They Used to Last 50 Years – How today's appliances are being built to fail
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All of the items the author mentions (mechanical parts, paint, controls) are under tremendous price pressure [1] and while they could pass along those charges to the consumer, it means that the market buys the "cheaper" machine which operates today, just as well as the "expensive" machine. I coined the term "Crapitalism" to describe this effect on PC power supplies in the 90's when you could not find a reliable supply anywhere.
The bottom line is that "reliability" is not something you can "sell" to the consumer.
[1] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whirlpool-profit-margins-sq...
Let me give one specific example of how the cost would not go up for better quality. Most washing machine lid switches made over the past 20 years or so have been glued together. Eventually the glue fails, the switch separates and the washer will not go into the end spin cycle, leaving the washer full of water and broken. The fix is a small plastic zip tie that costs less than a penny on the consumer side and reinforces the switch so it doesn't separate. The cost for the manufacturers to build in any extra support would be almost nothing. This lack of extra support has probably sent hundreds of thousands of washing machines to the scrap yard.
I do think reliability is something that could be sold now, in the current condition of the appliance industry. People are fed up buying brand new appliances that break within a few years. If a new manufacturer emerged that made higher quality machines, and people found out about them, they would tell everyone they know.
Yes people want cheap appliances, but once burned, they are often converted into wanting quality ones.
> Yes people want cheap appliances, but once burned,
> they are often converted into wanting quality ones.
You end up doing what most people do is you buy "commercial grade" appliances. These are appliances that are designed to go into restaurants or laundrymats or any other business where they want to depreciate the gear over 26.5 years. And since those people can put a price, in $, on "down time" they are able to justify paying what it costs to not have any.
For example Whirlpool top load washer for consumers $499 [1], Whirlpool commercial grade top load washer $699 [2], so "long term reliability" costs you 40% more up front. That is the one you buy right? Because if more people bought that one the volumes would go up and the price could come down. Except no. People buy the $500 one instead of the $700 one because they don't look at the cost of a washer capability over time (which is what a business does). A laundromat will say "It cost me $70/year to have a $700 washer that lasts 10 years and $100/year to have a $500 washer that lasts only 5 years." But 90+% of consumers don't think like that. They think "Gee same function but $200 more? Screw that!" And here we sit with the double impact that most washers don't last long, and since the volume has gone down on reliable ones they cost even more extra than they should.
It sucks.
[1] http://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-3-5-cu-ft-High-Efficien...
[2] http://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-Heavy-Duty-Series-2-9-c...
There is Speed Queen though, and I'm doing a bit more research on them now. I just found out that though Whirlpool made some machines for them, Whirlpool does not own them, so I updated that in the post. It's very difficult to find and purchase Speed Queen appliances. So there is an opportunity there.
I'm going to email you in a few.