The Off Topic Topic

[HVC]

[Sheilbh]

Turns out evening emergency electrician call outs aren't cheap (Although, on balance, better than accidentally burning the flat down).

[HVC]

Don't think I've ever had an electrical emergency? What did you do? Couldn't pull the breaker/fuse and wait to next day if the price was exorbitant? Freezer lasts 48 hours. Found out during out last raccoon endured power outage.

[Sheilbh]

Separately I see Gisele Pelicot is testifying at the hearing today - I know I mentioned it before but again I find her decision incredibly brave to go public and have the hearings in public too.

Especially because it is such an unimaginable crime.

[Grey Fox]

I need to replace my treadmill belt. I've worn(ed) it out, now the silicon lubricant is seeping thru. 

[Josquius]

I need to replace my treadmill belt. I've worn(ed) it out, now the silicon lubricant is seeping thru. 

I hope this is something you can do.
These days it seems like nothing is fixable. It's always just "get a new one"

[Grey Fox]

I need to replace my treadmill belt. I've worn(ed) it out, now the silicon lubricant is seeping thru. 

I hope this is something you can do.
These days it seems like nothing is fixable. It's always just "get a new one"

Yes, you can. The parts are available, you just have to be able to stomach that parts are not cheap. The belt is 50% of my original purchasing price back in 2014.

[PJL]

I need to replace my treadmill belt. I've worn(ed) it out, now the silicon lubricant is seeping thru. 

I hope this is something you can do.
These days it seems like nothing is fixable. It's always just "get a new one"

Yes, you can. The parts are available, you just have to be able to stomach that parts are not cheap. The belt is 50% of my original purchasing price back in 2014.

That's capitalism in action, where the sum of it's parts of any item is worth far more than the whole, encouraging people to buy new rather than repair. Thus WAD.

[grumbler]

Yes, you can. The parts are available, you just have to be able to stomach that parts are not cheap. The belt is 50% of my original purchasing price back in 2014.

That's capitalism in action, where the sum of it's parts of any item is worth far more than the whole, encouraging people to buy new rather than repair. Thus WAD.

That's capitalism in action, where you actually CAN get spare parts.  In command economies, spares are not produced because they don't contribute to meeting quotas on the finished product.  There was the famous example of the Soviet truck factory in, IIRC, Volgograd that had a huge parking lot filled with trucks from which the rear axles had been removed to keep the in-service trucks maintained. The factory didn't make spare axles because they had to meet or exceed their production quota of trucks and had no incentive to reduce truck production to make just rear axles.

So, yes, spares are going to cost more because they have to be produced, stored, and delivered in anticipation of need for the spares, not the product.  Plus, CF is noting that ten years of inflation have also impacted the price of the spare compared to the original.

[crazy canuck]

The other point to consider is that manufacturing a durable product is more expensive.  If consumers were willing to pay more for that kind of product somebody would produce it. The fundamental problem is that people have overwhelmingly preferred cheap and as a consequence, less durable.

If it were otherwise, China would not have become the manufacturing hub for the world.

[Josquius]

The other point to consider is that manufacturing a durable product is more expensive.  If consumers were willing to pay more for that kind of product somebody would produce it. The fundamental problem is that people have overwhelmingly preferred cheap and as a consequence, less durable.

If it were otherwise, China would not have become the manufacturing hub for the world.

I always have issue with Vimes Boots Law.
Some of the worst shoes I've bought were really quite expensive. Companies will charge what they can get away with and they know consumers tend not to be great judges of quality.
When quality is such a roll of the dice with cost having a minimal relationship going for the cheaper options just makes sense.

[grumbler]

I always have issue with Vimes Boots Law.
Some of the worst shoes I've bought were really quite expensive. Companies will charge what they can get away with and they know consumers tend not to be great judges of quality.
When quality is such a roll of the dice with cost having a minimal relationship going for the cheaper options just makes sense.

Given that the "Vime's Boots Law" is fictional, you are right to have an issue with it.

One of the real advantages that online services like Amazon bring is that they have reviews of the products, often in the hundreds.  Quality, then, is much less of a crap shoot, especially if you pay attention to the one-star reviews.

[Barrister]

I always have issue with Vimes Boots Law.
Some of the worst shoes I've bought were really quite expensive. Companies will charge what they can get away with and they know consumers tend not to be great judges of quality.
When quality is such a roll of the dice with cost having a minimal relationship going for the cheaper options just makes sense.

Given that the "Vime's Boots Law" is fictional, you are right to have an issue with it.

One of the real advantages that online services like Amazon bring is that they have reviews of the products, often in the hundreds.  Quality, then, is much less of a crap shoot, especially if you pay attention to the one-star reviews.

Fictional in that it comes from a work of fiction (written by none other than Terry Pratchett), sure.  But it describes a real phenomenon.  Maybe not so much applying to boots, sure, but people in poverty will often wind up having to pay much more in the long run.

Easiest examples are having to purchase on credit, but can apply to durable goods as well.  Let's say you need a new vehicle.  If you're poor you might purchase a cheap Chrysler, but it's not reliable so you pay more in the long run.  Or you pay a bit more and buy a reliable Toyota.

Now obviously price does not match perfectly with reliability - you could pay even more and get a Mercedes which is probably less reliable than the Toyota - but there is a connection.

Interesting you cite Amazon reviews as I actually find them very hard to navigate, but maybe that's just personal choice.  Companies can easily spoof a bunch of really positive 5-star reviews, while people with axes to grind can post 1-star reviews because they dislike the product for reasons entirely unrelated to quality (think review bombing).

[Josquius]

Amazon reviews are famously shit.

A better reviewing system is a reputable reviewer. Which is fine if you're looking at something you're into and have an idea who these reputable people are. Like with games you can learn who to trust.
But when it's something you don't normally buy...

[grumbler]

Finding a reliable single review of a given product is hard.  If you go to the 1-star reviews of the product you are looking at on Amazon, you can see what people didn't like about it and how frequent those complaints are made.  If the majority of 1-star reviews are for the product being delivered late or the like, you can be more confident that the product isn't a lemon.

I would agree that price and quality are not more than loosely correlated.