all these lovely land-filling products.  It increases the GDP, provides jobs and best of all, we can tax the bejesus out of the rich fat cats who own them and pay for the tons of debt we've taken on in the last four years.  Hooray for planned obsolescence and rich fat cats and their companies!  We gotta keep those fat geese laying those golden eggs!    

Speaking of landfills, I wonder how long it will take to fill up the Grand Canyon.......



From today's San Francisco Chronicle:

"Here's a new scandal bubbling for the Obama administration, this one in the Grand Canyon.

"The New York Times reports today that the Jon Jarvis, head of the National Park Service, blocked a plan by Grand Canyon park officials to ban disposable plastic water bottles — which make up nearly a third of the park's waste — after talking with Coca Cola.

"The park was planning to ban the bottles by Jan. 1 to reduce litter, save money from hauling trash and reduce its carbon footprint. Utah's Zion National Park and Hawaii's Volcanoes National Parks already have similar bans.

"Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, said it filed suit today to obtain records on the decision after the National Park Service refused to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

"PEER said today that the Grand Canyon National Park has already spent $310,000 to build 10 water "filling stations" for visitors to fill their own containers.

"PEER said it heard from park employees that "a major gift from Coca Cola to the National Park Foundation (the donation-receiving arm of NPS chaired by Jarvis) was made contingent on lifting the Grand Canyon bottle ban."

"Jarvis told the Times that his decision "was not influenced by Coke, but rather the service-wide implications to our concessions contracts, and frankly the concern for public safety in a desert park." E-mails show, however, that Jarvis "reiterated his decision to have the Grand Canyon hold off on implementation" until "we have hosted a meeting with the major producers of bottled water."

"Coke told the Times that it prefers recycling programs and that bans limit personal choice."

[Tsmuktengan]

About the plastic bottle thing and Coca-Cola, this is what is called corruption. Although I do not like this, I do not really know how they would effectively apply the ban on such a big national park like Grand Canyon.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

The people at Coca Cola are conceptually right.

Today, there is a feeling among those in power that the way to solve problems it to regulate everything to death. Regulation stifles freedom, which in turn frustrates people. Now I don;t know all the details here, but I wonder if this was a decision made by someone sitting in an office in Washington, or a decision made by a group of people working in the field, who have concluded that there is no other way to correct this problem. The latter group making a decision like this, i could support. the former group, no way.

To give an example of this kind of flawed thinking, I recently read that some regulator in southern California is trying to get a rule through that would require firefighters to collect the water they use to put out fires and reclaim it. This was the same place where someone was arrested for washing their car. They should make these bureaucrats actually go out and fight a fire!

[Niri Te]

Sometimes the folly of the Human species entertainers me.

[Seze Mune]

To give an example of this kind of flawed thinking, I recently read that some regulator in southern California is trying to get a rule through that would require firefighters to collect the water they use to put out fires and reclaim it. This was the same place where someone was arrested for washing their car. They should make these bureaucrats actually go out and fight a fire!

Great idea!  We should have people in charge who've been successful in the field, so to speak.  Why isn't this an obvious no-brainer to the masses?

[Tsmuktengan]

Aha, this over-regulation thing.... sadly we also have this here.

In our country-side, we are no longer allowed to chase the local deers. They are now in a state of overpopulation in the local park, which is the size of a vast natural area close to our village with vast fields and forests.

We might not even be able to watch them freely like it has always been since centuries in this park, just because "we could harm them in several ways since there is nothing to protect them surely".

I am becoming increasingly intolerant towards these kind-minded ecologists, wanting to make ecology while sitting in their comfortable office in Paris. They want to apply a non-sense ideology without any kind of common sense, logic, and of course no sense of reality in most of the places outside their cities.

You can't apply the same rules with the same logic the two different dimensions that are the world inside the city, and the world outside the city. End.