Thursday, September 29, 2011

Umbrachrist's Law

A Blogger who comments on another site always seems to complain about Planned Obsolescence or Depreciation or both.
But he is on to something.
Things have become so cheap and readily available that there is no value in keeping them.
When was the last time you took your electric appliance to a repair shop?
Do you even know what a repair shop is?
These days, it's often cheaper to just buy a whole new appliance.

A cheap all-in-one printer is a good example.
A cheap one can be purchased at the local Wal Mart for around fifty bucks.
When the ink runs out, buying both color and black cartridges costs almost fifty dollars.
It seems to make more financial sense to buy a whole new printer for five or ten dollars more and then selling your old printer for twenty bucks on Craig's List.

1 comment:

DF said...

The money is in the subscription to ink toner. Just like the coffee machines will last forever but you snorting coffee grounds as a morning drug related ritual is where the biggest percentage profit is.

Buying another one isn't practical because everyone knows you just want ink not to lug another machine to your house.

It's the bait and switch of a new generation. As more and more companies sell you the phone and tell you to buy app after app and then you need a new phone because it's colorful.