Are Today’s Appliances Actually Made to Break Down?

This is a conversation I’ve had a thousand times. Maybe more. The appliances you buy nowadays break down way sooner than the appliances of years ago. In fact, I just saw somebody posting on Facebook about how his old dishwasher got him through more than 20 years of clean dishes. He decided it was time to upgrade, bought a state of the art brand new dishwasher, and now he has buyer’s remorse.

When I was a kid, we had the same washer and dryer for years. My whole childhood, I think. Same with our refrigerator. And when I moved into my own apartment, there was a refrigerator from the early 1960s. It worked like a charm. Sure, the freezer was small, but the refrigerator was more than 20 years old and it still worked. The whole time I lived there, which was ten years.

When I bought my house in 2000, it came with an old washer and dryer. Probably from the early 1970s. And both worked. We finally got a new washer and dryer only to have the dryer break within 5 years and the washer in seven years. It’s as if they were only made to last a few years. I’m not the only one who has a story like this. Almost everyone around my age remembers having old appliances that were still working when we finally decided to get rid of them.

I guess there is some truth to the saying “They don’t make them like they used to”. But my skeptical mind can’t help thinking they don’t make them like they used to for a reason. Money. If the appliances break, we have to replace them. And if you’ve ever seen the price of a repair on a new appliance, you’ll realize that it’s more cost effective just to replace it. Yup, it’s all about the money.